Rebels ended their American road trip 3 and 2. All 3 wins came in shootouts.
I haven’t been to the US myself since Bush was president. I do not want to say which one either as that will age me a bit🤪Washington and Oregon along with California is like going to another planet. Probably safer to send your kid to play hockey in Flint, Michigan to billet at the homeless shelter than to live in Seattle or Portland now. Anyway here is a short re cap of their American games.
Saturday February 4th, 2023 Spokane, Washington
Win 1-0 SO– The Spokane Chiefs are bad this year. I mean like Edmonton Oil Kings bad. So one would of thought this game would be a hop, skip, and a jump to win. So much so the team could of went out after and explored Riverfront Park like they were on vacation. Spokane decided to show up and play hockey, good thing in front of a crowd of 6, 734. Kyle Kelsey got his second shutout of the season, making 26 saves plus all three in the shootout. Ben King scored the lone goal in the shoot out. The Rebels out shot the Chiefs 45-26.. Three stars were 1) Chiefs goalie 17 year old Warren, MB native Dawson Cowan 2) Rebels Ben King 3) Rebels Kyle Kelsey.
Sunday February 5th, 2023 Everett, Washington
Loss 4-2. Just breathing in the weirdo air fumes in the Western Washington region would not want me to play hockey down there. 16 year old Nanaimo, BC native Jesse Heslop opened up the scoring for the Silvertips at 8:08 of the first period, assists to Caden Zaplitny and Beau Courtney.
Frantisek Formanek tied it up for the Rebels at 14:23 with assists to Kai Uchacz and Matteo Fabrizi. Then 30 seconds into the second period Ben King scored for the Rebels.
Aiden Sutter tied the game up for the Silvertips at 10:56 of the second.
Austin Roest scored what proved to be the winner on the powerplay at 16:51. Roest connected with his 28th of the season on a rebound after Stoesser made a spectacular save on a tipped shot. Ben King got a major for boarding 5 minutes into the 3rd.
The next goal was an empty net marker by Jackson Berezowski, who scored his 33rd at 18:39.
Three stars of the game were 1) Austin Roest 2) Tyler Palmer 3) Rhett Stoesser
5,417 fans
Tuesday February 7th, 2023 Portland, Oregon
Win 5-4 SO The Red Deer Rebels headed to Portland to play the Winterhawks Tuesday February 27th. Portland is in second place in the Western Conference just behind Seattle. I never got anything nice in Portland. I got robbed on the MAX light rail by some kid with purple hair. Jace Isley however however was gifted a great goal about 10 minutes into the game.
Calgary Native Winterhawk Marcus Nguyen was attempting to take the puck out of the zone (while the Winterhawks were on the Power Play) and seemingly left it right at the blue line for Jace Isley. Isley smoothly skated in (probably laughing) and easily beat Dante Giannuzzi to get his 23rd goal of the season.
James Stefan (son of former first overall draft pick Patrik Stefan) tied it up for the Winterhawks on the Power Play at 11:44 of the 1st period with his 19th goal of the season assists to Jack O’Brien and Luca Cagnoni. Moments later at 14:10 of the first period Luca Cagnoni scored his 13th of the season from Stefan and O’Brien. At 11:45 of the second period Ben King tied it up on the Power Play from Mats Lindgren and Kai Uchacz. Less than a minute after that Craig Armstrong got the Rebels the lead with assists from Carson Birnie and Ollie Josephson.
While on the Power Play about halfway into the third period Ben King scored his 12th of the season and second of the night from Mats Lindgren to make it 4-2. But the Winterhawks weren’t done yet. With four minutes to play, the Winterhawks got goals from 17 year old Saskatoon native Josh Zakreski and 18 year old Surrey, BC native Kyle Chyzowski to tie things up and force overtime.
Kai Uchacz and Ben King both scored goals for the Rebels as the Winterhawks couldn’t score at all because the Rebels had Kyle Kelsey in net.
Game three stars 1) Jack O’ Brien 2) Ben King 3) Luca Cagnoni
Attendance at Veteran Memorial was 2696. I am not sure if the Winterhawks still play at the Moda Center I remember they use to split games between two rinks. I remember there were kids waiting to play a junior hockey game in the 90s all dressed up in ties and suits then the PROFESSIONAL NBA Trailblazers came in swearing, dressed in street clothes, looking like they were heading out to a club🙄
Friday February 11th, 2023 Seattle, Washington
Loss 6-1- Seattle leads the Western Conference on a ridiculously looking bought team. Seattle has always been a strange organization ever since they were the Breakers. Always known as one of the worst places to play junior hockey. This game was scoreless until 6:11 of the third period when 20 year old Montreal Canadiens prospect Jared Davidson scored his 28th goal of the season from 20022 Chicago Blackhawks first round draft pick Kevin Korchinski.
Kai Uchacz got a pass from Ben King at 7:47 to tie it while on the power play. It was Uchacz’s 40th goal of the season. Looked like a tight game until Seattle went postal late in the third period scoring 5 unanswered goals in 5 minutes to win the game 6-1. Seattle’s goal scorers were Davidson again, Winnipeg Jets 2022 First Rounder Brad Lambert, Niko Mayatonvic (2), and recently required from the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL Dylan Guenther.
Seattle outshot Red Deer 42-25. Kyle Kelsey had a busy night. Three stars were all Thunderbirds 1) Jared Davidson 2) Nico Myatovic 3) Thomas Milic. Attendance at the Sho Ware Center in Kent, Washington was 4,016.
Saturday February 12th, 2023 Kennewick, Washington
Win 2-1 SO- The Rebels concluded their super long road trip on the 12th in Kennewick against the Americans. Rebels opened up the scoring when Jace Isley got his 24th of the season from Jayden Grubbe while they were shorthanded. The Americans Adam Mechura (who is not American by the way he is Czech) scored his 17th goal of the season from Jalen Luypen and Reese Belton.
Frantisek Formanek scored the shootout winner
| RED DEER | TRI CITY | ||
| Uchacz | MISS | Luypen | MISS |
| King | GOAL | Mechura | GOAL |
| Isley | MISS | Ernst | MISS |
| Larson | MISS | Gavin | MISS |
| Formanek | GOAL | Dragecevic | MISS |
Three stars were 1) Rhett Stoesser 2) Adam Machura 3) Tomas Suchanek
4,482 at the Toyota Center
Other Notes
Red Deer Rebels next game is Friday February 17th when they host the Kamloops Blazers
Chaz Lucius who is a Winnipeg Jets prospect and Portland Winterhawks player was not playing for Portland and will not be for the rest of the season. Meaning the odds of ever seeing a game against him in the WHL in Red Deer are nil.