Wheat Kings Edge Rebels 2-1

The Red Deer Rebels battled hard with plenty of determination and energy on every shift, but ultimately fell 2-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium. Ty Coupland provided the only goal for the Rebels, while goaltender Matthew Kondro turned in an impressive performance to keep his team in the game. The victory extended Brandon’s winning streak to seven games, while Red Deer’s fifth consecutive defeat drops them to 10-17-1-2 as they head into the holiday break.

Joby Baumuller got his 23rd goal of the season at 9:56 of the first period while on the Power Play and makes it 1-0 for the Wheat Kings, scoring with just 1 second left on the Power Play. The assists on the goal went to Luke Mistlebacher and Carter Klippenstein.–Down a pair of players halfway through the opening period, the Rebels’ penalty kill was putting in extra shifts to neutralize Brandon’s power play. But just as the threat seemed to have expired—with only one second remaining on the advantage—Joby Baumuller ripped a one-timer past goaltender Matthew Kondro to hand the visitors the early 1-0 lead.

Ty Coupland gets the Rebels on the board at 17:58 of the first period unassisted tying the game up at 1.–With two minutes left in the opening frame, Ty Coupland delivered a backhand from the high slot past Filip Ruzicka to tie the game.

Shots on goal in the first period were 10-9 for the Rebels

Pahal got a breakaway and when he was trying to score Kondro tripped him. Then Pahal got a penalty shto and lost the puck when he was trying to deke it and Kondro made the laughable easy stop.

Wheat Kings made it 2-1 when Jimmy Egan scored at 18:51 of the second period with the assists on the goal going to Nigel Boehm and Prabh Bhathal.– Nigel Boehm fired a shot toward the net that found the blade of Jimmy Egan, redirecting it in and giving Brandon a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame.

Shots on goal in the second period were 12-10 for the Wheat Kings

In the third period, Red Deer mounted intense pressure but couldn’t break through, even as Coupland nearly tied it with a pair of dangerous opportunities—one clanging off the post and another stopped just at the goal line before Ruzicka smothered the puck. The Rebels were also denied a potential late power play when a high stick on Nate Yellowaga went unnoticed by the officials in the closing minute, allowing the Wheat Kings to hang on for the narrow one-goal victory.

Shots on goal in the third period were 7-4 for the Rebels. The Rebels outshot the Wheat Kings 27-25 in the game.

For the Wheat Kings Filip Ruzicka made 26 saves on the 27 shots that he faced for the win. For the Rebels Matthew Kondro made 22 saves on the 24 shots that he faced.

Three Stars of the game were 1) Carter Klippenstein 2) Matthew Kondro 3) Filip Ruzika

Attendance in Red Deer was 3015

Rebels next game is Saturday December 27th in Red Deer against the Edmonton Oil Kings