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King scores 50th goal of season, Red Deer Rebels fall to Edmonton Oil Kings

Oil Kings 6 Rebels 4
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Red Deer Rebels forward Ben King scored his 50th goal of the season against the Edmonton Oil Kings Saturday. (File photo by Rob Wallator/Red Deer Rebels)

Oil Kings 6 Rebels 4

Ben King has reached a pair of personal milestones as the Western Hockey League 2021-22 season nears its end.

The Rebels forward scored his 50th goal and 101st point of the year in a 6-4 loss to the Oil Kings in Edmonton Saturday afternoon.

He’s the first player in the league to hit the 50-goal plateau this season and the second player to reach 100 points – his linemate Arshdeep Bains was the first to reach the century mark.

“It’s not easy to score in this league and to be able to get to 50 is quite an achievement,” said Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk.

Oil Kings forward Justin Sourdif scored twice in the first period, at 8:50 and 14:19, to put his team ahead early.

But the Rebels fought back to tie the game up before the end of the period.

Defenceman Christoffer Sedoff scored his seventh of the year during a power play at 17:47 of the first. King picked up an assist on the goal, which lifted him to 100 points on the season.

After scoring the Rebels’ first goal of the game, Sedoff then assisted on Jace Isley’s 15th of the season in the final minute of the opening frame. Isley tipped a slap pass between his legs and into the net.

Edmonton’s Tyler Horstmann scored about four minutes into the second period to put his team back on top. Dylan Guenther and Carter Souch added two more within the next few minutes.

King then scored his 50th of the year at 17:32 of the second while the Rebels were on the power play. Bains and Sedoff picked up the assists.

Guenther scored again for the Oil Kings before the end of the second – the Oil Kings outshot the Rebels 24-6 in the period.

Bains brought Red Deer within two at 5:42 of the third period, but that was as close as the Rebels got.

“There were some mental mistakes that allowed them to have more goals than we’d like, but I thought the boys kept battling throughout,” said Konowalchuk.

Rebels forward Kalan Lind, a night after scoring his 20th of the season during a 5-4 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, was stretchered off of the ice during Saturday’s game.

“He’s obviously a big part of our team. We have a close team and when someone gets hauled off like that on a stretcher, there’s some concern,” said Konowalchuk.

“It kind of made for a kind of weird hockey game. But I thought our guys fought back and battled to give ourselves a chance. But it definitely wasn’t our mentally sharpest game.”

Connor Ungar stopped 47 of 53 shots for Red Deer. Kolby Hay stopped 26 of 30 and Sebastian Cossa stopped the three shots he faced for Edmonton.

With its win, Edmonton clinched the top spot in the Central Division, meaning the Rebels are guaranteed to finish the season as the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed.

Red Deer has two more games remaining in the regular season: a matchup against the Hitmen in Calgary on Wednesday and a home game against the Oil Kings at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Saturday.



sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com

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Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
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