Through the first 12 minutes of the tournament’s opening game, the host Red Deer Rebels played exactly the way their coach Brent Sutter could have hoped after a three-week layoff.
The game was scoreless but the Rebels took play to the London Knights, who would have ranked as favourites in the matchup, even though they were a long way from home. Red Deer had the advantage in territorial play and puck possession. They had energy. They were dictating the game. But all that good stuff came undone in a blink.
A bad retaliatory penalty against the Rebels’ best player, defenceman Haydn Fleury, put London on the powerplay and thereafter it never felt like Red Deer could make a game of it. Aaron Berisha scored with the man-advantage and then, in the space of five shifts, Christian Dvorak scored twice to put the Knights up 3-zip.
This was a teachable moment: Though it’s not advised, you might have room to air out a grievance with an opponent over the course of a seven-game series, but in the MasterCard Memorial Cup you just don’t consider. Whether Fleury’s actions are instinctive or reckless or selfish, it matters not. Same for the other five penalties that the Rebels took in the opener, putting the game on the sticks of the Knights’ potent powerplay. Discipline has to reign.
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One can only assume that the message sank in during the first intermission but by then it was too late. The Rebels’ backs aren’t exactly against the wall—even if they lose to QMJHL champs Rouyn-Noranda Sunday, they have hope of getting to a play-in game if they can manage to beat Brandon in their tournament finale.
The Huskies were impressive in their win over the Wheat Kings Saturday night—Rouyn-Noranda raced out to a 5-1 lead and won easing up, conceding a couple of third-period goals. On most recent form, you’d have a hard time liking the home team’s chances but in this tournament fresh legs are paramount and the Rebels’ will be the fresher team in Sunday’s game. As good as Timo Meier, Francois Perron and the other Huskies forwards were through the first two periods, they faded in the stretch and now face the hosts with the quickest of turn-arounds. Rouyn-Noranda’s Chase Marchand made at least a half dozen five-star stops in the game, John Quenneville’s highlight-reel between-the-skates roof shot notwithstanding.
If Fleury suffered brain lock in his bad moment against the Knights, it was no worse than defenceman Jeremy Lauzon’s decision to try to take Brandon forward Jordan Thompson’s head off early in the Saturday night game. Lauzon can be cut some slack, given that he was on the sidelines for weeks while recovering from one of the nastiest neck lacerations you’ll ever see. The rest of the way, though, Lauzon was a physical presence and led a Rouyn-Noranda blue line that shredded any Brandon fore-checking pressure with first-pass breakouts that found Huskies forwards in stride.
And but for Lauzon’s egregious shot at Thompson, the Quebec champs were more disciplined than the Wheat Kings—if Red Deer is hoping to get its powerplay on the ice, goading and gooning shouldn’t be the plan. The Rebels might get a little home cooking in terms of the officiating—these are among the benefits of playing host to the event.
In this week’s edition, Jeff is joined by Sam Cosentino, Joey Kenward and Timo Meier for a wide-ranging MasterCard Memorial Cup preview.
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The likes of Connor Bleackley, Ivan Nikolishin and Jake Debrusk, cornerstones of the Red Deer offence, were kept off the scoreboard and really the final score against London flattered the hosts—the Rebels’ two goals were soft, too late and beside the point.
You have to suspect that Red Deer will have to clog up the neutral zone and grind out a win rather than try to out-skill the Huskies or beat a faster team in a footrace.
