Raiders 5 Rebels 0
Make it a baker’s dozen.
The Red Deer Rebels must wonder what they’ve done to deserve this, but they suffered their 13th consecutive Western Hockey League loss Sunday at the Centrium, falling 5-0 to the Prince Albert Raiders despite carrying the play through the first two periods.
With seven regulars out of the lineup, including starting netminder Patrik Bartosak and top defencemen Alex Petrovic and Mathew Dumba — both attending the Canadian junior team selection camp in Calgary — the Rebels couldn’t find a way to beat Raiders goaltender Cole Holowenko.
Red Deer couldn’t find a lick of good fortune and then ran into penalty problems in the final frame and gave up three power-play goals.
With Holowenko making like a WHL all-star with a 39-save performance, it all added up to yet another defeat.
“We made two mistakes in the first period and they both ended up in our net,” said Rebels GM/head coach Jesse Wallin.
Indeed, Mike Winther scored a short-handed marker at 12:41 when Rebels goalie Tyler Oswald couldn’t handle a long dump-in and the Trochu native jumped on the loose puck, and Justin Maylan scored directly off a faceoff when the Red Deer centre failed to tie him up five minutes later.
“The first goal is a tough one to give up on your power play, off a dump-in from centre ice. And then there’s a breakdown on the faceoff,” said Wallin.
“Outside of those I thought we were real good through two periods. We certainly had plenty of pressure and opportunities to score, but weren’t able to get anything by (Holowenko).”
The clubs battled through a scoreless second period and then . . .
“We made a key mistake,” said Wallin, in reference to a too-many-men on the ice penalty that led to a Raiders goal, Maylan’s second of the game and 17th of the season at 3:18.
“We made a bad line change. The guy hops on the ice when his man hasn’t come to the bench yet,” said Wallin.
“It’s just a mistake that can’t happen. He hops over the boards, we get a too many men penalty and it ends up in the back of our net. It just feels like every mistake we make right now is killing us.”
Winther potted his second of the evening and 17th of the season at 8:10 with the Rebels two men short, cashing in when Oswald gloved a hot shot from Josh Morrissey but dropped the puck in the crease.
Brandon Herrod rounded out the scoring just under two minutes later, stepping out of the corner and jamming the puck past Oswald while the Rebels served their second of the back-to-back penalties.
“We’re struggling to score and struggling to get healthy,” said Wallin.
“I don’t know what else to say. We just have to stay with it and keep battling here. We have to stick together and weather the storm.”
Oswald, making his first start for Red Deer after coming over from the Winkler Flyers of the MJHL, was just so-so and was pulled in favour of Bolton Pouliot after the visitors’ final goal.
Oswald finished with 24 saves while Pouliot stopped all five shots he faced down the stretch.
Holowenko, the game’s first star who came in with a gaudy 4.52 goals-against average and .881 save percentage, was superb while earning just his second win of the season.
“This was our third game in three nights and we weren’t sure about using Cole. But we gave him a chance tonight and he responded well,” said Raiders head coach Steve Young.
“But I thought Red Deer put in a good effort tonight, for sure.”
With his team now at 10-22-1-2, Young knows all about the frustrations of a struggling team. He can sympathize with the Rebels.
“No question. It’s a situation where you’re playing well and all of a sudden the puck is in your net,” he said.
“We’ve been there and you can get demoralized. But give that team credit over there. With what they’ve gone through, they’re making no complaints. They’ve worked hard and we knew that’s what they would do tonight.”
The Rebels summoned 15-year-old defenceman Haydn Fleury from the midget AAA Notre Dame Argos for Sunday’s contest and he didn’t look out of place.
“I thought he was fine. He’s a kid we’re really excited about,” said Wallin.
“He had a great training camp with us and is having a real good year in midget triple A in Saskatchewan. I thought he held his own very well tonight.”
The Rebels leave today for Cranbrook where they will face the Kootenay Ice Tuesday.
Red Deer is in Medicine Hat the following night to face the Tigers and close out the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule Saturday at home against the Regina Pats.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com