Oil Kings 5 Rebels 2 (Preseason)
The Edmonton Oil Kings young guns easily outshined their counterparts from Red Deer Tuesday night.
In the preseason opener featuring players predominantly 18 years old and younger, Edmonton’s roster had plenty of WHL experience and that left the Rebels playing catchup most of the night at the Edmonton Downtown Arena.
Behind four straight first period goals, the Oil Kings picked up a 5-2 win to open the preseason.
Red Deer opened the scoring first when Mason Ward notched his first of the preseason.
The Rebels blueliner intercepted a clearing pass and buried the shot on Sebastian Cossa.
From there it was all Oil Kings.
Forward Dylan Guenther scored 69 seconds later before Tyler Horstmann added a power-play tally. Guenther added his second of the period 38 seconds after that and Jesse Seppala rounded out the four-goal run.
With the two teams playing a full 15-minute four-on-four in the second period, Jace Weir converted a one-timer to cut the deficit in half.
Byron Fancy was replaced midway through the second to give Eric Ward some work. Fancy allowed five goals on 29 shots.
Netminder Ward stopped all 10 shots he faced in the game.
In the shootout, Keaton Sorensen and Jayden Grubbe scored for the Rebels.
The Rebels will host the Lethbridge Hurricanes in their exhibition season home opener on Sept. 6. Red Deer will head to Lethbridge on Sept. 7 and play at home against the Medicine Hat Tigers on Sept. 13. They’ll round out the preseason Sept. 15 on the road against the Calgary Hitmen.
Black prevails in Black and White game
Saturday, after the Black and White Game, Red Deer cut Hunter Brown (16), Declan Cosford (16), Braden Fischer (16), Parker Lalonde (15), Jhett Larson (15), Connor Poppenroth (16), Jeremy Hancock (16), Chase Coward (16). Black edged White in the game 4-3 in a shootout.
Blake Sydlowski, Hunter Mayo, 15, and Chris Douglas had goals in the loss for White. Black had tallies from Cam Hausinger, Fischer and Kyle Masters. Jordan Borysiuk notched the shootout winner.
Barteaux off to Dallas Stars Development Camp
Recently named captain Dawson Barteaux will depart Wednesday morning for Traverse City, Mich. Barteaux, 19, was named the captain of the Rebels last week and will participate in the 2019 NHL Prospect Tournament as a member of the Dallas Stars. The defenceman was picked in the sixth round, 168th overall by the Stars in the 2018 NHL Draft. He is the only Rebels’ player invited to an NHL rookie camp.
Rebels name alternate captains
Late last week, the Rebels also announced the supporting leadership group. Cam Hausinger, Brett Davis and defenceman Ethan Sakowich will serve as alternate captains this season.
Both Hausinger and Davis wore letters in Kootenay, before being acquired by the Rebels midway through last season. Sakowich, originally a third-round pick of the Rebels in the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft, has spent his entire career in Red Deer. He has played 205 WHL regular-season games and 16 playoff games.
