Helewka Signs With Sharks

The San Jose Sharks have signed Red Deer Rebels forward Adam Helewka to an entry level contract.

The Sharks selected six-foot-two, 200-pound Burnaby, BC native in the 4th round, 106th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft.

Helewka started this season by playing three games with the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League. He was returned to the Spokane Chiefs before being acquired by the Rebels on January 1.

Fleury Working To Rock It Like A Hurricane

[Here goes my latest attempt at blogging, based on some good interviews we've had on recent Rebels broadcasts]

Haydn Fleury hasn’t exactly been piling up the points this season with the Red Deer Rebels. But, that doesn’t mean his play isn’t trending in the right direction.


Last weekend, the Carolina Hurricanes, sent a familiar face to Red Deer to get a firsthand look at the progress of their first round draft pick.


Glen Wesley is the Director of Defencemen Development for the Hurricanes. The Red Deer native knows a thing or two about patrolling NHL blue lines, having done so for 1457 games joining Carolina’s hockey staff.

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.

Prime Time Rebels Alumni

On Thursday, the Western Hockey League sent out a release stating 20% of all NHL players who have through the first month of the season are WHL graduates (156 of 778 players).

Here's a list of those players who have suited up for the Red Deer Rebels...

Rebels Gone Wild

Sometimes, as a broadcaster, you get lucky.



Prior to last night’s game at the Enmax Centrium between the Rebels and Regina Pats, Cam Moon and I were saying “How cool would it be if Paul Charles came to the game tonight?  He’d be a PERFECT intermission guest.”



Most of you probably don’t know who Paul Charles is… he is a scout with the Minnesota Wild.  And, as we’ve all seen, there’s no shortage of Rebels-Wild activity to chat about these days.



Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, Paul walked into the media lounge while Mooner and I were still chatting.  Perfect.



Paul is a big reason why Minnesota drafted Mathew Dumba 7th overall in last year’s NHL Entry Draft.  Before that, he was a big advocate for drafting Darcy Kuemper, which the Wild did in the sixth round (161st overall) of the 2009 draft.



That particular selection is turning out to be quite a steal for the Wild, and Charles couldn’t be happier.

Wild Camp Looms For Dumba

It looks like the Minnesota Wild will have their 2012 first round draft pick attending their training camp.

Red Deer Rebels Owner / President / GM / Head Coach Brent Sutter fully expects to lose the services of Mathew Dumba for a few days while he skates with the teams that selected him 7th overall last June.

“Matty will be leaving for sure,” Sutter confirmed before Monday’s practice at the Enmax Centrium. “There’s a good possibility Matty could be leaving before the weekend games [Friday at Saskatoon, Saturday at Prince Albert]. He’ll be gone for a few days and then he’ll be back again.”

Audio Blog: Chatting With Brandon Sutter

(Trying to get back in the swing of things after taking a rare sick day yesterday...)

Just thought I'd share with you my recent interview with Brandon Sutter.  The Pittsburgh Penguins forward, and former Rebels captain, joined me on-air on 106.7 The Drive during the 1st intermission of Tuesday's Rebels/Pats game.

He's been spending quite a bit of time, both on and off the ice, at the Enmax Centrium as he toils through the NHL lockout.  Brandon says he has received interest from clubs in Europe but is still holding off when it comes to possibly making the jump overseas.

Anyhoo... I'll let you listen to his comments for yourselves (LISTEN HERE). 

TG

(Thanks to Brandon for being a last second addition to our broadcast on Tuesday and for doing a great job of hitting my softball questions out of the park!)

Red Deer's Cup Connections

By now you've seen and heard plenty about the Los Angeles Kings 6-1 win last night over the New Jersey Devils to clinch their first ever Stanley Cup title.

So let's take a bit of a different angle and look at how the Kings' cup win ties into Red Deer and Central Alberta... that is the point of this particular blog after all.