The Red Deer Rebels came out of the gates against the Lethbridge Hurricanes looking like a team determined to snap its skid, answering an early deficit with a three-goal first-period surge that had the Marchant Crane Centrium rocking and the visitors on their heels. Jake Banicevic’s quick pair and Grayden Peterson’s opportunistic finish gave Red Deer a 3-1 lead and all the momentum heading into the intermission. But the Hurricanes refused to go away. Powered by two power-play goals from Gavin Lesiuk and a late surge that forced overtime, Lethbridge eventually escaped with a 4-3 win when Dayne Beuker finished the comeback just over two minutes into the extra frame. Losing to a team like Lethbridge always stings a little extra — almost feels like relegation-level embarrassment — and for the Rebels it was another night of promising stretches undone by stretches where they let the game slip away, leaving them with a hard-earned point but little else to celebrate.
Dayne Beuker makes it a 1-0 game for the Hurricanes with his 8th goal of the season, unassisted at 1:23 of the first period.–Lethbridge jumped out to an early lead when Dayne Beuker pounced on a turnover deep in the Red Deer zone barely a minute into the game. A Rebels forward’s outlet pass went awry, leaving Beuker alone in the slot, where he wired a shot past Matthew Kondro to give the visitors the 1-0 edge.
Jake Banicevic evens the game up at 1 with his 4th goal of the season at 4:32 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to Patrick Sopiarz and Cameron Kuzma.–Patrick Sopiarz carried the puck into the offensive zone and slid it across to Jake Banicevic streaking down the wing. Banicevic one-timed a wrist shot that beat Leif Oaten and leveled the score just over four minutes in.
Jake Banicevic scores his second goal of the game and 5th of the season to give the Rebels a 2-1 lead at 14:22 of the first period. The assist on the goal went to Patrick Sopiarz.–Sopiarz and Banicevic linked up again on almost an identical play later in the period, with Sopiarz feeding Banicevic for another wrist shot that put Red Deer ahead.
Grayden Petersen gives the Rebels a 3-1 lead at 14:42 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to Matus Lisy and Cash Arcand-Vandale.–Barely 20 seconds later, Grayden Peterson jammed home a rebound in front to stretch the lead to 3-1 heading into the intermission.1
Shots on goal in the first period were 10-8 for the Hurricanes.
6’5 Duncan, BC native Gavin Lesiuk gets the Hurricanes within one when he scores his third goal of the season on the Power Play at 9:00 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to former Blackfalds Bulldog Nathan Maloney and Czech Import Oliver Sichtar.–With Koen Cleaver now in net, Gavin Lesiuk deflected a power-play chance past Kondro midway through the second to pull Lethbridge within one.
Shots on goal in the second period were 15-6 for the Hurricanes.
Gavin Lesiuk gets his second goal of the game and fourth of the year to tie the game up at 3 at 14:49 of the third period. The assist on the goal went to Oliver SIchtar.=In the third, Lesiuk finished another man-advantage sequence after the Hurricanes dug the puck out from behind the net and worked it into the slot, evening the game.
Shots on goal in the third period were 11 each.
Dayne Bueker a former Bantam teammate of Beckett Hamilton scores the overtime winner for the Hurricanes at 2:24 of overtime with an unassisted goal– In overtime, Beuker again stepped up, firing a wrist shot past Kondro to complete the comeback and hand Lethbridge the extra point.
Shots on goal in overtime were 2-0 for the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes outshot the Rebels 38-25 in the game.
For the Hurricanes Leif Oaten stopped 5 of the 8 shots that he faced in the first period. He was replaced after that with Koen Cleaver who stopped all 17 shots that he faced throughout the game for the win. For the Rebels Matthew Kondro stopped 34 of the 38 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Koen Cleaver 2) Gavin Lesiuk 3) Jake Banicevic
Attendance in Red Deer was 3513
Rebels next game is Tuesday October 27th in Red Deer against the Saskatoon Blades.
