Rebels 3 Buffaloes 2
Winning goals are not always pretty.
But to the Red Deer Optimist Rebels, Jarrett Zentner’s goal with 27.6 seconds remaining in the third period was a thing of beauty.
Zentner had Jared Guilbault’s shot deflect off Calgary Buffaloes netminder Bryton Udy then off his skate to give the Rebels a 3-2 victory and a sweep of their best-of-five Alberta Midget Hockey League South Division final.
“All I remember was that I dumped the puck into their end and drove to the net . . . I think it went in off my skate, I’m not exactly sure,” explained Zentner. “But if you put the puck on net and go to the net hard you never know.”
“Driving the net is something we work on in practice,” added Rebels head coach Doug Quinn. “A lot of times you’re not going to score the pretty goals. But if you drive to the net good things will eventually happen.”
The Rebels were around the Buffaloes net for much of the third period and had a number of good scoring chances only to be thwarted by Udy.
“Their goalie was good tonight,” added the 16-year-old Zentner, who is a Kootenay Ice draft pick. “And I think we were getting a bit frustrated, but in the end we got the win and that’s what matters.”
The Rebels jumped into a 2-0 lead early in the second period on a pair of goals by Connor Hartley at 1:27 and 5:27. However, once ahead the Rebels sat back and allowed the Buffaloes to dominate play over the final 10 minutes. As a result Sam Fioretti connected on Red Deer netminder Mac Engel at 17:35 and Ryan Bloom scored at 18:35 to tie the game.
“We definitely let up, but the coach had a little talk after the second period and we settled down in the third,” added Zentner.
Quinn wasn’t pleased with what he saw in the final portion of the middle stanza.
“I think we learned a good lesson tonight,” said Quinn. “We played well for the first half of the game, then sat back, weren’t skating and they stepped it up, which seemed to frustrate our team.
“We fell apart and the guys started getting on each other. But the after the period we were able to talk about things and regroup. We talked about handling adversity. Whatever happens happens, you move on . . . it’s what you do in the next period.”
The Rebels held a 16-11 edge in shots in the final frame, although they were outshot 35-32 overall.
The Rebels meet the Lloydminster Bobcats in the league final. The Bobcats downed the Leduc Oil Kings 2-0 Friday to sweep their best-of-five north final.
The best-of-five final will start in Lloydminster.
“They’re well coached with a lot of talent and speed,” said Quinn. “I expect a really tough test.”
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com