For much of the Western Hockey League season, the Red Deer Rebels had one of the best goalie duos in the league.
Behind rookie goaltenders Rhett Stoesser and Kyle Kelsey, the tandem led Red Deer to the top of the Central Division so far this season.
Nearly a split in the number of games the two have played Kelsey and Stoesser have statistically been two of the best goaltenders in the league this season. Kelsey has posted a 2.68 GAA and a .908 save percentage and Stoesser has contributed a 2.35 GAA and a .910 save percentage.
However, the two-headed monster from the Rebels came to an end this week when the Rebels announced Stoesser required season-ending surgery after suffering a lower-body injury in practice.
Kelsey told The Advocate he feels bad for Stoesser.
“You don’t want to see that happen to anyone, especially Rhett. He’s a good guy and he was having such a good year. It really sucks to see,” Kelsey explained.
A lot of the workload will now fall on Kelsey’s shoulders. The 19-year-old has already appeared in 29 of the Rebels 55 games played and with the arrival of youngster Chase Wutzke as the backup, it’s assumed Kelsey will play the majority of the games.
When asked about a potential increase in starts Kelsey said he’s ready.
“It’s been a long season so far. There are a few games left and I’m ready for it. We have a pretty challenging end of the year so I’m looking forward to the games coming up,” he added.
Speaking of big games the Rebels have a marquee matchup against the Winnipeg Ice Friday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium. The Rebels have dropped all three games against the league-best Ice and Kelsey is hoping for a different outcome.
“Winnipeg is a good team but I’m not going in looking at what happened the past few games. It’s a new game and we’re looking forward to it,” he said.
This season Kelsey said there have been plenty of ups and downs but takes pride in what he’s improved on since his first game between the pipes. He’s learned a lot about staying strong mentally and improving on reading his opponents’ plays.
“I’m just trying to make the game as easy as it can get,” Kelsey added. “The coaching staff have been really good. They’ve been really on me, pushing me to make sure I can be at my best.”
After Stoesser went down with the injury the Rebels called up goaltender Chase Wutzke from the U18 AAA Saskatoon Contacts.
Wutzke may be young at just 16 years old but he’s not necessarily new to the WHL appearing in three games during the 2021-22 season.
He also appeared in his first game this season in January against the Saskatoon Blades and made 11 saves on 13 shots. Most recently he made his first start of the 2022-23 campaign on Saturday, Feb. 18 against the Tigers and made 18 saves on 22 shots in a 5-4 victory.
Goaltending coach Ian Gordon said Wutzke is incredibly talented.
“He’s got huge upside in our league,” he said.
“He’s got a really good personality and a belief in himself that he’s capable. If you watched the game in Medicine Hat you wouldn’t have known that he was 16 years old.
“He played composed and he didn’t look like a guy that was nervous in the net and he gave us a chance to win. That will be the expectation… He believes in himself and that might be one of the most important factors for any goalie to have success.”
Gordon said Stoesser suffering a season-ending injury was terrible news as he was a very popular teammate within the room. In terms of his on-ice production, Stoesser was relied on in some stretches when Kelsey was sick or injured and is a big reason why the Rebels have had success.
With that being said Gordon has full confidence in Kelsey’s abilities.
“He played a good chunk of the schedule early in the season. In Kyle’s case, we just have to focus on every single day as opposed to getting too far ahead of ourselves… You can only focus on what’s right in front of you and that’s got to be the mindset for him,” Gordon said.