CRANBROOK– The Red Deer Rebels will likely wipe the final weekend of the WHL season from their memory.
The Kootenay Ice dominated the Rebels in a home-and-home to finish the regular season with a 5-0 win in Cranbrook on Saturday night.
The Rebels rested their top line of Brandon Hagel, Kristian Reichel and Mason McCarty for the game.
Former Rebel Cameron Hausinger scored twice on his former team and Duncan McGovern made 19 saves for the shutout.
“It was disappointing the way we played Friday but (Saturday) our best players were our older guys and Johnny’s line was good. I thought some of our young kids struggled,” Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter said.
“Overall, you move on now and start getting ready for playoffs. We were playing a team this weekend that was loose and didn’t have anything to play for but personal pride. We went into it as coaches, hoping we can play good, but you hope no one gets injured either. We made it through that front.”
Red Deer finished the regular season third in the Central Division with a 27-32-10-3 record. They will look forward to the WHL Eastern Conference Quarter-Final on Friday, March 23 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes in Lethbridge.
“We need to work on the details and make sure we’re solid,” Sutter said of the focus for his club this week heading into the first round matchup.
Colton Veloso opened the scoring late in the first Saturday, converting a nice passing play from Alec Baer and Colton Kroeker.
The home side continued to roll when Hausinger banged in a rebound on the power play with just 34 seconds left in the period.
Kaeden Taphorn scored his sixth of the year shorthanded shortly after Reese Johnson was robbed by Duncan McGovern midway through the second.
Midway through the third, the Ice won a faceoff and Hausinger picked up another rebound for his second goal of the game against his former team.
Baer notched his 30th goal of the season with a great solo effort midway through the third period to round out the scoring.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter