After a solid 10-day holiday breather, the Red Deer Rebels came roaring back to the Marchant Crane Centrium on Saturday night, showing real grit and heart in a tough 3-2 overtime battle against the Edmonton Oil Kings. Nolan Schmidt and Landon MacSwain lit the lamp for the Rebels, while Matthew Kondro stood tall in net with another strong outing. They battled hard and grabbed a valuable point despite dropping their sixth straight, sitting at 10-17-2-2 on the season.
The Oil Kings have called up 2nd overall selection in last years Bantam Draft Holden Wouters. Holden Wouters is a highly regarded 15-year-old (born December 4, 2010) right-shot defenseman from Vancouver, B.C., selected second overall by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft (the WHL’s bantam draft for 2010-born players). The Oil Kings, who traded for the pick, view him as a potential future No. 1 defenseman due to his size (around 6’2″ and growing), mobility, strong defensive play, and offensive instincts, including power-play contributions. In his final U15 season with St. George’s School in the CSSHL, he posted 12 goals and 29 assists for 41 points in 29 games. He signed a WHL scholarship and development agreement with Edmonton in May 2025, played in preseason games, and recently earned a call-up to the Oil Kings roster amid injuries or roster needs in the 2025-26 season, marking his transition to junior hockey.
Lukas Sawchyn opened up the scoring for the Oil Kings at 15:36 of the first period getting his 14th goal of the season. The assists on the goal went to Gavin Hodnett and Miroslav Holinka.
Shots on goal in the first period were 11-8 for the Oil Kings
Shots on goal in the second period were 10-9 for the Rebels
Recently called up Nolan Schmidt scored for the Rebels at 4:33 of the third period with the assists on the goal going to Grayden Peterson.–The first strike came from Nolan Schmidt – back in the Rebels lineup after being recalled from Whitecourt of the AJHL. As the Oil Kings tried to clear their zone, Grayden Peterson swooped in to steal the puck, turning it into a two-on-one opportunity. Peterson made a perfect dish to Schmidt, who fired it past Oil Kings goalie Ethan Simcoe for his first goal of the season and first since March 7 of last season.
Landon MacSwain then made it a 2-1 game for the Rebels just moments later at 6:12 of the third period with the assists on the goal going to Matthew Gard and Patrick Sopriaz.–The Rebels grabbed the lead 99 seconds later when a shot from Matthew Gard deflected off of an Edmonton defender then off of Landon MacSwain and in for the rookie’s ninth goal of the season. Patrick Sopiarz earned an assist for his first point with the Rebels since being acquired in a trade from Prince George.
Parker Alcos tied the game back up for the Oil Kings at 7:59 of the third period with the assists on the goal going to Dylan Dean and Nikos Tsakumis.
Shots on goal in the third period were 10-8 for the Rebels
Miroslav Holinka scored the game winner at 1:13 of the overtime period with the assists going to Blake Fiddler and Gavin Hodnett.
Shots on goal in overtime were 2-0 for the Oil Kings. The Oil Kings outshot the Rebels in the game 30-28.
Ethan Simcoe made 26 saves on the 28 shots that he faced for the win for the Oil Kings. For the Rebels Matthew Kondro made 27 saves on the 30 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Matthew Kondro 2) Gavin Hodnett 3) Ethan Simcoe
Attendance in Red Deer was 4560
Rebels next game is Sunday December 28th in Medicine Hat against the Tigers
