Rebels 4 Raiders 2
The Red Deer Rebels (12-6-1-0) couldn’t have asked for much from a two-week road trip.
Red Deer logged plenty of miles on the bus this month, away from the Centrium for a seven-game swing through Manitoba and Saskatchewan earlier this month and will return home with a 5-2 record.
The trip culminated with a convincing 4-2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders (5-9-0-1) Friday. The only two losses over that stretch came to the Winnipeg ICE, who are the top team in the Canadian Hockey League.
Although the Rebels got behind the eight-ball quickly Friday after an early Raiders goal, Blake Gustafson and Ben King scored before the first period was out to open up a 2-1 advantage. King’s goal on the power play was his 11th of the year, 10 of which have come with the man advantage.
Jace Weir extended the advantage with his third goal of the season 6:06 in the second, before King lit the lamp just over two minutes later.
King scored his second of the night to make it 4-1, after a beautiful feed from linemate Jhett Larson. The 19-year-old forward held off a Prince Albert defender streaking to the net, before slipping a shot past Tikhon Chaika.
Larson had two assists in the game and the five-foot-nine, 169-pound rookie is up to 10 points in 19 games this season.
Red Deer outshot the Raiders 27-20 and scored once on three power-play opportunities, while Prince Albert failed to convert on all five of their man-advantage chances.
Chase Coward picked up his third straight victory with 18 saves in the Rebels’ net.
The Rebels are tied for first in the Central Division with Edmonton with 25 points.
Red Deer will be back on the ice Nov. 19, when they host the Calgary Hitmen at the Peavey Mart Centrium.
byron.hackett@reddeeradvocate.com
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