Rebels Roster Update

Following last night’s Black and White Game, the Rebels made a number of roster moves to leave them with 35 players still in the fold. Here’s the list of players trimmed from the roster...

Goaltender
Solomon Burk, Castlegar, BC, 1998

Defencemen
Boedy Donald, Star City, SK, 1998
Jace Foskey, Southlake, TX, 2000 – a 7th round Rebels pick in this year’s WHL Bantam Draft
Boo Grist, North Saanich, BC, 1999 – selected by the Rebels in the 6th round of the 2014 draft
Spencer McHardy, Calgary, AB, 2000 – selected by the Rebels in the 8th round of this year’s draft

Forwards
Brendan Budy, Langley, BC, 2000 – 4th round Rebels pick in 2015
Tyler Kirkup, Virden, MB, 1998 – 9th round Rebels pick in 2013
Brayden Labant, St. Paul, AB, 1999 – 8th round pick in 2014
Jack Langenhahn, St. Albert, AB, 1999
Shane Sherban, Lanigan, SK, 1998

With those players gone, here now is a look at some of the players who are still here and were not on the Rebels full-time roster last season. (Will add updates as I find time to collect info) For some of them I have included comments from Rebels Assistant GM Shaun Sutter from our chat following this year’s WHL Bantam Draft…


GOALTENDERS

Dawson Weatherill, 99, Red Deer – Dawson will see time between the pipes during the preseason before sticking around his hometown this season to play Midget AAA with the Optimist Chiefs

DEFENCE

Ethan Sakowich, 99, Athabasca, AB – third round pick (46th overall) in the 2014 draft… 

Jacob Herauf, 00, Sherwood Park, AB – the club’s first round pick in this year’s Bantam Draft (16th overall) is ineligible to play full-time with the Rebels this season… Sutter on draft day “Jacob is a player who skates very well, moves the puck and plays with a lot of bite, says Sutter. “His game is similar to Mathew Dumba in that he’s gonna run guys over and makes people pay the price but he’s also a guy who can put up some points and skates real well.”

Carson Sass, 99, Melville, SK – third round pick (47th overall) in 2014…

Austin Shmoorkoff, 97, Edmonton – picked up by the club in 2013… appeared in 6 regular season games with the Rebels in 2013-14 and one more this past season… appeared in 10 AJHL games with Okotoks and the Calgary Canucks

FORWARDS

Eli Zummack, 00, Kelowna, BC – the club’s second round selection (36th overall) in this year’s draft… 5’9” 160 lbs… 9G, 12A, 21P, 14 PIM with Okanagan in 2014-15… from Sutter “Eli is a skilled, offensive guy who is a playmaker that makes other guys around him better. He’s a guy that can quarterback the powerplay form the half-wall. He is a determined, character kid and he comes out of a real good program at the Pursuit of Excellence.”

Chase Lowry, 00, Edmonton, AB – third round pick (50th) this year…  5’10” 171 lbs… 31G, 33A, 64P, 14 PIM in 64 games over two years with Edmonton SSAC… Sutter “Chase dealt with some injuries last year but is a solid all-around player. He is a guy who can score, make plays, is good away from the puck and also plays a heavy game. We thought there was a lot of players drafted ahead of him who he was a better player than.”

Austin Pratt, 99, Lakeville, Minnesota – Rebels 4th round pick in 2014… the club’s excitement over having Pratt sign with them prompted a press conference this past April 

D-Jay Jerome, 00, Lethbridge - 

Akash Bains, 99, Delta, BC – selected in the 9th round (185th overall) in the 2014 draft… 

Jack McClelland, 96, Wichita KS – free agent invite… son of former Edmonton Oiler Kevin… 

Tanner Sidaway, 99, Victoria, BC – 

Brandon Cutler, 00, Stony Plain, AB - 5’10” 160 lbs… 13G, 25A, 38P, 32 PIM in 28 games with the Spruce Grove PAC Saints… Sutter “Skates well, thinks the game and has some real good upside. He can make a play and will play a physical play. We see some depth and potential.”
The other newcomers still with the Rebels are all fairly well-known by this point… forwards Ivan Nikolishin and Lane Pederson and defenceman Ryan Pouliot all have WHL experience under their belt.

The Rebels open preseason play this Saturday in St. Albert versus the Oil Kings. Following that, the club will lose EIGHT players to various NHL camps…

Conner Bleackley, COL
Haydn Fleury, CAR
Adam Musil, STL
Wyatt Johnson, ANA
Lane Pederson, ANA
Evan Polei, DET
Michael Spacek, WPG
Nelson Nogier, WPG

This means the Rebels will have to be somewhat creative when icing their lineups for preseason games next weekend versus the Americans and Spokane Chiefs at Tri-City. It’ll definitely be fun/interesting to see what the club comes up with.

(You can head to my soundcloud page for postgame comments from Brent Sutter and Wyatt Johnson following the Black and White Game) 

TG