The Red Deer Rebels secured a crucial 2-1 overtime victory over the Regina Pats on Tuesday night at the Marchant Crane Centrium in a high-stakes matchup that lived up to the billing. Entering the game just one point ahead of the Pats for eighth place in the WHL Eastern Conference—the final playoff spot—the Rebels pulled two points clear (now two back of seventh-place Moose Jaw) with their 16-22-2-2 record. After a scoreless first period, Regina opened the scoring on a power-play goal by Caden Brown midway through the second, but Beckett Hamilton quickly tied it 1-1 with his 16th goal of the season, assisted by Kalder Varga and Jake Missura. The game stayed locked through the third despite heavy penalty killing from both sides (Regina had eight power plays, Red Deer seven), setting up overtime where 17-year-old forward Kalder Varga—acquired recently from Kelowna—fired home the winner on a power-play one-timer (assists to Hamilton and Nate Yellowaga) for his first WHL OT goal. Goaltender Matthew Kondro was solid with 29-30 saves (or 30 of 31 per some accounts), while Regina’s Marek Schlenker stopped 44 of 46 shots in a standout performance. Coach Marc Habscheid called it a big game in the fight for the last two playoff spots but noted his team took too many “terrible penalties” and got in its own way, though he was glad to claim the full two points. Varga, thriving since the trade with four goals and five assists in eight games, expressed excitement about joining the Rebels and contributing in such a playoff-like atmosphere. Next, Red Deer hosts Calgary on Friday before a six-game B.C. road trip.
Shots on goal in the first period were 13-8 for Regina
Caden Brown scores on the Pats 6th Power Play of the game and slid the puck right under Kondro during a scramble at 13:36 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Ruslan Karimov and Red Deer native Ephram McNutt.–McNutt’s point shot off a deflection was stopped by Matthew Kondro, but the second wasn’t as Caden Brown crashed in and deposited home the rebound to open the scoring.
Beckett Hamilton ties the game for the Rebels at 14:41 of the second period with the assists on the goal going to Kalder Varga and Jake Missura.–Kalder Varga won the race to Jake Missura’s dump-in and spun a cross-slot feed to Beckett Hamilton, who made no mistake, snapping the puck into the top corner over Marek Schlenker to tie the game.
Shots on goal in the second period were 19-9 for the Rebels.
Shots on goal in the third period were 15-5 for the Rebels
Kalder Varga scores the overtime winner at 3:32 of overtime while on the Power Play. The assists on the goal went to Nate Yellowaga and Beckett Hamilton.–After the Rebels recorded a power play in overtime, Yellowaga fed a pass across to Varga at the left circle and he blasted home the overtime winner.
Shots on goal in overtime were 4-3 for the Rebels. The Rebels outshot the Pats 46-30 in the game.
Matthew Kondro made 29 saves on the 30 shots that he faced for the win for the Rebels. For the Pats Okotoks native Marek Schlenker made 44 saves on the 46 shots he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Kalder Varga 2) Marek Schlenker 3) Matthew Kondro
Attendance in Red Deer was 2998
Rebels next game is Friday in Red Deer against the Calgary Hitmen
Prince Albert or Medicine Hat will be going to the Memorial Cup this season I assume along with Kelowna.
