Rebels: December Deals Have Memorial Cup In Mind

The WHL Trade Deadline does not arrive for another two weeks (January 10).
Brent Sutter isn’t waiting that long to make what he hopes are drastic improvements to his Red Deer Rebels club.
Four new names have been added to the Rebels roster since December 1…

• Riley Sheen, F, 20, acquired from Lethbridge along with a conditional 5th round selection in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft in exchange for 20-year old Devan Fafard and 17-year old forward Brayden Burke
  
  
• Nelson Nogier, 18, D, and Austin Adamson, F, 18, acquired from Saskatoon in exchange for in exchange for 17-year old forward Mason McCarty, the Rebels 1st round selection in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft, and a 2nd round pick in 2015
  
  
• Colton Bobyk, D, 18, acquired from Spokane along with a 4th round selection in 2016 in exchange for 19-year old defenceman Nick Charif, a 2nd round pick in 2015 and a conditional 6th round selection in 2016

Clearly, the Rebels have paid high prices to bring these players in. It is also clear that Sutter believes these players are the right fit for his club.

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.

Local Sports: February 18

The Red Deer Rebels solid grip on a WHL playoff spot is now rather tenuous.

The Rebels sit just two points ahead of Prince Albert for 8th in the Eastern Conference after a 7-1 drubbing in Calgary on Monday. The Rebels also fell 4-1 at home to Saskatoon on Saturday, one night after their 3-2 overtime win in Edmonton.

The Rebels host the Oil Kings for their first of five straight games at the Enmax Centrium.
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Senior AAA Provincials

The Bentley Generals beat the Stony Plain Eagles 3-2 in overtime on Monday at the Red Deer Arena. The Generals have a 3-0 lead in the provincial semi-final series with game four coming this Saturday at Stony Plain.

The Innisfail Eagles and Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs are tied 1-1 in the other semi-final series, game three goes Friday night in Innisfail.

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Local Athletes Head To Alberta Winter Games

The 2014 Alberta Winter Games get underway on Thursday in Banff and Canmore.

The 2014 Alberta Winter Games run from February 6-9th young athletes from eight zones will participate in 22 sporting competitions in both locations.

Below is the list of athletes representing Zone 4 from Red Deer and Red Deer County.  For a list of the rest of our local Zone 4 athletes visit www. albertagames.com.

Aasman	Jayda	Volleyball Female	Red Deer
Adkins	Ryan	Archery	Red Deer
Allin	Erin	Ringette	Red Deer
Beaudoin	Spencer	Ringette	Red Deer
Biletsky	Parker	Volleyball Male	Red Deer
Bilodeau	Shaelynne	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Boorse	Mikayla	Curling	Red Deer
Brown	Wade	Cross Country Skiing	Red Deer
Bussard	Jade	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Butler	Ruby	Artistic Gymnastics	Red Deer
Carriere	Tye	Hockey Male	Red Deer
Colonna	Skylar	Hockey Female	Red Deer

Coutts	Tyra	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Cudillo	Lester	Boxing	Red Deer
Cudillo	Lowie	Boxing	Red Deer
Cundict	Elizabeth	Ringette	Red Deer
DeMale	Shae	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Domoney	Kaylee	Ringette	Red Deer
Evans	Tracey	Archery	Red Deer
Fairbrother	Keesha	Ringette	Red Deer
Farguson	William	Judo	Red Deer
Fitzsimons	Mandi	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Flanagan	Anthony	Judo	Red Deer
Freeman	Mya	Synchronized Swimming	Red Deer
Frenette	Natalie	Volleyball Female	Red Deer
Fuerbringer	Joshua	Speed Skating	Red Deer
Garbe	Janaya	Ringette	Red Deer
Graham	Christopher	Volleyball Male	Red Deer
Gray	Kieren	Speed Skating	Red Deer

Gray	Nolan	Speed Skating	Red Deer
Green	Owen	Alpine Skiing	Red Deer
Guthrie	Adam	Squash	Red Deer
Halford	Claire	Synchronized Swimming	Red Deer
Hayes	Nina	Synchronized Swimming	Red Deer
Heron	Matthew	Volleyball Male	Red Deer
Hovdestad	Amy	Synchronized Swimming	Red Deer
Huddleston	Mackenzie	Volleyball Female	Red Deer
Hurry	Devyn	Fencing	Red Deer
Jewkes	Lauren	Ringette	Red Deer
Johnson	Bailey	Cross Country Skiing	Red Deer
Junck	Adam	Volleyball Male	Red Deer
Kopec	Bryce	Badminton	Red Deer

