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Column: From playoff denier to second round believer

Count me among those WHL pundits who pegged the Red Deer Rebels as a likely favourite in the Central Division.
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The Red Deer Rebels need a pair of wins and some help to sneak into second place in the Central Division this weekend. (Photo by BYRON HACKETT/Advocate Staff)

Count me among those WHL pundits who pegged the Red Deer Rebels as a likely favourite in the Central Division.

Put me in the mix once again with those who believed the Rebels playoff chances were close to zero in January.

Perhaps, I’ll lead the herd in suggesting Red Deer might have a shot at winning not one, but two rounds in the playoffs.

As you likely know by now, the Rebels will play the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference quarter-final. Home ice advantage will be determined this weekend.

It is a series that Red Deer has a real shot at winning, considering two convincing three-goal victories over Lethbridge in the last week.

The Rebels are one of the hottest teams in the WHL with a 17-5-2-0 record in their last 25 games. In Feb., Red Deer took out two of the top teams in the CHL, Swift Current and Moose Jaw. They also won four straight on a gauntlet of a B.C. road trip late in the month.

Red Deer boasts a top line in Brandon Hagel, Mason McCarty and Kristian Reichel that can score against anyone.

McCarty might crack the 40-goal plateau and Reichel has 34 in 62 games. Hagel is a point-per-game player now, despite struggling early in the year and when he returned from injury.

Add the fact that Riley Lamb won a pair of WHL Goalie of the Week awards in Feb. and Ethan Anders was WHL Rookie of the Month in Jan. – it’s easy to see why they could earn a first round win.

In that scenario, they would line up against the Medicine Hat Tigers in the second round, provided the Tigers take out the Brandon Wheat Kings in the opening series.

Things haven’t gone so swimmingly against the Wheat Kings, as Red Deer has failed to pick up a win over Brandon, but they did push three of their four contests to overtime.

The Rebels have beaten the Tigers in two of the last three meetings, including a solid 5-2 win to clinch a playoff spot.

All this talk is remarkable, considering the Rebels were a playoff afterthought around Christmas time but rattled off 17 wins in their last 24 games to change the conversation.

The Rebels will play the Kootenay Ice in their final two games of the regular season on the weekend and if they win both there’s a realistic possibility they could finish second in the Central.

That’s only if the Hurricanes fail to pick up a point against the Medicine Hat Tigers in two weekend games.

The Ice have gone the complete opposite way of the Rebels and opened the door for Red Deer to sneak into the playoffs in the first place.

Kootenay was once 12 points up on the Rebels for third place in the Central Division but fell off a cliff over the past two months.

They were eliminated from the playoff race with the Rebels win last Saturday. It’s the third year in a row the Ice will be golfing in April after they made the playoffs for 17 straight seasons.

Kootenay has 25-32-5-2 record on the year, but they haven’t won in 11 games (0-7-2-2) and are coming off a 3-2 shootout loss Wednesday in Calgary.

Red Deer is rolling with wins in six of their last eight.

The Rebels final regular season home game is Friday night at the Centrium with puck drop set for 7 p.m.



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Byron Hackett

About the Author: Byron Hackett

Byron has been the sports reporter at the advocate since December of 2016. He likes to spend his time in cold hockey arenas accompanied by luke warm, watered down coffee.
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