Wheat Kings 4 Rebels 2
The Red Deer Rebels gave it their all but came up short Saturday night.
Despite outshooting the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 42-22, Red Deer couldn’t buy a goal in the third period. Wheat Kings forward Nate Danielson, who grew up in Red Deer, scored twice in the final frame to help his side earn a 4-2 victory.
This marked the Rebels’ first loss at home and second defeat against the Wheat Kings.
Head coach Steve Konowalchuk said it was a tough loss but thought his team did a lot of good things.
“We didn’t score enough but the offensive zone time, creating quality scoring chances, and I thought we moved the puck well… I thought we came out we were physical early. We were ready to play,” he said.
“We’ve got to take away from the game though that there are still a couple of key moments that decided that hockey game. As well, at times when we were playing, there were a couple of key moments that changed the outcome or were a big part of changing that outcome. So that’s the frustrating part.”
The Rebels owned the first period in the offensive zone with 14 shots to the Wheat Kings’ seven. Despite that, Brandon got the lone goal of the frame when a Brett Hyland pass was redirected off defenceman Christoffer Sedoff who was blocking the passing lane in front of the net.
Things got chippy in the second period when Rebels forward Arjun Bawa dropped the gloves with Teydon Trembecky. This seemed to spark the home team midway through the period when rookie Carson Birnie buried a rebound in the slot after Kai Uchacz was turned away on a quality scoring opportunity.
Two minutes after that, forward Jace Isley put the Rebels on top with a one-timer on the powerplay off a beautiful passing display by defenceman Christoffer Sedoff.
Moments after that, Isley was sent to the dressing room for a five-minute game misconduct after he crashed into Wheat Kings goaltender Nicholas Jones.
Brandon took advantage of the extended power play and Wheat Kings forward Nolan Ritchie placed a wrist shot in the top left corner to tie the game 2-2.
In the third period, a costly turnover by a Rebels defenceman midway through the frame in their own end left Danielson alone in front of the net.
The Wheat Kings forward fired it home for his 10th tally of the season. With the goalie pulled with one and a half minutes remaining Danielson scored his second of the game to give the Rebels their sixth loss in seven games.
Konowalchuk explained there were plenty of high-quality scoring opportunities, his team just couldn’t bury them.
“It just didn’t happen this game and I thought there were some good things… [It’s] frustrating when we could have came away with two points but sometimes you don’t always get the results you like. It’s part of the game,” he added.
“Every shift you just got to be dialed in and committed every single shift. It’s that fine a line but we’ll get back to work and we’ll improve.”
