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Midget Rebels win provincial finals

It came down to the best defence against the best offence in the Alberta Midget Hockey League championship final.And in the end defence won out as the Red Deer Optimist Rebels Chiefs edged the high-scoring Edmonton Southside Athletics 1-0 in the deciding game of the best-of-five final before over 1,200 fans at the Arena Saturday afternoon.
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It came down to the best defence against the best offence in the Alberta Midget Hockey League championship final.

And in the end defence won out as the Red Deer Optimist Rebels Chiefs edged the high-scoring Edmonton Southside Athletics 1-0 in the deciding game of the best-of-five final before over 1,200 fans at the Arena Saturday afternoon.

All three Red Deer victories were shutouts — 5-0, 4-0 and 1-0 — while they had one bad game — an 8-2 loss — and dropped a 1-0 decision in the other game.

“It says a lot about how well (goaltender) Matt (Zentner) played and how well our defence rallied around each other,” said Rebels head coach Doug Quinn. “For our defence to shut down the top offensive team in the league says a lot about us as a team.”

It was even more impressive considering the Rebels played most of the series shorthanded on defence. Colton Bobyk had his appendix out after the first game and didn’t return while Gabe Bast missed most of the series with a hip flexor before returning Saturday. As a result Quinn moved forward Jack Goranson back to the blueline for the first time in his career.

It was the fourth year in a row the Rebels captured the league title and it may be the most rewarding, said Quinn.

“They’re all exciting, but this one is probably extra special as we’ve never had the injuries before,” he said. “For the kids to battle through some adversity and rally around each other was really special.”

The game had a little bit of everything — drama, hitting, outstanding goaltending at both ends and an eventual hometown celebration. It also was a game where both teams knew one mistake, or a penalty, could be the difference. In fact there was only one penalty and that to Red Deer in the second period.

In the end Zentner shared the spotlight with Rory Davidson, who beat Edmonton netminder Jordan Papirny at 16:04 of the third period.

“It took long enough, but we knew if we kept pushing one would finally go in,” said Davidson. “We knew it wouldn’t be a cake walk, they’re a skilled team but we talked before the game to shoot low, drive the net and keep banging away and finally it happened.”

Davidson connected after one of the few mistakes by Papirny, who got caught out of the net trying to take the angle away from Dustin Gorgi, who managed to shovel the puck in front where Davidson out-fought a pair of Edmonton defenders to score the biggest goal of his life.

“No doubt it’s the biggest so far,” he said.

Davidson has been a major force with the team so it came as no surprise to see him score the big goal.

“Rory has had a real strong second half of the season and that carried through the playoffs, he does well both on offence and defence,” said Quinn, who admitted he was worried as the game wore on.

“That’s usually how these games go. I thought we were playing well and working hard, but they are so skilled and all it takes is one bad bounce here or a bad break there and you could be down a goal.”

Zentner finished the game with 20 saves, while his teammates had 41 shots on Papirny. However, both teams had a number of excellent scoring chances. In fact Zentner made a pair of outstanding leg saves with Papirny out in favour of an extra attacker. His biggest came with 20 seconds remaining when he stretched his right leg to the post to rob what looked to be a sure goal.

“ I can’t even say what happened to the puck after I got my leg over,” said Zentner, who was in net for all three shutout wins. “As a goalie you can’t do it all by yourself. No one person can do it, we did it as a group.”

Quinn, like his veteran netminder, gave everyone credit from the forwards on back, but also had special praise for Zentner.

“He had an outstanding game and came up with those big saves at critical times, which says a lot. I’m really happy for him.”

While Zentner had all the pressure on his shoulders as the game wore on, he wasn’t about to let it get to him.

“I figured there would be a lot of guys nervous so I just tried to enjoy it and figured the more pressure the better. It pays off to keep it light.

“But it was great to see that goal go in. It was a greasy goal, but they all count.”

The defending national champion Rebels now travel to Vancouver to face the Northwest Giants in a best-of-three series, which begins Friday, to determine the Pacific Region champion for the Telus Cup.

“It’s the fourth year in a row we’ve met, but I know we’re excited and I’m sure they are as well,” concluded Quinn.

• Bobyk was named to the league’s first all-star team with Rebels goaltender Jayden Sittler on the second team. Three members of the Athletics — forwards Giorgio Estephan, Riley Simpson and Jake Debrusk — were on the first team along with goaltender Tanner McCorriston of the Edmonton K of C Pats and rearguard Tyler Dea of St. Albert. Athletics Nic Charif and Connor James of Lloydminster were second team defencemen with Nicholas Merkley of the Calgary Buffaloes, Braden Jakubowski of Leduc and Matthew Gelinas of the Calgary Royals up front.