"Bling" For Bartosak / Prospects Update

Honoured.  Excited.  Focused.



That’s pretty much how Patrik Bartosak felt yesterday afternoon when we chatted about his double honours from the Western Hockey League.



After receiving the Red Deer Rebels MVP Award last week, the 19 year old Czech netminder was named as an Eastern Conference 1st-team All Star on Wednesday.  He is also the Eastern Conference nominee for WHL Goaltender of the Year.



He appreciates the honours but, as you would expect, isn’t taking any time to celebrate as he prepares for his WHL playoff debut.

Rebels Players Awards - Who's Gonna Win?

Contrary to popular belief, I have no insider info whatsoever as to who will win the 2012-2013 Red Deer Rebels Player Awards tonight.

But... as a guy who follows the team closely all season long... I should probably offer up my thoughts on the awards in the form of some predictions (which never ever work out well for me in the end).

Thankfully, at least one of this year's awards is an absolute slam dunk...

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.

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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.

A New Hope

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

Cheesy Star Wars reference?  Absolutely. 

Applicable to the Red Deer Rebels?  Absolutely.

The Rebels are making it very clear that the disastrous, injury-riddled 2012-2013 season is now a thing of the past... the very distant past... and that this is their time to 'strike back!' (insert lightsaber sound effect here)

Rebels Report - Dumba, Bartosak, and Bittner (the new guy)

Got a quick pic with 
Evgeni Malkin while in Vegas.

I'm Baaaack!

What a lovely change it was for this guy to go from sunny and 40+ degrees Celsius in Las Vegas to rainy and 15 degrees back here in Red Deer .  But I suppose a guy has to put up with that kind of thing after having a great time over five days in Sin City.  I'll survive.

There was some hockey flavour to my trip as my buddy and I dropped in on an NHL Awards 'after party' last Wednesday night.  It was pretty cool to be 'just a fan' for a night and meet current NHLers like Evgeni Malkin, Daniel Alfredsson, and Twitter legend Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0).  And, even as a life long Flames fan, it was quite a thrill to meet Mark Messier.  There were plenty more NHLers in the building, unfortunately my knack for recognizing faces isn't what it should be for a guy in my position (though I did manage to shake hands with Henrik Lundqvist).  Regardless, it was a great way to start a holiday.

Draft Talk With Dumba And Bartosak

Two months ago when I booked my trip to Vegas I apparently overlooked the fact that I would be in 'Sin City' while the NHL Entry Draft takes place in Pittsburgh.

But that didn't stop me from putting in a couple of phone calls late last week to the two Red Deer Rebels who are likely to be selected this weekend.

It's a foregone conclusion that Mathew Dumba will have his name called in the first round of the draft on Friday night.  Depending on who's draft board you are looking at,  Dumba is ranked as high as 6th (Bob McKenzie, TSN) to 18th (Shane Malloy, The Art of Scouting) and everywhere in between.  NHL Central Scouting has him ranked 11th among North American skaters.

Thumbs Down for Mayor

You can imagine how thrilled I was to show up at the Enmax Centrium and discover another devastating injury for the Red Deer Rebels.

Say goodbye to Colten Mayor for the next three to six weeks... he broke his thumb this past weekend. This after he had already been playing with a cast to protect his previously injured wrist.

Now the Rebels will have to make due with out their third leading scoring this season (38 points tied with Mathew Dumba).

For those of you keeping track (or at least trying to) here's the latest look at the full injury list...

G Patrik Bartosak (upper) - Patrik had his shoulder surgery last week
F Adam Kambeitz (lower) - Rebels captain to miss at least another five weeks of action due to his badly injured ankle
F Colten Mayor (upper) - out 3-6 weeks with injured thumb
D Justin Weller (upper) - had multiple surgeries for broken wrist and is likely to miss remainder of this season
D Aaron Borejko (upper) - Aaron suffered his second concussion of the season this past Friday in Edmonton and is most likely done for the year
D Devan Fafard (upper) - also dealing with concussion symptoms and is listed as week-to-week
D Kayle Doetzel (upper) - likely to miss at least one more week with broken ribs

To summarize... the Rebels are missing their number one goalie, four of their top six defencemen, and two of their top six forwards. The coaching staff is busy coming over their protected list to see who might be able to fill in for this week's games versus Prince Albert, Kootenay and Moose Jaw. It won't be easy (understatement) but they'll find a way. Somehow... they'll find a way.