The Red Deer Rebels weren’t supposed to be here – in the playoffs, third place in the Central Division and squaring off against the Lethbridge Hurricanes for the second year in a row.
“Once again, we’re at the dance. It was certainly not an easy road to take,” said Rebels GM/ head coach Brent Sutter.
“The first half of the year was tough going. We made some changes, a lot of young guys getting opportunities to play. A lot of guys rose to the occasion in the last 10 weeks and got their games going.”
Around Dec. 10, in the midst of a 10-game losing streak, Sutter said he made a decision about the direction of his franchise.
A retool, or rebuild was needed to stock the cupboard that was left empty after loading up for a Memorial Cup run when they hosted in 2016.
Boasting one of the youngest lineups in the WHL between Dec. 10 and the Jan. 10 trade deadline, there were noticeable struggles.
Winning just once over that span, Sutter made a few moves at the deadline making room for even more younger players.
The two and a half months that followed were something out of a fairy tale.
The Rebels started winning at a remarkable pace, only the Moose Jaw Warriors and a few others had a higher winning percentage through February and March.
From Jan. 23 to the end of the season, the Rebels were 17-7-2-0.
Red Deer beat top teams in the Eastern Conference like Swift Current and Moose Jaw. They knocked off top teams in the West, notably Victoria and Kelowna.
Two of those final 17 wins came in the last week of the regular season against their first-round playoff opponent. Sutter thinks the late-season momentum can be a benefit for his club in the playoffs.
“Just need to make sure our preparation heading into it is as good as it needs to be. See where it takes us. I think it’s a really good matchup,” Sutter said.
“For the last six weeks or 10 weeks, we played some pretty good hockey. We just have to carry that on and take our game to another level beyond that.”
A 4-1 victory on March 9 in Lethbridge was the first time Red Deer had won there in the regular season since Feb. 13, 2015.
While that win instilled a bit of confidence, the regular season series had the Hurricanes with a slight 4-2 edge.
Sutter said the playoffs are an entirely different beast.
“The level of intensity changes, the level of emotion changes and you have to raise your game up,” Sutter said.
“Start of a new season but you have to build off the positives and the things you’ve done.”
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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