Rebels get key victory
opened the scoring with his 34th of the season, tying Mark Rassell for the team lead in goals to leave Red Deer on their heels after 20 minutes, but the rough-and-tumble Rebels had an answer in the second.
It took a penalty shot for the Rebels to finally break through on Bullion, but it certainly opened the floodgates for the rest of the evening. While Bullion made the initial stop on Lane Zablocki’s shorthanded breakaway, Bradley was called for an infraction on the play and the Rebels found their opening.
Zach Fischer almost immediately answered the bell by ripping a shot past Rebels goaltender Lasse Petersen for his own 34th of the year, but the lead was once again shortlived.
Red Deer’s Brandon Hagel finished off a freebie after a Jared Freadrich shot squeaked through Bullion’s pads and onto the blue ice, and Medicine Hat’s early impetus seemed to vanish from the ice.
The Tigers looked to get a jump on things late in the second period when Quenneville took a slash on the hands from Freadrich while breaking in alone on goal, but the Tigers found no retribution on the play — and the Rebels stole away the momentum just a few seconds later on a gritty goal from Jordan Roy. Quenneville didn’t mince words regarding the call.
“It was a clear slash on the top of the hands. The puck falls loose off my stick and no call. Not even a penalty shot or a call, just a clean swipe. That was just an absolute joke,” Quenneville said of the play. “I don’t understand. We barely tug Zablocki and hey, if that’s a call, great — that’s a hook. But you’ve got to call it both ways.”
The Rebel winger cashed in after a determined net-front effort, batting home a loose puck after Bullion lost sight of a rebound in the crease. The goal was Red Deer’s third on just nine shots in the middle frame, and ultimately resulted in Nick Schneider entering for Bullion to start the third — but that didn’t solve much. Schneider was beaten four times on just seven shots to start the final period and was promptly pulled from the crease, bringing Bullion back into the game after sitting for just nine minutes.
“I thought Red Deer did a good job of getting in position and fighting for position. At least three or four of the goals were scrambles with traffic and they were able to get to the loose puck, so give them credit,” said Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston. “It was a tough night. They’re both good goaltenders, and they’ll regroup and refocus.”
Bullion stopped 12 of 15 through the first two periods, then was beaten by Roy on his first shot in the third to effectively end Medicine Hat’s night early.
Max Gerlach added a consolation marker in the third, his 33rd of the year.
Petersen was at the top of his game for Red Deer, tallying a total of 37 saves on the night to push the Rebels to 29-28-8-4 on the season while extending their point-streak to six games.
The Tigers, now 49-20-1-0 will continue the chase for 100 points on the season Friday in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes in the start of a season-ending home-andhome series.