Head coach Brent Sutter and the Red Deer Rebels have known all season that their ticket to the MasterCard Memorial Cup was punched. But that didn’t stop them from making a serious run to kick their way through the front door.

They fought their way to the Eastern Conference Final, where they ran into—and lost to—the eventual champion Brandon Wheat Kings.

The host team hasn’t fared well over the past few years at the Memorial Cup and the Rebels are looking to buck that trend. They were major players at the WHL trade deadline in an effort to beef up for this tournament and we’re about to find out if it was worth it.

With added firepower up front, Red Deer is looking to be more than just a host team, its looking to win the whole thing.

In this week’s edition, Jeff is joined by Sam Cosentino, Joey Kenward and Timo Meier for a wide-ranging MasterCard Memorial Cup preview.

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Strengths

Top-end forwards

Red Deer lost Colorado second-rounder Conner Bleackley prior to the playoffs and he remains out for the Memorial Cup. That’s a blow, but after Sutter swung for the fences this year and brought in Boston Bruins first-rounder Jake Debrusk along with Adam Helewka and Luke Philp at the trade deadline, scoring depth wasn’t an issue. That was 100 goals of production added to the roster in a matter of weeks and all three players have been good for the Rebels.

With Ivan Nikolishin returning from injury and with a productive Michael Spacek, the Rebels boast two scoring lines. The additions helped them be a positive possession team and they were among the WHL’s top scoring teams at 3.58 goals-per-game during the regular season. With the talent they’re going to be facing at the Memorial Cup, they’ll need those guys to come through this week.

Pos. Player GP G A PTS +/- PIM PTS/G LW Helewka, Adam 17 9 9 18 -7 18 1.06 LW DeBrusk, Jake 17 8 9 17 1 20 1 C Philp, Luke 17 4 9 13 4 9 0.76 C Spacek, Michael 17 3 10 13 -10 2 0.76 LW Polei, Evan 17 8 4 12 1 18 0.71 C Musil, Adam 17 3 7 10 1 19 0.59 LW Hagel, Brandon 17 1 9 10 -2 18 0.59 D Fleury, Haydn 17 4 5 9 4 20 0.53 D Bobyk, Colton 15 2 6 8 1 14 0.53 C de Wit, Jeff 17 3 4 7 6 4 0.41 LW Pawlenchuk, Grayson 17 3 4 7 2 2 0.41 D Mahura, Josh 17 2 2 4 -2 6 0.24 D Nogier, Nelson 17 2 2 4 -10 18 0.24 D Strand, Austin 17 2 1 3 2 13 0.18 D Doetzel, Kayle 17 0 3 3 7 14 0.18 LW Purtill, Braden 17 1 1 2 -3 2 0.12 LW Nikolishin, Ivan 5 0 2 2 2 0 0.4 RW Rattie, Taden 12 0 2 2 0 8 0.17 D Sass, Carson 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 LW Bains, Akash 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 RW Pratt, Austin 8 0 0 0 -2 0 0 D Shmoorkoff, Austin 8 0 0 0 -1 4 0 Pos. Player GP W L OTL SO GAA SV% G Martin, Trevor 9 6 2 0 1 3.05 0.905 G Toth, Rylan 9 3 5 1 0 3.19 0.905

Solid defensively

Only four teams allowed fewer goals in the WHL than Red Deer’s 2.82 this season so they know how to take away time and space on the ice from offences.

Red Deer enters the tournament with a deep and solid blueline. Haydn Fleury has been playing well for the Rebels and they got Josh Mahura back just before the end of the regular season—he can be a contributor for Red Deer as well.

The Rebels might be one of the more physical defensive teams in the tournament and will have to find a way to play that game while keeping up with some of the high-end forwards they’re going to be facing.

Home ice advantage

The hype of hosting the Memorial Cup has been building in Red Deer since the franchise was awarded the tournament last year. Expect the Rebels to have a decided home-ice advantage when the puck drops Friday at the Enmax Centrium. During the regular season they only lost nine games in regulation at home and will need to feed off the home crowd as they take on the CHL’s best.



Helewka had 45 points in 34 games with Red Deer after the trade from Spokane and added 18 in the playoffs. (Dave Brunner)

Weaknesses

Enough depth?

No doubt that DeBrusk, Helewka and Philp can fill the net, but does Red Deer have enough scoring to win? In their five-game loss to Brandon in the Eastern Conference final, the Rebels held a lead at one point in every contest. At times they got into an up-and-down game with the Wheat Kings but didn’t have the scoring depth to match them. In the end, that did Red Deer in.

For Sutter’s charges to win this tournament they will have to dictate play more. They will need to be physical and slow down their opponents rather than trying to race with them. If they can do that, they’ll be a tough out in these games and could surprise.

Can the goaltending hold up?

It was no secret that Red Deer was looking to add netminding at the trade deadline. Sutter wasn’t able to swing a deal and decided to ride Rylan Toth the rest of the way. He then promptly got hurt and missed the end of the season and first part of the playoffs. Back between the pipes, he started nine times for the Rebels and could be a make or break player for them.

In those nine games his goals-against of 3.19 and save percentage of .905 are both not as strong as his regular-season numbers. Some of that could be due to the fact that five of those games were against Brandon, but that’s the type of team that Red Deer will see in the Memorial Cup. If Toth can get back closer to his regular season numbers the Rebels will be in the mix.