With an overtime loss to the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday, March 14, the Red Deer Rebels were officially eliminated from playoff contention this season.
Heading into the weekend, the Rebels were trailing the Swift Current Broncos by 10 points for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference with just five games remaining on the schedule. This meant the Rebels would only make the playoffs if they went undefeated in their remaining regular-season and the Broncos lost all of their remaining games in regulation.
Raiders forward Aiden Oiring pur his team on top just 3:36 into the opening period. Lacombe's Daxon Rudolph picked up one of his two assists in the game on this goal.
Red Deer fired back with three quick goals. About nine minutes into the period, Jaxon Fuder picked up the puck from his own zone, carried it all the way down the ice, skated around the net and then whipped a shot past Raiders goaltender Dimitri Fortin. Fuder's 11th of the season was assisted by Derek Thurston and Brett Calhoon.
About four minutes later, Fuder passed the puck to Gleb Semenov, who was crashing the Raiders net. Semenov was stopped on his first shot, but was able to bang in a rebound for his second of the season.
Rebels forward Kalan Lind added to Red Deer's lead at 14:29 with his 11th of the season. Semenov picked up the lone assist on the tally.
The Raiders managed to tie the game before the end of the period, thanks to goals from Niall Crocker at 15:38 and Oiring at 17:40.
Neither team was able to score another goal throughout the rest of regulation. Oiring completed a hat trick with less than a minute left in overtime to give Prince Albert a 4-3 overtime victory.
Rebels goaltender Peyton Shore stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced, while Fortin stopped 26 of 29 shots in the Raiders' crease. Oiring was named the game's No. 1 star, Fuder was the second star and Semenov was the third star.
The following night, the Rebels travelled to Medicine Hat to battle the Eastern Conference-best Tigers.
Tigers forward Gavin McKenna had three goals and four assists, while his teammate Oasiz Wiesblatt scored three of his own, in a dominant 7-3 victory over the Rebels.
Matthew Gard scored two of Red Deer's three goals — captain Ollie Josephson scored the other.
Red Deer will travel to Calgary on Wednesday, March 19 to battle the Hitmen. The Rebels' final home game of the 2024-25 regular season is set for Saturday, March 22 against the Hitmen, with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
