The Score - Ice/Rebels

The Score – Red Deer 6 – Kootenay 1

What Happened – Their best goaltender stopped just 13 of 19 shots; their captain was dash-5 and their other best player, Kevin King, was a shadow of his former self. Did the Rebels play better? Sure, but they got off the bus with a chip on their shoulder and took it out on the home side.

The Goals – The Rebels opened the scoring on a goal that was at first signalled no-goal by the on-ice officials when it was thought the great shot by Rebel D-man Alex Petrovic hit the cross-bar and bounced out back to Nathan Lieuwen. The video replay official called down and after a short discussion, it was a goal…. Five minutes later a bouncing puck through a few bodies and legs, Brett Ferguson was credited with the Rebels second goal… Five minutes after that both Brayden McNabb and Matt Fraser lost a battle for the puck in the Ice corner to Turner Elson. He fed Brett Ferguson who then beat Lieuwen high on the glove side… After a scoreless second period the Rebels got a power play opportunity halfway through the third with Jesse Ismond off for slashing. After throwing the puck around like it was on a string rookie D-man Matthew Dumba wired a wristshot from the same spot Ferguson did it two periods earlier, over the glove of Lieuwen to make it 4-0… Justin Weller got his 4th of the season on a slapshot from the top of the right circle that beat Lieuwen through the legs to make it 5-0… James Martin spoiled Darcy Kuemper’s shutout bid with an Ice power play goal with three minutes left in the game but the Rebels would have the last laugh with a late 2-on-1 goal by Locke Muller ended the laugher at 6-1.

The Fight – After checking Brendan Hurley dangerously into the boards that wasn’t called Jagger Dirk challenged Weller to a tussle. Dirk landed a couple of straight rights but give Weller the decision.

The Posts – Both Hayden Rintoul and Erik Benoit hit posts on this night. As you might have surmised, there weren’t a lot of positives at the Rec Plex Saturday.

The Lament – As one of the two or three WHL arenas left without a video scoreclock, imagining whether or not the puck went in while the off-ice officials look at it just doesn’t cut it.

The Weather – The storm that cancelled the game in Medicine Hat between the Tigers and the Broncos also delayed the referees from getting to the game on time. The game started at 7:30 though the Ice played the first period like they didn’t get the message.

The Crowd – 2542

The Skinny – Kootenay drops to 27-12-1-2 and now only two points clear of the Rebels in the Central. Clearly, after this night and the collapse in Red Deer before Christmas in which the Ice blew a three-goal lead, Kootenay’s going to have to make some major adjustments in the gameplan. Whether or not that involves roster changes will have to wait until prior to Monday at 3PM, the WHL trade deadline.

Up Next – The Oil Kings on Wednesday for a rare day game in Edmonton. Note the start time of 11:30AM.

Rec Plex Three Stars
1. Alex Petrovic
2. Brett Ferguson – four point night
3. Mathew Dumba – Hard to believe he’s only 16

Rebels 6 @ Ice 1

CRANBROOK, B.C. - Western Hockey League summary for regular season game between the Kootenay Ice and the Red Deer Rebels, January 8, 2011;

Brett Ferguson scored two goals and had two assists and was a plus-five on the night as the Red Deer Rebels hammered the Kootenay Ice 6-1 in WHL action Saturday night.
The Rebels took a 3-0 first period lead on goals by Alex Petrovic and two by Ferguson before the game was 15 minutes old. After a scoreless second period goals by Matthew Dumba and Justin Weller made it 5-0 before James Martin's 7th of the season broke Darcy Kuemper's shutout bid with 3:05 remaining. The Rebels added one more by Locke Muller for good measure to make the final 6-1.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 22 of 23 shots to get the win while Nathan Lieuwen turned aside only 13 of 19 shots in wearing the loss.

First Period
1. Red Deer, Petrovic 6 (Archer, Persson) 4:52
2. Red Deer, Ferguson 9 (Dumba) 10:42
3. Red Deer, Ferguson 10 (Elson) 14:43

Penalties -- Weller RD (delay-of-game) 6:28, Pearce Ktn (hooking) 8:12.

Second Period

No Scoring.

Penalties -- Leach Ktn (tripping) 0:25, Kudrna RD (hooking) 4:13, Petrovic RD (roughing) 6:27, Leach Ktn (tripping) 9:13, Archer RD (slashing) 10:19, Kambeitz RD (high-sticking) 18:03,


Third Period
4. Red Deer, Dumba 10 (Ferguson, Archer) 10:41
5. Red Deer, Weller 4 (Kudrna, Nugent-Hopkins) 15:47
6. Kootenay, Martin 7 (Leach, Montgomery) 16:55 (pp)
7. Red Deer, Muller 2 (Ferguson) 19:45

Penalties -- Ismond Ktn (slashing) 8:39, Rintoul Ktn (cross-checking) 11:47, Robinson RD (high-sticking) 16:26, Dirk Ktn Weller RD (fighting) 16:48.


Shots on goal by
Kootenay: 8 8 7 - 23
Red Deer: 7 4 8 - 19

Goal -- Kootenay: Nathan Lieuwen (L, 18-9-1-1 ); Red Deer Darcy Kuemper (W, 25-8-1-2).

Power Plays -- (goals-chances)
Kootenay: 1-6
Red Deer: 0-5


Referee -- Dan Cowley, Reagen Vetter. Linesman -- Jim Maniago, Reid Anderson

Attendance -- 2542 (4264)

Scratches --
Kootenay: John Niebrandt (healthy), Steele Boomer (leg - day-to-day).
Red Deer: Matt Pufahl, Josh Cowen (suspension), Byron Froese (suspension).

Summary courtesy Jeff Bromley of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman