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?

Weekend Wrap - Sept 16

With the web editor for my sports page at 1067thedrive.fm down for maintenance... here is my usual weekend wrap from the local sports scene...

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The Red Deer Rebels wrapped up preseason play with a pair of wins over the weekend.  The Rebels finished with a 3-3-0-0 preseason record.

Rebels: Bleackley Excited About Future After Eventful Month

Conner Bleackley

To call the last few weeks in the life of Red Deer Rebels forward Conner Bleackley “eventful” would be a gross understatement of fact.

In a huge off-season when it comes to his future as a hockey player, Bleackley’s hockey efforts were abruptly put on hold when his hometown of High River was devastated by June’s massive floods.

Thankfully for Bleackley, he and his family made it through the traumatic experience relatively unscathed compared with many others.

“We got all of our valuable stuff out of the basement but it was devastating to see the rest of the damage in and around High River,” Bleackley told me over the phone today. “All the houses on our street, some of the families won’t be able to recover from the flood which is sad to see. We were fortunate that all we lost was some stuff and that everyone was out ok and all my friends and family were not hurt.”

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?

Rebels Go Prospecting

Even though I’ll only be around for the first day, I’m quite looking forward to this year’s edition of the Red Deer Rebels annual prospects camp.

34 players will hit the ice at the Penhold Multiplex Friday (3-5pm), Saturday (3:45-5:45pm) and Sunday (9-11am) with all three sessions open to the public.

If 34 seems like a high of players number that’s because, compared to past years, it is. Usually, somewhere around two dozen players come to town for this annual camp. The increased camp roster will provide a new and interesting dynamic.

“We’ll have enough players that we can have 17 on each team, so we’ll scrimmage more than we did in the past,” Rebels GM / Head Coach Brent Sutter told Greg Meachem (@GregMeachem) of the Red Deer Advocate.

It makes sense. It can only help these up and coming players to put them head to head and see what they’re made of. Let them measure themselves against each other so see where they are now and where they need to be in order to someday make this team.

Rebels: WHL Bantam Draft

Even when it's finally nice outside it's fun to talk hockey.

The 2013 WHL Bantam Draft took place today in Calgary.  Here's who the Rebels selected...

Player                         Selected                                  POS    Birthdate        Hometown    

Jeff de Wit                   1^st round, 14^th overall              C          Mar. 14, 1998  Red Deer, AB

Joshua Mahura             2^nd round, 36^th overall              D         May 6, 1998    St. Albert, AB

Caleb Riess                  4^th round, 70^th overall              RW      Aug. 20, 1998  Rocanville, SK

Nick Darling                6^th round, 113^th overall            D         Feb. 12, 1998  Saskatoon, SK

Cale Chalifoux             6^th round, 124^th overall            D         May 15, 1998  Edmonton, AB

Joshua Logel                7^th round, 137^th overall            C          Apr. 17, 1998  Calgary, AB

Max Salpeter                8^th round, 168^th overall            D         Apr. 2, 1998    St. Albert, AB

Tyler Kirkup                9^th round, 190^th overall            C          Apr. 3, 1998    Virden, MB

Kyle Sargent                9^th round, 195^th overall            D         Mar. 2, 1998    Carlyle, SK

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).