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Midget AAA Optimist Rebels blank Flames

It took the Red Deer Optimist Rebels close to 10 games to get their feet wet in the Alberta Midget Hockey League this season.
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Rebels 2 Flames 0

It took the Red Deer Optimist Rebels close to 10 games to get their feet wet in the Alberta Midget Hockey League this season.

But once they did they’ve been almost unstoppable.

“Our last 11 games we’ve been 8-1-2,” said Rebels head coach Doug Quinn following a solid 2-0 win over the South Division leading Calgary Flames at the Arena Friday.

“We started a bit slow, but it was a process as it took a while for everybody to understand what their jobs and responsibilities are. It took a while for the kids to know to know how hard they had to work and how hard they had to compete. But we’re getting stronger all the time.”

The defending league and Pacific regional champion Rebels have only three players back from last season and none on the defence. In fact the defence is one of the youngest in the league with two 15-year-olds, two 16-year-olds and a pair of 17-year-olds.

The defence did take some time to jell, but as they showed Friday they’re coming together.

“We’ve cleaned up our defensive zone coverage, especially over the last 11 games,” said Quinn. “The kids are working hard and buying into the program. And it’s not only the 15-year-olds (Joel Topping and Stefan Danielson), but the whole defence had taken it to another level. It was a big jump or them no matter if they came from bantam AAA or midget AA it’s an increase in intensity and speed.”

The win gives the Rebels a 12-4-3 record and moved them to within one point of the Flames and with a game in hand.

It was the second meeting of the season between the two. The first game they tied 4-4.

“It was one of those games,” said Quinn. “We out-chanced them and out-played them but every time we had a turnover they scored. But they’re a tough defensive team. You can tell the way they played tonight. They really frustrated us in the first period as it was tighter checking and more physical than we were used to. But we settled in as the game wore on and had our chances, but their goalie made a lot of good saves.”

The Rebels finished with 39 shots on Flames netminder Kenny Cameron while Tanner Jaillet finished with 27 saves for the shutout. Jaillet wasn’t as busy, but came up with several excellent saves, especially on the Calgary power play.

Jaillet lowered his goals-against-average to 2.72 and upped his save percentage to .905 with his effort.

The Rebels scored both their goals in the middle stanza as team scoring leader Conner Hartley connected just 26 seconds into the frame and Nicholas Glackin scored at 13:56.

Hartley also assisted on Glackin’s marker and now has 12 goals and 15 assists in 19 games.

The Rebels have five games remaining before Christmas, beginning Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Arena against the SSCC Athletics.

The Rebels won’t be sitting at home for the holidays as they have already qualified for the Calgary Mac’s Christmas tournament.

“That was one of our long-term goals,” said Quinn. “We also set a goal to be in the top two in our division and we’re well on the way, plus we set a goal getting 14 points out of the last 10 games and we got 16. We set the goals and work hard to try to achieve them.”

drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com