Sometimes you have to learn to lose before you can learn to win.
That was essentially the Red Deer Rebels’ mindset as they packed up their lockers on Friday after falling in the playoffs.
It wasn’t quite the ending to the season they had hoped for but head coach Dave Struch is confident in the future of the organization.
Struch, who was named interim head coach at the beginning of March, took over for former bench boss Derrick Walser who parted ways with the organization following a loss to the Swift Current Broncos on March 1.
Despite losing five straight to end the regular season, Struch led the Rebels to a round one series victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers in five games.
However, in the second round of the WHL playoffs, the Rebels ran into a buzzsaw called the Saskatoon Blades.
They were the Canadian Hockey League’s top team for most of the season and it showed, sweeping the Rebels in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Struch said on Friday that they’re disappointed their season came to an end so early.
“I think this is something that every team goes through at the end of the year. It’s good for us to voice our thoughts on their preparation, things they need to do in the summertime with preparation for next year being the most important thing,” he said.
“It’s also important to hear a little bit from them in how they feel about their game, their season, the team’s season, and an outlook going forward.”
The Rebels entered the series against the Blades as heavy underdogs. After falling in Game 1, the Rebels gave the Blades their best in Game 2 but fell just short 2-1 in overtime.
In that same game Rebels goaltender Chaze Wutzke took a big hit Blades forward Easton Armstrong. He stayed in the game but was later ruled out for Games 3 and 4 with an upper-body injury.
Rebels’ other netminder Rhett Stoesser was also out with an injury he suffered before the series. That left them with two rookie goalies who had yet to make their WHL debut. The Rebels put their trust in rookie Taylor Tabashniuk who performed well given the circumstances.
The Rebels went on to lose Games 3 and 4 by big margins but the most important thing to Struch was that his team never gave up.
“That’s the biggest part was the commitment to playing the right way right through. Some of it’s uncontrollable. There’s nothing we can do about the fact that it was a bad hit and knocked our goalie out,” he said.
“But how we act and react to that situation was the resilience, the work ethic, playing the right way, and working hard. Those are the positives from it.”
In his short time at the helm, Struch sees a lot of potential in the players and the future of the team. Moving forward he believes they can learn a lot from the series.
“The experience was a good experience no matter what happened. The little victories along the way we gain those from the failures and the mistakes we make. That’s something, especially for our young guys moving forward that becomes the most important thing.”
They lived up to playing the Rebels brand of hockey this season Struch said and from here they’ll continue to grow and hopefully win together in the future.
“I knew prior to [starting with the Rebels] just as everybody does they know what the Rebel identity is, they know what the Sutter family is. The character and the discipline to do the right things every day we saw the development in that over the six, seven weeks that I was here.”
Struch’s future with the Rebels remains up in the air following the conclusion of the season. He has expressed a desire to stay but the decision has yet to be made by owner and general manager Brent Sutter.
“I’ve enjoyed it here. This is a place I’d like to be. It’s out of my hands right now but I hope I get the opportunity to discuss things further with management. Hopefully, something works out.”