Big City Lights: Game Day #11

It's the Rebels in the final game of their 4 games in 5 nights road trip through the BC division.

Red Deer Rebels (6-4-0-0) 12 points AT Vancouver Giants (4-3-1-1) 10 points

The Rebels are heading into Vancouver for tonight's contest having gone 1-2-0-0 so far on the 4 game trip. They came from behind last night to defeat the Victoria Royals 3-1. Red Deer is now 2-4-0-0 in their last 6 games. The team improved to 2-4-0-0 on the road following the victory. The win also tied Red Deer for 2nd in the Eastern Conference, 3 points behind the Prince Albert Raiders.

Michael Spacek enters the game riding a 10 game point streak, tied for longest in the league so far this year. This streak gives him 17 points on the season, tied for 2nd in the league with teammate Ivan Nikolishin. Nikolishin has only been held off the score sheet in one game this year.

Lane Pederson - reddeerrebels.com

Lane Pederson came over in a trade with the Seattle Thunderbirds in the off season. He has joined the 4th line here in Red Deer, mainly playing with Jeff de Wit and either Austin Pratt or Reese Johnson. He has played in all 10 games this year adding a goal and an assist. Lane is developing his role on the fourth line and is very efficient at pinning the opposition in their own end of the ice and cycles the puck well within the offensive zone.


Haydn Fleury has been back with the team for the last 6 games and has contributed 2 goals and 4 assists. He is the Power Play units quarterback, making quick passes to the forwards while patrolling the blue line for the Rebels. He is a steady puck mover, showing a lot of confidence in his own end. Haydn has a tendency to rush the puck up the ice but does a good job in getting back into position in the event the opponents gain possession.

Vancouver was our opponents for the 2016 Master Card Memorial Cup and they have struggled to do well this season. Their record of 4-3-1-1 is good for 3rd in the Western Conference but they have played 3 more games than many teams in the West. They have allowed 7 more goals than they have scored over the 9 games they have played.

Carter Popoff photo - the Province

The Giants will be without the services of Defenseman Ryley McKinstry, F Thomas Foster, F Jesse Roach and one of their star players F Tyler Benson. Benson has not yet played this season while recovering from his injury. He is now listed as week-to-week.

There are a number of players to watch for on the Giants, Radovan Bondra is a rookie drafted by the giants in the first round (8th overall) in the 2015 CHL Import Draft. He has 4 goals and 4 assists in 9 games already this season. Carter Popoff is the leading scorer for Vancouver, he has 4 goals and 7 assists in 9 games.

This game will wrap up the road trip for the Rebels, they head home for a game against the Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday. Tonight's game is broadcast locally on 106.7 FM the Drive. You can also view the game on WHL Live, follow the links on whl.ca Puck drop is at 8PM local time.