In a tale straight out of a hockey soap opera, the Red Deer Rebels faced off against their ex-netminder Chase Wutzke—traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors recently—for the first time Sunday at the Hangar, only for the visitors to steal a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime thriller that left our boys with a gritty point in the standings, their second such hard-fought reward from the Warriors this year. Samuel Drancak wasted no time, sniping through traffic just past the opening faceoff to light the lamp and send the crowd into a frenzy, but tempers boiled over minutes later when Rebel tough guy Brady Ness dropped the gloves with Moose Jaw’s Jake Missura at center ice, earning mutual five-minute majors alongside Ness’s charging minor and Missura’s unsportsmanlike conduct. The drama escalated on a mid-period power play after Talon Brigley’s hooking call, as captain Lynden Lakovic buried his league-leading 17th tally—extending his point streak to 11 games—to give Red Deer a 2-1 edge following the Warriors’ shorthanded equalizer from Casey Brown off Connor Schmidt’s tripping penalty. Jaxon Fuder chipped in key offensive support amid the chaos, but Kash Andresen’s late second-period high-sticking let the Rebels’ power play roar back to knot it at 2-2, setting up a scoreless, penalty-free third that spilled into OT where Ethan Semeniuk dashed Moose Jaw’s hopes 3:35 in for the win, capping their 6-of-8-point weekend haul. Our Matthew Kondro stood tall with 31 saves on 34 shots in a goaltending duel for the ages—mirroring Wutzke’s 34-for-36 clinic—while the Warriors converted 1-of-2 on the man advantage against Red Deer’s 2-of-3 penalty kill; a razor-thin defeat, but one that screams resilience from this Rebel squad ready to rebound.
Samuel Drancak gave the Rebels a 1-0 lead moments into game just 43 seconds in. The assists on the goal went to Nate Yellowaga and Arjun Bawa.–Just 43 seconds into the game, Samuel Drancak got a piece of Nate Yellowaga’s point shot, redirecting it past Wutzke to give Red Deer an early 1-0 lead.
Washington Capitals 2025 1st rounder Lynden Lakovic skated out on the Power Play looked around then realized he played for the Warriors and had no one worth passing the puck to so he just shot it into the net and scored his league leading 17th goal of the season at 12:03 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to Connor Schmidt and Casey Brown.
Shots on goal in the first period were 12-9 for the Warriors.
Then on a Power Play where the Rebels iced 5 forwards the Moose Jaw Warriors scored short handed when Casey Brown who has 2 shorthanded goals this season. Ironically enough both against the Rebels scored his 6th goal of the season at 2:59 of the second period. Assists on the goal went to Moose Jaw native Gage Nagel and Aiden Ziprick.
Jaxon Fuder this time scores on the Rebels all 5 forward Power Play unit to tie the game up at 16:19 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Beckett Hamilton and Ty Coupland.–With minutes to go in the frame, the Rebels found themselves on the powerplay and it was Jaxon Fuder who capitalized with a rocket short-side from the bottom of the circle, tying the game 2-2 heading into the intermission.
Shots on goal in second period of play were 17-6 for the Rebels
Shots on goal in a scoreless third period were 11-8 for the Warriors.
Ethan Semeniuk potted the winner for the Warriors in overtime 3:35 in unassisted.
Shots on goal in overtime were 5-2 for the Warriors with the Rebels however outshooting the Warriors in the game 36-34.
Chase Wutzke got the win against his former team making 34 stops on 36 shots for the win. For the Rebels Matthew Kondro made 31 saves on the 34 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Casey Brown 2) Chase Wutzke 3) Samuel Drancak
Attendance in Moose Jaw was 2747
Rebels next game is Remembrance Day Tuesday at 1:30 in Brandon against the Wheat Kings