Kosack	Zachary	Cross Country Skiing	Red Deer
Krause	Liam	Volleyball Male	Red Deer
Lamont	Kameron	Fencing	Red Deer
Laye	Sierra	Volleyball Female	Red Deer
Lee	Daniel	Judo	Red Deer
Love Hollman	Eryn	Curling	Red Deer
Love Hollman	Mason	Curling	Red Deer
Macleod	Logan	Squash	Red Deer
Marshall	Luke	Hockey Male	Red Deer
Mast	Cody	Cross Country Skiing	Red Deer
Meckling	Abby	Volleyball Female	Red Deer
Metcalfe	Janelle	Volleyball Female	Red Deer
Morlock	Justin	Curling	Red Deer
Mulder	Amy	Ringette	Red Deer

Nadon	Evan	Badminton	Red Deer
Nasewich	Maegan	Figure Skating	Red Deer
O'Connell	Brandon	Speed Skating	Red Deer
Oakes	Jared	Alpine Skiing	Red Deer
Ostrikoff	Megan	Fencing	Red Deer
Paarup	Jace	Hockey Male	Red Deer
Packard	Kallan	Synchronized Swimming	Red Deer
Patrick	Mercedes	Synchronized Swimming	Red Deer
Pimm	Owen	Cross Country Skiing	Red Deer
Rodger	Logan	Judo	Red Deer
Sandquist	Chantelle	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Saunders	Brad	Biathlon	Red Deer

Saunders	Brad	Biathlon	Red Deer
Saunders	Brielle	Biathlon	Red Deer
Saunders	Devin	Biathlon	Red Deer
Schlachter	Alison	Ringette	Red Deer
Sikora	Genevieve	Freestyle Skiing	Red Deer
Sikora	Sydney	Freestyle Skiing	Red Deer
Sorokan	Hope	Synchronized Swimming	Red Deer
Sosnowski	Gina	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Spicer	Lauren	Speed Skating	Red Deer
Spicer	Stefanie	Speed Skating	Red Deer

St. Pierre	Isabel	Ringette	Red Deer
St.Pierre	Jenna	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Starratt	Bailey	Archery	Red Deer
Stecyk	Cale	Hockey Male	Red Deer
Suhalj	Anna	Volleyball Female	Red Deer
Tieken-Maerz	Kendra	Ringette	Red Deer
Towers	Talyn	Archery	Red Deer
Very	Jason	Hockey Male	Red Deer
Wiebe	Dahlin	Cross Country Skiing	Red Deer
Wiley	Kaitlyn	Archery	Red Deer
Wlad	Carley	Hockey Female	Red Deer
Doyon	Joshua	Cross Country Skiing	Red Deer County
Flewell	Journey	Volleyball Female	Red Deer County
Janssen	Kendall	Volleyball Female	Red Deer County
Linnell	Kaitlan	Hockey Female	Red Deer County

MacDougall	Bryndelle	Speed Skating	Red Deer County
MacDougall	Connor	Speed Skating	Red Deer County
Sinnamon	Connor	Volleyball Male	Red Deer County
Weberg	Ethan	Hockey Male	Red Deer County
Wood	Adam	Freestyle Skiing	Red Deer County

Lacombe's Hodgson Ready To Rock At Home

Final preparations at the Lacombe Arena
(photo from twitter @C_hodgy)

The Lacombe Arena will be rocking this week. (Sorry, I just had to haha)

A field of twelve teams, highlighted by two former world champions, hits the ice for the 2014 Albert a Boston Pizza Cup men’s provincial curling championship starting Wednesday.

And while the Kevin Martin and Kevin Koe rinks are the overwhelming favorites heading in, there is another team that will have the support of plenty of hometown Lacombe fans behind it.

Tommy Gun's Outdoor Winter Classic - A True Hockey Celebration

The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks may be playing at the legendary hockey setting that is Dodger Stadium (nothing screams “Hockey” like palm trees). A true celebration of the game, however, takes place in Red Deer again this weekend.

The 4^th annual Tommy Gun’s Outdoor Winter Classic [@TGWinterClassic] is on at the Bower Community Rink this weekend. Eight midget teams hit the outdoor ice for games starting Friday afternoon and running through Sunday afternoon.

