Growing Pains Continue For Oil Kings On Saturday
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Red Deer, AB – The Red Deer Rebels had the Edmonton Oil Kings' number once again on Saturday night at the Enmax Centrium, following up their 4-1 win on Friday at Rexall Place with a decisive 8-1 victory.
After scoring three times in the first 11 minutes in Edmonton during the opening night of the 2010-11 Western Hockey League season on Friday, the Rebels got off to another hot start on Saturday in their home opener, scoring twice in the first seven minutes to take an early 2-0 lead.
Andrej Kudrna scored his second goal in as many nights to get the Rebels on the board just 38 seconds into the game, as he threw a shot from behind the net that bounced past Oil Kings goalie Laurent Brossoit. About six minutes later, they went up 2-0 on a two-on-one goal by Bryon Froese.
Edmonton responded with four minutes left in the opening period on a beautiful passing play, as Adrian Van de Mosselaer chipped the puck up the left wing to Stephane Legault, who slid a perfect pass across to Klarc Wilson, who beat Red Deer goalie Darcy Kuemper with a snap-shot to make it 2-1.
The Rebels' top line of Kudrna, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Turner Elson struck again, though, with 68 seconds left in the first, as Nugent-Hopkins passed the puck behind the net to Kudrna, who tapped it out front for Elson for the one-timer to give the home side a 3-1 cushion after one.
The Rebels really poured it on in the second period, scoring four times to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Lane Scheidl fooled Brossoit with a high shot from the blue line to make it 4-1, prompting the Oil Kings to pull the starting goalie in favour of Cam Lanigan, who made 26 saves in a losing cause on Friday.
But just 14 seconds later, Marc McCoy made it 5-1 Rebels, giving Lanigan an unfriendly welcome to the game. Red Deer scored a pair of power-play goals after that, as Nugent-Hopkins tallied his second of the season and Kudrna scored his second of the game and third of the year to make it 7-1.
John Persson completed the onslaught with the lone goal of the third period, as Kuemper earned his second straight win between the pipes, giving up just one goal for the second night in a row. He made 21 saves on Saturday, while Brossoit stopped eight of 12 shots and Lanigan turned aside 15 of 19.
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Oil Kings blue-liner Jesse Pearson got into his second fight in as many games in the first period on Saturday, as he duked it out with Rebels captain Colin Archer. This bout was much quicker than Pearson's slugfest with Justin Weller the night before, as the Oil King quickly took down the Red Deer captain.
The Oil Kings' next two games are also on the road, Wednesday in Prince Albert and Friday in Regina. Their next home game is Sunday, Oct. 3 at 2 p.m. against the Moose Jaw Warriors. The first 5,000 fans will receive an Oil Kings magnetic schedule, and it’s also an Autograph Sunday where there will be a full-team autograph session after the game.
Individual game tickets for all Oil Kings home games are on sale now and start at just $15 in the ATB Financial Zone. Season seats start at less than $9 per game, with the addition of some new Mini-Packs and Flex Plans this season as well.Tickets are available at any Ticketmaster outlet, online at oilkings.ca, or by calling 780-414-GOAL (4625).
