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The Super Series spotlight

It was an exhibition game with some serious implications.

It was an exhibition game with some serious implications.

Three members of the Red Deer Rebels competed in Wednesday’s Super Series contest at Kamloops, with forwards Byron Froese and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and defenceman Alex Petrovic suiting up with Team WHL in a battle with Team Russia.

Among those in the stands at Interior Savings Centre were Hockey Canada scouts in charge of building the list of players to be invited to the Canadian national junior team’s final selection camp next month in Toronto.

Petrovic was aware of their presence.

“You think about that a bit and you can’t really take it as a normal all-star game,” he said Thursday afternoon, just minutes after arriving back in Red Deer. “At the same time, you have to go out there and do your thing. Just like any other tryout, you don’t really worry about the scouts. You just do your own thing and I’ve done a better job of that over the last while.”

“(The presence of the scouts) is something I thought about a little bit before the game, but once you get out there all you can really do is just play and do your best,” said Nugent-Hopkins. “It’s something that’s definitely there with you, but you just have to play.”

Froese, the Rebels’ leading scorer heading into tonight’s game with the visiting Swift Current Broncos, agreed with his teammates.

“You want to play your best, show them (scouts) your best,” he said. “It’s your last chance to show them what you are and how you play. Obviously (the scouts’ presence) is in your head but you just have to focus on playing your game.

“I thought I played above average, that I played a hard-working game where I was finishing my checks and moving my feet, but I don’t know if it was enough (to earn a final selection camp invitation). Hopefully it was.”

Like Froese, Petrovic was satisfied with his performance.

“I turned it over a couple of times, but then everyone did,” he said. “It’s just part of the game, but I felt I played physical and kept it simple, which is my style.”

For the record, Team WHL blew a couple of three-goal leads and lost 7-6 in a shootout.

“We were pretty disappointed. We kind of let our guard down there for a bit,” said Petrovic, in reference to the Russians’ three-goal rally in the final 10 minutes.

“But the Russians are fast . . . good skaters, good shooters. And the pace was a little bit quicker than a normal WHL game,” he added. “This Russian team is supposed to be one of the better teams to come over for this series.”

“It’s too bad the game ended that way. When you get up on a team like that you want to put them away,” said Nugent-Hopkins.

The Rebels second-year sensation was the first WHL player up in the shootout and promptly lost control of the puck while attempting to get the Russian goaltender moving.

“I just tried to deke to my backhand and go back to the forehand, but I lost it on the backhand,” said Nugent-Hopkins. “But overall it was a great experience. Playing with the top guys in the league was really cool.”

Froese was impressed with the Russian squad.

“They were very good and you have to give them credit, especially after all the travel (from Ontario) they endured Wednesday,” he said. “They played hard and worked hard. In the end, we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. We played well enough offensively to win, but that doesn’t always happen if you don’t play strong defensively.”

On the move: Calgary Hitmen GM Kelly Kisio simply couldn’t stand pat any longer. After watching his club’s losing streak reach 12 games with a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Kootenay Ice last Sunday, Kisio hooked up with the Moose Jaw Warriors on a five-player deal two days later. The Hitmen GM sent leading scorer and St. Louis Blues draft pick Cody Beach and fellow forward Mackenzie Royer to the Warriors in return for netminder Brandon Glover and wingers Nathan MacMaster and Danny Gayle, both of whom are Calgary products. “Beach was a commodity teams wanted,” Kisio told the Calgary Sun. “We had to give him up to get these guys back.