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The good, the bad, the Rebels

The 2009-10 Western Hockey League regular season is drawing to a close and the Red Deer Rebels are headed to the playoffs for the first time in three years.
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Red Deer Rebel Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has headlined this year’s terrific young crop of players scoring 64 points in 65 games as a 16-year-old.

The 2009-10 Western Hockey League regular season is drawing to a close and the Red Deer Rebels are headed to the playoffs for the first time in three years.

That in itself should be the high point for a Rebels team that struggled mightily each of the past two winters and is now attempting to emerge from a late funk before the playoffs open next week.

The highlights have been numerous, the lowlights not so much. Here then, are samples of each:

Highlights

Fabulous freshman

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the first overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft, gave Rebels fan a glance at his greatness when he appeared in a pair of home games as a 15-year-old.

In his allotted five underage appearances with the Rebels, he scored twice and collected six points, a fair indication of what he would accomplish as a rookie regular.

The 16-year-old dazzled fans everywhere this season with his sensational set of skills and has 64 points — including 24 goals — in 65 games heading into tonight’s clash with the visiting Kootenay Ice.

Whiz-bang Willie

Willie Coetzee, for whatever reason, was overlooked in last year’s NHL entry draft but earned an NHL contract with Detroit after getting a free agent tryout from the Red Wings and then making a favourable impression at the team’s rookie and main camps.

The gifted winger sniped 18 goals and accumulated 42 points in a full 72-game WHL schedule last season and has improved to a team-leading 80 points (29g,51a) a year later. He sits 15th in overall league scoring heading into the final weekend of regular-season play.

As a signed player who turns 20 in November, this is likely Coetzee’s final WHL season.

Terrific trade

Power forward Cass Mappin opened what was to be his third full season with the Rebels on a positive note, scoring twice and adding two assists in four games.

But he wasn’t happy, requested a trade and had that request honoured in short order as he was sent to Vancouver in return for Slovakian forward Andrej Kudrna, who was pointless in five games with the Giants.

Call it a delightful deal from the Rebels’ perspective. Mappin never found his groove with the Giants and was subsequently dealt to the Regina Pats, whose playoff hopes were recently dashed.

The Big Valley native, Red Deer’s first pick in the 2005 bantam draft, potted 17 goals and accumulated 39 points in 56 games last winter. With two games left in Regina’s season, he has eight goals and 24 points in 56 outings. That’s 20 points (6-14) in 54 games since leaving Red Deer.

As for Kudrna, well, he’s been big-time productive. The six-foot-two winger, who is a half year younger than Mappin, sits third in Rebels scoring with 30 goals and 54 points.

Resilient rearguards

The Rebels’ back end was a glaring weakness early in the season, but with the return of Alex Petrovic from injury and the addition of Aaron Borejko and Simon Witt via the trade route, the blue-line brigade started to turn the corner.

Justin Weller began to play to his potential, Cullen Morin and Colin Archer returned to their former selves and Brad Haber, another newcomer, filled in admirably both up front and on the blue-line.

The playoff prize

With a 4-3 shootout win Feb. 27 in Edmonton, the Rebels qualified for post-season play for just the second time in five years.

Lowlights

Fractured season

Overage centre Nathan Green joined the Rebels in an off-season trade with the Brandon Wheat Kings and contributed from the outset with his experience and offensive abilities.

The Winnipeg native was rolling right along with nine goals and 22 points in 25 games when a linesmen fell on him during a scrum at the conclusion of a 3-1 loss to the Tigers Nov. 22 at Medicine Hat. The incident resulted in a leg fracture that required surgery.

Green will return to the Red Deer lineup tonight for the first time since suffering the horrific injury and could be the added weapon the Rebels require to make some sort of playoff run.

Fizzle finish

The Rebels have lost four of their last five games down the regular-season homestretch, a trend they hope to reverse starting tonight against the visiting Kootenay Ice and continuing with Sunday’s road game against the Calgary Hitmen, their final contest prior to the playoffs.