Rebels push back against Blades expected in Game 2

Blades D Grayden Siepmann battle Rebels LW Carson Birnie.

Dave Struch thought his Red Deer Rebels entered the second round of the WHL’s post-season with a thud.

On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Rebels interim head coach saw his team drop a 4-1 decision to the host Saskatoon Blades in Game 1 of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. In that contest, the Blades held a 24-17 advantage in shots on goal and a 38-24 advantage in faceoffs won.

The two sides go at it again in Game 2 on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Struch said his club has to have a lot better effort in Game 2 and the rest of the best-of-seven set in order to be a threat to take the series.

“I would hope that we play a more physical game along the way,” said Struch. “I would hope that our game gets a lot better, so we can give them a challenge.”

Coming into this series, the Blades were tabbed as the favourites. They topped the WHL’s overall standings with a 50-13-2-3 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. They took down their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders 4-1 in a first round series.

Rebels RW Kalan Lind (#13) gets the puck on the backcheck.

The Rebels had an up and down regular season finishing fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and eighth overall on the circuit with a 33-26-3-6 mark. They took out one of their biggest rivals in the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-1 in a first round series.

Since taking over behind the Rebels bench with the team having eight games remaining in the regular season, Struch believes his players have shown good resiliency. He saw some positives in Game 1, but he knows there is lots of room for improvement.

“With the way that they play, they try to get outnumber situations with the long rims,” said Struch. “I thought that we did a good job there.

“We kept the outnumber situations to a minimal. The counters for us I think that when we counter as slow as we did we’re not going to get enough offence. Those are things we have to get better at getting into Sunday.”

Fraser Minten had a big night in Game 1 Friday for the Blades.

While the Blades won Game 1, head coach Brennan Sonne said that contest didn’t play out structurally like his club though it would.

“It wasn’t crazy off what we expected to be coming, but I definitely predict there will be some adjustments,” said Sonne. “The lessons learned (on Friday) I thought we were very committed in certain areas like shot blocking was great (on Friday) for us.

“Lessons learned I think are structural. Game 1s are a little bit of a feeling out process. You’re seeing what they did all week.

“We’re trying to do what we did all week, and then you make little tweaks from here. Now, it is our turn as coaches to do our job.”

Game 1 of the series wasn’t all that physical outside of a big first period hit Blades rookie defenceman Morgan Tastad put on Rebels star right-wing Kalan Lind. There also weren’t that many scrums after the whistle, and Blades star centre Fraser Minten said his squad is trying to avoid engaging in extra-curricular activities.

“For us, that is intentional,” said Minten. “We don’t want to get into that stuff.

Hunter Mayo looks to start a rush for the Rebels.

“We feel we can out skill team and out skate teams. That is how we win. We don’t win by fighting after whistles and pushing and shoving.

“We just stay away from that and play hockey.”

Minten had a big night for the Blades in Game 1 collecting two goals, one assist and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. He also won 18-of-24 faceoffs. Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky had one goal and one assist. Veteran defenceman Grayden Siepmann had a pair of assists for Saskatoon.

The Rebels big line of centre and captain Kai Uchacz, left-winger Frantisek Formanek and Lind had a relatively quiet night. They each had just one shot on goal. Left-winger Carson Birnie had the Rebels lone goal.

Also, the Rebels lack of puck possession was affected by the fact the Blades won 61.3 per cent of the faceoffs in Game 1, which helped keep the line of Uchacz, Formanek and Lind at bay.

Minten believes the Blades have to repeat a lot of the little things they did right in Game 1 in Game 2 like success in the faceoff circle.

“We just have to do it again,” said Minten. “We have to get ready and get prepared.

Egor Sidorov works in the offensive zone for the Blades.

“It will be a new game right from the start. We just have to go out and play like we can.”

NOTES - The Blades were without utility winger Tyler Parr with a leg injury and star overage left-winger Easton Armstrong with an undisclosed injury in Game 1. In the series opener, the Rebels were without overage defenceman Elias Carmichael with a lower body injury. Carmichael has yet to appear in the 2024 WHL post-season. Red Deer was also without second-year netminder Rhett Stoesser due to an undisclosed ailment.

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