Rebels 4 Ice 3 (OT)
The Red Deer Rebels’ bus legs were churning in short order Saturday, a welcome change from the last time they visited Cranbrook.
“It was a real character effort,” Rebels GM/head coach Jesse Wallin said Sunday, looking back on his club’s 4-3 WHL overtime win over the Kootenay Ice the night before.
“It’s a tough place to play. You climb off the bus after riding for five hours and they (Ice) always try to get to you early in the game.
“That was the key for us after the last time we were in there when we kind of had a slow start and spotted them two goals (in a 3-2 loss Oct. 26). We wanted to have a little better start last night and we did that.”
The clubs battled through a scoreless first period in which the Ice held a 13-7 advantage in shots.
“We were a little flat in the first 10 minutes, it’s kind of tough to get the legs going after riding on the bus for that long,” said Wallin.
“But we managed to weather the storm and then get going in the last 10 minutes of the period.
From there it was a real good game, a hard-fought battle. We scored the first goal, which is always huge, and then it kind of went back and forth.
Eventual overtime hero John Persson opened the scoring at 6:25 of the second period, but the lead was short-lived as Brock Montgomery put the Ice back on even terms three minutes later.
Turner Elson notched his seventh of the season — a short-handed marker — to restore Red Deer’s lead 3:41 into the third period, but Elgin Pearce answered for the Ice just under two minutes later, beating Rebels netminder Patrik Bartosak on a penalty shot.
Erik Benoit then gave Kootenay its first lead of the game with a goal at 14:14.
The Ice had the opportunity to extend the margin to two 90 seconds later, but Bartosak stopped Dylan McKinlay on another penalty shot.
“ We had a couple of tough breaks in the third period. You don’t see two penalty shots called very often and I thought both of them were certainly questionable, the second one very much so,” said Wallin, “I totally disagreed with that call, but it was what it was and we found ourselves down late in the third period.”
But Elson came to the rescue with Bartosak on the bench in favour of an extra attack, potting his second goal of the evening and eighth of the season at 18:22 to force overtime.
With seven seconds remaining in the extra frame, Persson notched his seventh of the season and the Rebels had their 11th win.
“I really liked the way the guys responded. We stuck with it, got Patty out of the net and got the tying goal and found a way in overtime,” said Wallin. “All in all I thought it was a good effort and a real character win.”
Bartosak finished with 40 saves while Ice netminder Nathan Lieuwen stopped 26 shots.
“The goaltending was solid both ways. Both teams played well,” said Wallin. “It was one of those games where you had to fight for what you got. It was intense, it was physical . . . it was two good teams going at it.”
The win was Red Deer’s third in a row and gave the club an 11-4-0-1 record, good for third place in the Central Division and fourth spot in the Eastern Conference. The Rebels, it would appear, are playing with a new-found degree of consistency.
“Early on we were a little inconsistent. I just felt that from the preseason right through to the middle of October that we just hadn’t hit our stride,” said Wallin. “We had some new faces in the lineup and it seemed like it took a while to gel, and not just for the younger guys to settle in and learn what it takes to play at this level, but also the older guys who were getting away from what makes them successful and were trying to do too much.
“More than anything right now, guys are starting to settle in and be who they are and our work ethic and our intensity, preparation and commitment levels are getting to where they need to be. Our intensity and the pace of our game have increased over the last few weeks.”
The Rebels’ timing couldn’t be better as the team will board the bus tonight for a four-game B.C. Division trip starting with a Wednesday date with the Kelowna Rockets.
The Rebels are in Kamloops Friday to face the Blazers in an afternoon contest and then head to Victoria for Saturday and Sunday games versus the Royals.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com