This year, four Red Deer midget teams are joined this year by squads from Grande Prairie, Lloydminster, Claresholm and Kelowna.

“We just wanted to do a Midget ‘A’ tournament and there was never any ice to do it,” explains Tournament Organizer Al Sim. “We originally planned to do an indoor tournament but something got lost and we never got the indoor ice time. So we looked at the outdoor winter classic the NHL was doing and decided ‘Why don’t we do that too?’”

(more below)

Lacombe Athletic Park Continues To Score Big

Central Alberta Buccaneers in action
at MEGlobal Athletic Park

2013 was a banner year for the Lacombe Athletic Park Association (LAPA).

The group, which operates and oversees events at MEGlobal Athletic Park, held its Annual General Meeting last night. They shared many of the facility's highlights from the past 12 months and set the stage for more exciting things to come.

If you're not familiar with the facility, check out this video from their new and improved website (It's a great video despite my cameo lol)

Among the event highlights from last year…

• A number of improvements to the park were made including new sidewalks, landscaping, fencing and storage, new soccer nets, and improved access to the adjacent grass practice field
• Two midget football teams called MEGlobal Athletic Park home for their 2013 seasons
• In May, the park hosted a regional high school soccer tournament for the first time
• The U of C Dinos hosted another successful camp for minor football players in June
• The Central Alberta Buccaneers of the Alberta Football League used the park as their home for a second year
• Central Alberta Field Lacrosse started up two teams that called MEGlobal Athletic Park “home”
• “Football Day in Lacombe” in September was highlighted by generous donations from Richard Pioneer ($50,000), Lacombe Rotary Club ($15,000) and another $25,000 from the Gord Bamford Foundation, boosting their total donations to the park to $75,000
• In November, the park was the setting as Lacombe residents gathered to set the new world record for the largest human Christmas tree

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.

REBELS: Doetzel Provides Spark, Volek Gets World Juniors Invite

Red Deer Rebels fans, who were kept away from last night’s game due to this not-so-lovely blast of winter weather, or for whatever other reasons, are today all probably all thinking the same thing.

Doetzel did that? You gotta be kidding?!

It’s true, honest. The game changing offensive play was last night made by a stay-at-home defenseman who had not scored a single goal all season long.

REBELS: Big Weekend Ahead

With the spectacle that was the Subway Super Series now in the books, the focus for junior hockey fans in Central Alberta returns squarely on the exploits of the Red Deer Rebels.

The Rebels are coming off of what was perhaps their best home effort of the season thus far, definitely their best since their return from November’s ArgiTrade induced road trip.  My question for Lukas Sutter on Thursday, what was the key to success that night?

The Hard Hitting Topic of Body Checking

Hey gang.

I am fortunate enough to have been invited by Hockey Alberta to serve as moderator for an interesting, and quite possibly emotional, forum discussion taking place tomorrow night as part of their Annual General Meeting.

The topic of discussion… body checking. There has been no shortage of opinions voiced both for and against Hockey Alberta’s, followed by Hockey Canada’s, decision to eliminate body checking from pee wee hockey.

The bottom line is there’s no turning back. The decision has been made and the focus of tomorrow night’s forum will be on “what’s next.” Now that this change is being made, how do we (coaches, managers, officials, players, parents, etc.) move forward while also improving the game of hockey?

Midget Chiefs: Best In Canada, Again

Here's is today's Hockey Canada media release re: Red Deer Optimist Chiefs Telus Cup victory...

RED DEER CHIEFS WIN 2013 TELUS CUP

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – The Red Deer Chiefs (Pacific) have won the 2013 TELUS Cup, claiming Canada’s 40th National Midget Championship with a 5-0 win over the Ottawa Jr. 67’s (Central) in Sunday night’s gold medal game at the Essar Centre.



The victory makes the Chiefs just the fourth team in the history of Canada’s National Midget Championship to win back-to-back gold medals, joining the Couillard/Gouverneurs de Ste-Foy (1978, 1979), Prince Albert Mintos (2006, 2007) and Notre Dame Hounds (2009 and 2010).

Generals: Oh, What a Relief It Is

2013 Allan Cup Champions

Jubilation.  Celebration.  Satisfaction.  These are words that usually come to mind when a team wins a championship.

But for the Bentley Generals, who won their second Allan Cup title on Saturday with a 3-0 win over the Clarenville Caribous, there are another words which are perhaps more fitting.

