Ice and Rebels on fire early in WHL campaign

Matthew Savoie is one of the Ice’s best known stars.

The Winnipeg Ice and Red Deer Rebels are the slam dunk teams to beat in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Actually, a strong case can be made that they are the teams to beat in the entire WHL, but the Seattle Thunderbirds, Portland Winterhawks and Memorial Cup hosting Kamloops Blazers in the Western Conference might have something to say about that.

Still, the Ice and Rebels have been impressive in the early going. On Saturday at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg, the Ice downed the visiting Tri-City Americans 5-4 for a 10^th straight win to improve to 15-1.

While the Ice were taking care of the Americans, the Rebels were in Moose Jaw overcoming a 2-0 lead by the host Warriors to pull out a 4-2 victory at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. 

The win allowed the Rebels to open the 2022-23 campaign with a 15-0 mark, and their 15 straight wins is a franchise record for consecutive victories. The old record of 14 straight wins was posted by the Rebels in the 2001-02 campaign.

The Ice are currently rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, while the Rebels are rated third.

Between the Ice and Rebels, the Ice have had slightly the more remarkable start. The Winnipeg side opened the campaign playing 13 straight games on the road posting a 12-1 record.

Captain Jayden Grubbe has 18 points for the Rebels this season.

The extended road swing was necessary, because major infrastructure work was being completed at the Wayne Fleming Arena on the University of Manitoba campus. Earlier this year, the U of M received federal funding to replace the ice plant, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system for the Max Bell Centre, which the Wayne Fleming Arena is a part of.

Saturday was the third contest of a 10-game home stand for the Ice. The Americans, who fell to 7-9, gave the Ice a good battle. The hosts overcame an early 1-0 deficit, burst out to a 5-2 lead and held on for the 5-4 win.

Connor Dale, who is a 17-year-old rookie centre, netted his first two career WHL goals for the Ice. Winnipeg received singles from Ty Nash, Connor McClennon and Vladislav Shilo. Jake Sloan had a pair of goals for the Americans, who received singles from Ethan Ernst and Adam Mechura.

Dawson Cowan, who is another 17-year-old rookie, made 28 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Nick Avakyan turned away 29 shots to take the setback in net for the Americans.

Winnipeg’s best known stars in Matthew Savoie, Zach Benson, McClennon and Owen Pederson didn’t have to carry the day to help their side get a win. Savoie, McClennon and Pederson each had one assist in the victory, while McClennon’s tally was his only point of the contest.

Ice star defenceman Ben Zloty and captain Carson Lambos didn’t register any points against the Americans. Zloty had an even rating in the plus-minus department, while Lambos was a plus-two. Winnipeg’s roster is so deep that Zloty and Lambos just have to be steady to allow their side to pull out a win.

Zach Benson can pile up the points for the Ice.

Ice star 18-year-old goalie Daniel Hauser was given a rare night off. Hauser has won all 11 contests he has appeared in this season posting a 2.35 goals against average, a .920 save percentage and one shutout.

The Ice are paced behind the bench by an outstanding head coach in James Patrick, who is a former standout NHL defenceman.

The Rebels in their 15-0 start have won eight contests at home and seven on the road. They are in pursuit of a really old WHL record for most consecutive wins to open a season.

The record for most consecutive wins to open a season currently sits at 22 victories, and it is held by the 1967-68 Estevan Bruins. The Bruins won the league title that season.

Against Moose Jaw on Saturday, the host Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a first period tally from star 17-year-old centre Brayden Yager and a power-play goal at the 3:06 mark of the second frame from 19-year-old steady centre Atley Calvert.

Kai Uchacz and Jase Isley each scored twice to help the Rebels rally back to victory. Uchacz potted his second marker into an empty net.

Connor Ungar, who is in his 20-year-old season and is a former member of the Rebels, turned away 24-of-27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Warriors, who fell to 9-6.

Kalan Lind is one of the Rebels highly skilled younger players.

Kyle Kelsey, who is an 18-year-old rookie, stopped 21 shots to pick up the win in the Red Deer net.

Uchacz, Isley and Kelsey are a trio of older players who are having breakout seasons with the Rebels. Uchacz is a 19-year-old centre who has 15 goals and four assists so far this season. Uchacz’s 15 tallies are already a career high.

Isley, who is a 20-year-old centre, has nine goals and five assists so far this season for the Rebels. He needs just 12 more points to equal his career high for points in a season.

Kelsey has won his first 10 career games in goal for the Rebels posting a 1.80 goals against average, a .935 save percentage and one shutout.

Red Deer 19-year-old captain Jayden Grubbe has four goals and 14 assists, and he needs 17 points to match his career high. Kalan Lind, who is a 17-year-old centre, has two goals and 13 assists in attempting to follow up a strong 16-year-old campaign.

Import Finish defenceman Christoffer Sedoff is having another strong campaign leading all Rebels blue-liners with 16 points coming off one goal and 15 assists. Hunter Mayo, who is an 18-year-old defenceman, is finding his groove offensively posting seven goals and three assists.

The Rebels are having all their success with the limited services of star 20-year-old centre Ben King. King has appeared in just five games netting five goals and five assists.

Carson Lambos ensures things stay calm in the Ice’s back end.

The Vernon, B.C., product was taken in the fourth round and 107^th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft by the Anaheim Ducks, and he was returned to Red Deer in early October after getting a lengthy training camp stay with the NHL club. 

King was injured in the Rebels 3-0 home ice victory over the Prince Albert Raiders on October 22 and is listed as being out indefinitely with a lower body injury.

The Rebels are hoping King could potentially be back in six to eight weeks from the time he was injured.

For the longest time, Rebels general manager and owner Brent Sutter seemed to be challenged when it came to finding someone take over the head coach title he also held with the club. 

Before the start of the 2021-22 campaign, Sutter was able to bring on Steve Konowalchuk to be the head coach in Red Deer.

Konowalchuk guided the Seattle Thunderbirds to a WHL title in 2016-17 as head coach, and he is showing he is still one of the best bench bosses in major junior hockey.

Now, things are going to get even more interesting in the young WHL campaign. The Ice and Rebels are both off until Tuesday, when they will face each other at the Wayne Fleming Arena at 7 p.m. Winnipeg time. The two sides will go at it again on Wednesday at the same venue with the same local start time.

Hunter Mayo is breaking out offensively for the Rebels.

Those two contests are can’t miss heavyweight tilts. If one side is able to sweep both games, that club will be viewed as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.