Oil Kings 6
Rebels 3
The Red Deer Rebels lost their fifth straight game on Sunday.
They made a push in the third period, but it wasn’t enough, as the Edmonton Oil Kings won 6-3 in the regular season finale at Rogers Place.
The Oil Kings scored 3:23 into the game when Skyler Bruce beat Rebels netminder Rhett Stoesser.
Red Deer captain Kai Uchacz found the equalizer just five minutes later off the pass from Dwayne Jean Jr.
After that, the Oil Kings scored four straight goals to lead 5-1 after the second period, including a shorthanded tally.
That led the Rebels coaching staff to pull Stoesser after he made just 10 saves on 15 shots. This marked the second game in a row the Rebels swapped their goaltenders after goalie Chase Wutzke was pulled on Saturday in a 7-3 loss at home against the Oil Kings.
In the third period, forward Jhett Larson scored early on followed by a goal from Ollie Josephson with less than three minutes left in the game.
Down just two goals, the Rebels pulled Wutzke for the extra attacker but Oil Kings defenceman Marc Lajoie scored the empty netter.
On Saturday night, the Rebels announced the winners of their yearly player awards.
Kai Uchacz won five different awards including the Three Star Award, the Red Deer Advocate Players Award, the ATB Financial Humanitarian Award, the Hampton Inn & Suites Leading Scorer, and the Bearcom Canada Most Valuable Player.
Forward Carson Birnie won the Darcy Robinson Most Underrated Player Award and Hunter Mayo was named the Rebels’ Defenceman of the Year.
In addition, Frantisek Formanek claimed the Plus/ Minus Award, Chase Wutzke won the Pattison Media Rookie of the Year, and Evan Smith took home the TELUS Scholastic Player of the Year Award.
The Rebels will now move their attention to the 2024 WHL Playoffs which begin this week. They’ll take on the Medicine Hat Tigers in the opening round with Games 1 and 2 in Medicine Hat on Friday Saturday.
Games 3 and 4 will return to Red Deer on Tuesday, April 2, and Wednesday, April 3 at 7 p.m. at the Peavey Mart Centrium.