The Red Deer Rebels suffered another slow start that proved costly, falling 5-2 to the Saskatoon Blades on Friday night at the Marchant Crane Centrium. The Blades jumped out to a commanding lead with three straight goals before the midway point of the first period, putting Red Deer in a deep hole they couldn’t escape despite a late push. Owen DeWitt scored the Rebels’ opening goal, and Beckett Hamilton added another to briefly spark some life and momentum. Goaltender Matthew Kondro made 26 saves while facing heavy early pressure to keep the game within reach. The loss dropped the Rebels to 21-30-2-2, leaving them in eighth place in the Eastern Conference amid a tightening playoff race—they sit three points behind the Regina Pats (who beat the Edmonton Oil Kings) but hold a one-point edge over the ninth-place Moose Jaw Warriors (who also lost Friday to Prince Albert). In his postgame comments, head coach Marc Habscheid took responsibility, calling the performance “an egg” at a bad time with few games remaining to earn crucial points, adding, “Blame it on me, I’m the coach… I don’t have much to say.” The team was missing forward Cole Temple (week-to-week injury), defenceman Cameron Dillard, and forward Kohen Lodge (serving a two-game suspension for boarding, eligible to return after Sunday’s game in Calgary).
Blades get on the board to make it 1-0 at 2:31 of the first period when Cooper Williams scored his 19th goal of the season. The assists on the goal went to Edmonton Oilers 2025 4th rounder David Lewandowski and Calgary Flames 2024 6th rounder Hunter Laing.
Blades make it a 2-0 game at 3:03 of the first period when Martensville, Saskatchewan native Kazden Mathies scores. The assists on the goal went to former Spokane Chief German native Elias Pul and 6’6 Hunter Laing.
16 year old Fort McMurray native Jaggar John scores his first WHL goal to make it a 3-0 game for the Blades at 7:58 of the first period. The assist on the goal went to former Brooks Bandit Jack Kachowski.
Owen DeWitt gets the Rebels on the board at 16:22 of the first period with his 3rd goal of the season. The assists on the goal went to Aleksey Chichkin and Poul Andersen.–With 3:38 left in the first, Aleksey Chichkin fired a shot toward Evan Gardner with Owen DeWitt battling in the blue paint. DeWitt muscled his way to the rebound and swiped it home to crack the ice and get the Rebels on the board.
Shots on goal in the first period were 17-8 for the Blades
Elias Pul made it a 4-1 game for the Blades scoring his 7th goal of the season at 12:33 of the second period. Assists on the goal went to former Seattle Thunderbird Kazden Mathies and University of North Dakota commit Brayden Klimpke.–Saskatoon got their three-goal lead back pretty quickly in the second period. Mathies set up Elias Pul with a nice breakaway pass, and Pul finished it off to make the score 4-1.
Beckett Hamilton scores his 20th goal of the season at 12:56 of the second period unassisted to get the Rebels within a pair and make it a 4-2 score.
Shots on goal in the second period were 8-6 for the Rebels
20 year old University of Maine commit Rowan Calvert makes it a 5-2 game for the Blades at 8:35 of the third period while on the Power Play. The assists on the goal went to Cooper Williams and David Lewandowski.-In the third, Rowan Calvert delivered a final dagger on a backdoor powerplay finish, putting the game out of reach.
Shots on goal in the third period were 8 each. The Blades outshot the Rebels 31-24 in the game.
Evan Gardner stopped 22 of the 24 shots that he faced for the win the for the Blades. For the Rebels Matthew Kondro stopped 26 of the 31 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Cooper Williams 2) Owen DeWitt 3) Kazden Mathies
Attendance in Red Deer was 3762
Rebels next game is Sunday February 22nd in Calgary against the Hitmen
