Rebels 4 Raiders 0
Veteran defenceman Alex Petrovic set the tone early — make that very early — and the Red Deer Rebels never looked back Wednesday at the Centrium.
Petrovic connected just 10 seconds into the WHL contest before a recorded gathering of 4,439 and Deven Dubyk made 17 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Rebels posted a convincing 4-0 win over the Prince Albert Raiders.
“We had a good start with the goal right off the bat and just kept rolling from there,” said Petrovic, who opened the scoring with his sixth of the season, using a Raiders defender for a screen and beating netminder Cole Holowenko low to the far corner.
The early marker stood up as the eventual winner, but Joel Hamilton and Cory Millete also got into the act with a goal and two assists apiece.
“We had possession of the puck most of the night and that helped a lot, especially with just four of us on the back end,” added Petrovic, who along with Mathew Dumba, Stephen Hak and Cody Thiel were — for the second straight game — the only defencemen dressed due to the club’s rash of injuries.
All four rearguards were solid, including rookies Hak and Thiel.
“They’re playing great for first-year guys,” said Petrovic, who logged roughly 35 minutes.
“They’re really stepping up. I think the big thing for them is to just keep it simple and they did a good job of that tonight. They were also moving the puck up the ice.”
As for his heavy workload, Petrovic wasn’t protesting.
“You’re going out every second shift and obviously you can’t complain about the ice time. You have to take advantage of it,” he said.
Hamilton potted his fourth goal of the season at 15:28 of the opening frame, collecting his own rebound and tucking it around and past Holowenko.
The Rebels poured on the pressure in the scoreless middle stanza, but had only six shots on goal despite creating a multitude of chances. The puck simply didn’t bounce their way.
“We had the puck in their end and generated a lot of scoring opportunities tonight,” said Rebels GM/head coach Jesse Wallin. “We had a lot of opportunities in the second period but we just seemed to be finding legs and shin pads in front of the net.”
Petrovic sealed the deal with his second of the night at 7:26 of the third period, taking a pass from Hamilton, who was located in the far corner, and unleashing a wrist shot that Holowenko initially stopped, but then trickled into the net. The goal came with Raiders forward Mike Winther in the penalty box for goaltender interference.
Millette completed the scoring five minutes later, taking a drop pass from Hamilton and finding the low corner with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle.
“We were focused off the start and obviously when you score early like that it’s a big help,” said Wallin. “It’s nice to play with the lead and we just played a real solid 60 minutes tonight.”
The Rebels bench boss was impressed with his entire team, heaping extra praise on his four defencemen as well as Hamilton.
“He’s a hard-working kid who plays with a lot of grit,” said Wallin of the rookie forward. “He does a good job of creating opportunities in the offensive end and tonight he made a couple of really good heads-up plays on a couple of goals.
“I really liked how he stayed on the puck on the goal he scored. It was a good second and third effort to make good on an opportunity. He played well and it was nice to see him get rewarded.
“Overall, I thought it was a real gutsy effort by everybody.”
The Rebels failed to gain ground on the Brandon Wheat Kings, who won 3-2 at Regina. Brandon remains four points up on the Rebels for eighth place in the Eastern Conference with Red Deer holding two games in hand.
The Rebels will travel to Cranbrook today for a Friday meeting with the Kootenay Ice, then will return home for a Saturday night match with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com