Some unfortunate news struck the Red Deer Rebels just days before training camp was set to begin.
The franchise announced on Tuesday that goaltender Chase Coward will not be reporting to training camp and will not be with the team to start the 2022/23 Western Hockey League regular season because of medical reasons.
Rebels owner, president, and general manager Brent Sutter said Coward had some testing done this summer that revealed a congenital defect to his lower body.
“At this time Chase has decided he will not attend training camp or be a part of the Rebels roster to start the season, and we support him as he navigates through the process,” Sutter said.
“With Coward’s situation that’s a tough one but we can’t do anything about it we just got to move forward… It was a decision that was made you know Coward and his family made it for all the right reasons so now we just have to move forward and it gives someone else an opportunity.”
Coward joined the Rebels in 2019 as a listed player and has played 41 career regular season games for Red Deer. During those games, he’s posted 2.62 goals against average, and a .904 save percentage. That was good enough for a 24-11-1-2 record in the crease with two shutouts. He also went 4-4 in the playoffs last season with one shutout, a .925 save percentage, and 2.24 goals against average.