Relief.

You would be hard pressed to find another team facing as much pressure to win as this year's Bentley Generals.  They already knew they'd be playing in the 2013 Allan Cup as the host team.  But the Generals shocked the senior hockey world when they fired coach Brian Sutter. 

Bentley Generals - Allan Cup Champs (again)

Here's the Hockey Canada media release for the Bentley Generals 2013 Allan Cup championship win...

RED DEER, Alta. – For the second time in five years, the Bentley Generals have won the Allan Cup, claiming Canada’s 105th National Senior Championship with a 3-0 victory over the Clarenville Caribous in Saturday’s championship game at Red Deer Arena.

Bentley and Clarenville Battle for Allan Cup (again)

Here's a look at Hockey Canada's media release for today's Allan Cup final between the Bentley Generals and Clarenville Caribous...

(visit my soundcloud page for some audio from Generals coach Brandin Cote and captain Sean Robertson)

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RED DEER, Alta. – After semifinal victories on Friday, the Bentley Generals and Clarenville Caribous will meet for the 105th Allan Cup, Canada’s National Senior Championship, on Saturday at the Red Deer Arena. The championship game can be seen on TSN beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. Check your local listings for broadcast times in your area.

Bentley defeated the Kenora Thistles 3-2 in Friday’s late semifinal, while Clarenville topped the Rosetown Redwings 6-2 in the early game.

Rebels and Hitmen Renew Rivalry

It just seems wrong that the Red Deer Rebels and Calgary Hitmen have gone nearly a full decade without meeting in the playoffs. (not nearly as bad as the Oilers / Flames playoff drought, but still…)

During the Rebels “glory days” a yearly postseason date with the Hitmen was pretty much set in stone. In the six seasons between 1999 and 2004 they met in the playoffs four times…

1999 – Hitmen swept the Rebels 4-0 in the second round on their way to winning the WHL Championship
2001 – Rebels beat the Hitmen four games to two in second round in their way to winning the Memorial Cup
2003 – Rebels beat the Hitmen four games to one in the opening round on their way to winning the Eastern Conference
2004 – Rebels beat the Hitmen four games to three in the opening round

Fab Four For Optimist Chiefs

2013 AMHL Champions - Red Deer Optimist Chiefs

The Doug Dynasty continues...

At least that's how the players, past and present, refer to the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs streak of four straight Alberta Midget AAA provincial championships.

It's their tribute to the man in charge, Doug Quinn, who has been behind the Chiefs bench for all four title wins (as well as their Telus Cup championship win last April.)

He's a coach these players absolutely love playing for.  And on Saturday, they rewarded him with another solid 60 minute effort leading to another provincial title.

"They're all exciting but I think one is probably a bit extra special," Quinn said following the Chiefs 1-0 won over Edmonton Southside Athletic Club in the fifth and deciding game of the Alberta Midget Hockey League final.

Great Words From The Great One / Sutter Talks Iggy

Wayne Gretzky and Yours Truly

I can’t lie to you.  Even as a lifelong Calgary Flames fan I was really, really looking forward to today.



After all, it’s not every day that The Great One visits your city… especially when your city is Red Deer.



Wayne Gretzky had the crowd in the palm of his hand this morning at the 10th annual RDC Kings and Queens Scholarship Breakfast.  Over 1,400 people came out to Westerner Park to hear Wayne share stories on stage with his former St. Louis Blues teammate, Kelly Chase [who is very entertaining in his own right].



Long Weekend Look Back

Good Tuesday, everyone.  Hope you all had a fun and safe Canada Day long weekend!

The personal highlight for me was being able to watch all four CFL games from start to finish (two of which I watched on TV, the other two I attended in person).  Sadly, I was 1/4 with my predictions (BC was my only correct pick).  Here's how my initial power rankings look...

1.  BC (1-0)
2.  Saskatchewan (1-0)
3.  Calgary (1-0)
4.  Edmonton (1-0)
5.  Toronto (0-1)
6.  Winnipeg (0-1)
7.  Montreal (0-1)
8.  Hamilton (0-1)

CFL Chalk Talk

nationalpost.com

Today is a big day for me as it marks the start of the 2012 CFL season.

As a lifelong fan of the league, it’s pretty darn easy to get excited about this. But the subplots heading into this brand new campaign make for more intrigue than an Agatha Christie novel…