At the heart of the Red Deer Rebels’ resurgence this year are two players who have been through a lot in the WHL together.
Ben King was part of a blockbuster trade in November of 2019 when he was 16, acquired from the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for a trio of prospects and draft picks.
Arshdeep Bains is approaching his 230th game with the franchise and the 20-year-old has only seen nine playoff games. King, 19, has yet to play in the postseason in his WHL career.
Since 2019, the two forwards have been attached at the hip for the Rebels and in the 2021-22 WHL season, the combination has been one of the most productive in the entire league.
“We’ve been playing together for three years. We got that chemistry going and right now we’re clicking as a duo and with (Jhett) Larson, we’re clicking as a line,” said King, who has 14 points in his last six games.
“We’re playing some good hockey and we just want to keep it up.”
King leads the WHL in goals with 29, and in power play goals with 15. Bains sits tied for second in points at 55 with Winnipeg’s Matthew Savoie, two back of Kyle Crnkovic for the league lead.
“Things have been good, me and King we’ve been playing for three years together now. We both know how each other play. When we’re playing well, we both play well. We’ve found our stride these last few games,” added Bains, who has at least a point in 14 of the last 15 games.
“There’s chemistry, but it’s also knowing where each other want to be and sometimes we get a little bit of extra luck.”
Scoring clutch goals hasn’t been a problem for the duo either. King is tied for the league lead with six game-winning goals and Bains trails him with five.
“I’ve seen it in practice. I’ve seen it before, it’s just now he’s showing everybody else how good of a shot he has and how well he can play,” said Bains of his linemate.
“It’s not a surprise to me, but I’m happy to see what he’s doing.”
While the individual success and the accolades come with it, both are hungry for something different – something they haven’t had very much of in their WHL careers, success.
And they’ve done that so far – the duo has helped Red Deer to a 25-12-2-1 record, good for third in the Eastern Conference and are propelling one of the WHL’s top power plays this year, operating at 25.6 per cent, third-best in the league. That’s a stark contrast to the miserable 2020-21 season when the Rebels finished last in the East with a 4-15-4 mark during the shortened campaign.
“Any player knows it’s more fun on a winning team so this year has been a lot more enjoyable. We just want to stick with it and win as many games as we can leading into playoffs,” King said.
Added Bains: “Winning games is number one, the most important thing. Everything else comes after that so it’s been a lot of fun this year and hope to keep it going.”
The Rebels welcome the Swift Current Broncos to town Friday night, after a fierce and feisty contest between the Central Division rivals on Tuesday. Red Deer won that game 5-2 and King expects much of the same Friday night.
“We’re a physical team and we try to forecheck hard and get lots of hits and they battle back hard,” King said.
“They’re going to want some revenge and we gotta expect that. We have to play hard and they’re going to come in wanting to win, we just have to want it more and play our game and we should be good.”
With 28 games left in the WHL season, the Rebels trail the Edmonton Oil Kings by four points for top spot in the Central Division. Each team has 24 regulation wins, with the Oil Kings earning two more victories overall and carrying a slight edge in points percentage.
If the Rebels hope to chase them down, it will be on the backs of the two snipers who are having their best seasons in the WHL at the most opportune time.
