Ice 2 Rebels 1
The Red Deer Rebels didn’t get their just reward Saturday night at the Centrium.
The Rebels were the faster and more industrious team from start to finish, but coughed up a pair of power-play goals and dropped a 2-1 Western Hockey League decision to the Kootenay Ice in front of a recorded gathering of 5,022.
“I thought we deserved a better fate,” said Rebels GM/head coach Jesse Wallin, whose club held a 35-24 advantage in shots but were turned away time and again by Ice overage netminder Nathan Lieuwen.
“It was a frustrating game. I thought there were some poor penalty calls, but I certainly have no problem with our effort tonight.”
In reference to the penalty calls, Wallin had a point and then some.
The referee duo of Jonathan Spurgeon and Colin Watt didn’t do the Rebels any favours, with at least three — and maybe four — questionable calls going against the home club.
Two of the laughable decisions led to Kootenay goals.
In the first period, Max Reinhart beat Rebels netminder Patrik Bartosak with a bullet from the faceoff circle just seconds after defenceman Mathew Dumba was called for elbowing. Dumba had laid out Sam Reinhart with a clean hit along the boards.
The most obvious head-scratcher came in the second period, just 19 seconds after the Rebels captain batted home a cross-crease pass from Cory Millette to tie the game at one during a Red Deer power play.
Rebels defenceman Justin Weller was called for a checking-to-the-head infraction when a replay clearly showed it was a shoulder-to-shoulder collision.
As the penalty was winding down, Elgin Pearce fired a low shot past Bartosak. The goal stood up as the winner.
“There were two poor calls that led to goals,” said Wallin. “The hit by Weller was just a clean hockey hit. I know they are trying to get head hits out of the game and there are going to be mistakes made (by the officials).”
As Wallin noted, his club played hard and created numerous scoring chances. A lack of puck luck and some poor shooting decisions resulted in a lack of production, as did the play of Lieuwen.
“We had a lot of good hockey players tonight,” said Wallin. “We played with a lot of energy. We were strong down low and in the corners and had several excellent scoring chances, but we also missed the net too many times.
“Again, it was a frustrating loss.”
Kambeitz agreed.
“I thought we deserved a better fate,” said the Rebels captain. “But penalties cost us and we didn’t bury our scoring opportunities.
“Otherwise we played well. The effort was definitely there.”
Kambeitz, a fourth-year veteran whose goal was his team-leading fourth of the season, was impressed with the performance of numerous Rebels youngsters, including Millette, who has five points — including two goals — in four games.
“These younger guys have played really well for us this season,” he said. “They’re adapting well to the league and show a lot of promise.”
Kootenay improved to 4-1-0-2 while the Rebels dropped to 3-3-0-0.
Red Deer will host the Lethbridge Hurricanes Wednesday at 7 p.m., and will entertain the Regina Pats next Saturday.