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Optimist Rebels advance after sweep

The Red Deer Optimist Rebels finally gave up a goal to the Calgary Buffaloes, but what was more important was what was on their side of the scoreboard at the end of 60 minutes.

Rebels 2 Buffaloes 1

The Red Deer Optimist Rebels finally gave up a goal to the Calgary Buffaloes, but what was more important was what was on their side of the scoreboard at the end of 60 minutes.

The Rebels downed the Buffaloes 2-1 at the Arena Sunday afternoon, giving them a 3-0 victory in the best-of-five Alberta Midget Hockey League South Division semifinal series.

The Buffaloes, who were blanked 3-0 and 2-0 by Red Deer goaltender Dasan Sydora in the first two games, opened the scoring at 3:06 of the first period, when 15-year-old Tanner MacMaster poked home a loose puck that snuck behind Sydora.

However, the Rebels went on the power play 33 seconds later and Brady Bakke tied the score at 3:59.

“That was a big goal to respond right away,” said Rebels head coach Doug Quinn. “To be able to come back that quickly took some of their momentum away.”

The Rebels simply dominated the rest of the first period, outshooting the Buffaloes 16-6. However, it wasn’t until 17:01 of the second period that Scott Feser notched what turned out to be the winning goal when his cross-crease pass attempt deflected in off a defender.

“I thought our line played well but we weren’t getting any bounces until that power play when I tried the pass through the crease and got a nice bounce,” explained Feser, who knows the Rebels power play needs to improve as they go along.

“We’re always looking to make improvements as each penalty kill is different,” he said. “We’ll watch a lot of video and try to take advantage of what we see.”

The Rebels finished with a 38-19 edge in shots on goal in the game and outshot the Buffaloes 134-54 in the three games.

“We had a lot of glorious opportunities throughout the series with a lot of breakaways, two-on-ones and we just didn’t capitalize,” said Quinn. “In a lot of the games if we scored that one extra goal we would have been off to the races.”

But while the offence could have been sharper, credit had to go to the Buffaloes netminder Coleman Vollrath. And while he faced a lot more rubber, Red Deer’s Sydora was equally as sharp when he needed to be.

“Dasan was unreal and kept us holding the lead once we went ahead,” said Feser.

“All year we averaged less than 20 shots a game against,” added Quinn. “We always play good team defence and we pride ourselves on it. We would like to score more than we did, but it’s playoff hockey and the goaltending is better every round. There wasn’t a lot of room out there and we’re under a bit of pressure.”

Quinn is glad to see the end of the series, so they get time off before they face either the Calgary Flames or Calgary Northstars in the next round.

“This was a tough series. They have a really good team. They work hard and are well coaches. It was certainly playoff hockey.”

Feser agreed.

“It’s really good to get that first one under our belts, it was a lot tougher than it looked,” he said.

“It was good for the guys as a lot of them it’s their first playoff.”

Feser knows he has to be one of the team leaders and is thankful for his earlier time with the WHL’s Rebels.

“It’s huge,” he said. “It’s a whole other level up there and every time I was up, each game I got more comfortable and confident. When I came back to the midgets I was that much more confident and I could use what I learned up there here.”

No matter who they face in the next round — the Flames are leading 2-1 — Quinn knows it’ll be tough.

“We’re very similar to the Flames and they did score one more goal than we did. Their goaltending and defence is strong, but no matter which of those teams we face it’ll be a tough matchup.”

The only negative from Sunday is that both Jon Finnigan and Bakke went out with injuries in the second period. Finnigan injured a shoulder as he crashed into the goal post and Bakke was drilled into the boards from behind. However, Quinn feels both will be ready for the next series.

drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com