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Hard work pays off for Rebels against Warriors

Red Deer downs Moose Jaw 6-4
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Rebels 6 Warriors 4

Not all victories are pretty. In fact a lot of them come down to hard work and simply competing harder than your opponent.

Such was the case Friday as the Red Deer Rebels took a 6-4 victory from the Moose Jaw Warriors in Western Hockey League play before 4,389 fans at the Centrium.

“It wasn’t beautiful … not a pretty game, but we still battled, competed and played hard,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter.

“It was just in our mindset at times. We weren’t very smart in some things we did.

“We took too many penalties that hurt us at certain points in the game, but that’s something we’ll learn from.”

The second period was especially wild with seven goals scored.

The Rebels grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Colton Bobyk and Austin Pratt, but the Warriors took advantage of a string of Red Deer penalties to score three goals in three minutes and 45 seconds to take the lead. Luka Burzan connected on the power play at 12:41 with Jayden Halbgewachs scored at 13:24 and 16:26. The second once again on the power play.

“It was tough taking all those penalties in the second period, we were shorthanded about half the period,” said Pratt, who pulled the Rebels even, backhanding his own rebound past Moose Jaw netminder Brody Willms 17:14. Adam Musil put the Rebels ahead at 18:23.

Burzan once again connected on the power play at 1:25 of the third period when he was left alone in the slot.

However, Pratt notched his first WHL hat trick at 11:43, shovelling home a loose puck into an open net after Grayson Pawlenchuk poked it free from Willms. Michael Spacek put the lid on the scoring with an empty net marker at 19:42.