The Red Deer Rebels closed out November on a high note Sunday afternoon at the Scotiabank Saddledome, imposing their physical brand of hockey from the opening puck drop and skating to a hard-fought 4-3 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. Red Deer struck quickly and often, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first ten minutes on goals from Matthew Gard, Aleksey Chichkin, and Beckett Hamilton. The chemistry between Hamilton and linemate Landon MacSwain shone through, with both players recording a goal and an assist, while Gard and Chichkin also found the scoresheet in a balanced Rebels attack. The win capped a strong November for Red Deer, giving them a 5-3-1-0 record for the month after a difficult October, improving their overall mark to 9-12-1-2 and lifting them into eighth place in the WHL Eastern Conference.
Matthew Gard makes it a 1-0 game at 3:23 of the first period with the assists on the goal going to Owen Dewitt and Kohen Lodge. That is the first WHL point for Owen Dewitt.–A turnover in the neutral zone gave the Rebels their opening. Owen DeWitt pounced on the loose puck, quickly dished a crisp cross-crease pass to Matthew Gard, and Gard buried it into the yawning cage past Calgary netminder Aidan Hesse for his sixth of the season. DeWitt picked up his first career WHL point on the helper.
Aleksey Chichkin makes it 2-0 at 8:06 of the first period with the helpers on the goal going to Jaxon Fuder and Samuel Drancak.–A few minutes later, defenceman Aleksey Chichkin joined the rush alongside Jaxon Fuder, took a pinpoint pass right on the crease, and roofed home his first goal of the year—his first as a Rebel—to make it 2-0 Red Deer.
Beckett Hamilton makes it a 3-0 game and it isn’t even half way through the first period at 9:23 and that was the end of Hesse’s night. The assists on the goal went to Talon Brigley and Landon MacSwain.–The Rebels kept coming. Beckett Hamilton stormed into the zone alongside Talon Brigley on a two-on-one rush. Brigley slid a sharp pass across, Hamilton got a slick backhand tip on it, then pounced on his own rebound and tucked it past Hesse. That goal sent Hesse to the bench for the day, with Eric Tu stepping in to take over in net for the Hitmen.
Almost right after the goalie change Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick Kale Dach went down the ice and scored. The assists on the goal went to Landon Amrhein and Brandon Gorzynski at 9:48 of the first period.–Calgary broke through 25 seconds later when Kale Dach slipped one past Kondro.
Chichkin put his hand on the puck in the crease and sat on it resulting in a penalty shot for Calgary. Andrei Molgachev is taking it and he scored. It counts as a Power Play goal yet the Hitmen still get to be on the Power Play. Time of the goal was 10:43 of the first period.
Shots on goal in the first period were 12-7 for the Rebels.
Landon MacSwain makes it a 4-2 game at 3:22 of the second period with the assist on the goal going to Beckett Hamilton.–Red Deer responded in the second as right after laying down a crushing hit in the corner, MacSwain got a stick on a pass from Hamilton, deflecting it home for what would stand as the game-winner
Shots in the second period were 12-6 for the Rebels
Missura and Aura dropped the gloves in the third period. Kale Dach also got the Hitmen within one when their goalie was pulled at 19:34 of the third period but it wasn’t enough. The assists on the goal went to Hunter Aura and Brandon Gorzynski.
Shots on goal in the third period were 7-6 for the Hitmen. The Rebels outshot the Hitmen 30-20 in the game.
Matthew Kondro stopped 17 of the 20 shots that he faced for the win for the Rebels For the Hitmen Aidan Hesse stopped 4 of the 7 shots he faced before being replaced by Eric Tu who stopped 22 of the 23 shots that he faced
Three Stars of the game were 1) Beckett Hamilton 2) Kale Dach 3) Aleksey Chichkin
Attendance in Calgary was 5576
Rebels next game is Wednesday December 3rd in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes
