Rebels Prospects Update

The Red Deer Rebels continue to build toward the future in addition to their mission to win the 2016 Mastercard Memorial Cup they’ll be hosting in May.

The goal is to return to being the perennial championship contender they were in the early 2000’s. For that to happen, you need not only to have a strong current roster but also a full cupboard of prospects.

Cam Moon, being the legendary voice of the Rebels that he is, recently sat down for a chat with Shaun Sutter, Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel. Sutter, as he does so well, gave Mooner a rundown of some prospects that are off to strong starts this season.

“A lot of guys are playing well and that’s what we want to see,” Sutter said. “We want to see progress and development throughout the year in areas where guys want to work on and where they need to improve.”

“Internally, there is probably as much talk about next year and what we have inside our organization for what we are building going ahead because we are striving toward being a contending team every year and these guys are going to be a part of that.”

Here’s what Shaun had to say about some of them, starting with a hometown Red Deerian…

REBELS: Dumba Dealt To Portland

Trade breakdown (as per whl.ca)

The Red Deer Rebels have officially parted ways with Mathew Dumba.

Today, the Rebels traded Dumba’s WHL playing rights, along with a conditional 2014 WHL Bantam Draft pick, to the Portland Winterhawks. In return, the Rebels get 18-year-old forward Presten Kopeck and conditional bantam draft picks.

While it has become quite clear that the Minnesota Wild have no interest in sending Dumba back to play for an on-the-fringe playoff contender (if they ever had any to begin with), the chance to send him out west to play for a league championship and Memorial Cup contender may be a much more enticing possibility. It is clearly a possibility that both Rebels GM / Head Coach Brent Sutter and Winterhawks GM / Head Coach Mike Johnston are banking on.

Thursday Thoughts - "Rebels Clip Blades"

First off, if for some reason you have not seen Mathew Dumba's "Goal of the Year" candidate from last night... get on it!  Dumba's beauty goal was good enough to earn TSN Highlight of the Night honours... which, by the way, is a first time occurrence for the Rebels franchise.

---

The Red Deer Rebels have earned points in three straight games thanks to their 5-3 win over the Blades last night in Saskatoon.  The Rebels are 2-0-1 to start their stretch of seven straight games away from the Enmax Centrium.  Some thoughts...

- SCORING BY COMMITTEE... Five different players, none of them named Charles Inglis, lit the lamp for the Rebels last night... which is a great sign for this club.

- GIANT DIVIDENDS... Matt Bellerive was acquired from the Vancouver Giants with hopes/intentions that his playmaking ability to jump start the Rebels sometimes stagnant offensive attack.  Bellerive is tied for the Rebels scoring lead with six points, including the three assists he had in last night's win.

- KEY MOMENT... Midway through the third period, with the Rebels on a 5-on-3 powerplay, Josh Nicholls found himself with a breakaway for the Blades.  Patrik Bartosak came up with a huge save for the Rebels.  Mere seconds later, Cory Millette scored for the Rebels to make it 4-1, essentially putting the game out of reach. (Although Saskatoon scored just 10 seconds later to set up an interesting finish to this one).  Both Bartosak and Bolton Pouliot, as advertised, have been outstanding in net for the Rebels so far this season.

- CAPTAIN'S CRUNCH TIME... Adam Kambeitz's assist on Tyson Ness' empty net goal was just his second point of the season.  With Inglis on a scoring tear, and Turner Elson still day-to-day with his lower body injury, Adam needs to seize the moment and start contributing offensively.  Only four games (max.) left until the Rebels overagers (20 year old's) situation will be dealt with.

- MILLER TIME?... Also waiting for Jesse Miller to make an impact in his first WHL season.  He got invovled physically last night with a third period fight with Jessey Astles but that's not why he's here.  The Rebels are banking on the 18 year old's offensive abilities to add some much needed scoring depth.

- MOON MAN... I don't always get to appreciate it while working at home games... but sitting in my living room last night while listening to Cam Moon's call of the game on 106.7 The Drive was a real treat.  Judging by a look at my twitter timeline... many of you agree with me that Mooner calls one helluva good game!

NEXT GAME... The Rebels continue their East Division tour tomorrow night by visiting the Regina Pats.  Game time is 7:00pm.  The aforementioned Mooner hits the air with the pregame show on The Drive starting at 6:50.