What could have been the final hockey game ever played in the storied Stampede Corral ended in a crushing loss for the hometown side.
The Calgary Hitmen fell 2-0 to the Red Deer Rebels in their best-of-seven Western Hockey League (WHL) Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series on April 1, giving themselves a three to one game deficit to crawl back from.
Despite a boisterous near-sellout crowd, the home team never really got going, as the Rebels capped a commanding performance with goals from Jake DeBrusk and team captain and Canmore native Luke Philp.
Cochranite and rookie Hitmen forward Andrew Fyten doesn’t feel his team rose to the occasion.
“It was a tough loss,” Fyten said. “I think we need a better competitive level throughout our 20 guys, and to stick to our system more.
“If we come together as a group, we should be fine. No one in our room is too worried, we know we can make a comeback.”
Philp who has always performed immaculately against the Hitmen during his WHL career picked up the first goal of the game early on, knocking in a 2-on-1 feed from teammate Adam Helewka.
DeBrusk then made sure the game was out of the Hitmen’s reach, finishing off a beautiful Rebels passing play to give this year’s Memorial Cup hosts some breathing room.
“This was a lot of fun,” Philp said after the game. “You always have to be consistent in the playoffs, and that’s what we’ve done so far this season.
“Even though we won this game, we still have another victory to pick up tomorrow night. We never let them into it tonight, and we have to do the same again. You can’t get too high after a win, or too low after a loss.”
It’s been a wild ride for the Canmore native this season. After playing five seasons with the Kootenay Ice, he was traded to the Rebels halfway through the year, where despite only playing 17 regular season games, he was made captain by head coach Brent Sutter.
“It was pretty humbling and a total honour to be named captain,” he admitted. “I was out with an injury for quite a while, so when I came back, Brent told me I was going to be one of the leaders in the team since they’d recently traded their captain and assistant captain.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all, but it’s worked out. I’ve been enjoying the experience.”
As for Fyten, he’s been enjoying his first shot at a WHL playoff run, but feels he and his team have a lot to improve on if they are to take things to the next level.
“There’s always adversity that you face which is unexpected, but you try and stick to who you are and just keep learning,” he said. “I try to keep things simple and give the team lots of energy. I know I’m not one of our top guys, but I know my role. I just have to get out there, use my body, produce some hits, and create scoring chances.
“As a team, we need to control the puck more in the offensive zone, and get to the net and crash some bodies. We did that pretty well tonight and have to continue to do so going forward.”
On April 2, the Hitmen travelled to Red Deer, but lost 5-3 to the Rebels, who took the series four games to one.
Luke Philp recorded an assist to take his playoff points total to three (one goal, two assists) in five games.
Rebels open their WHL Eastern Conference semi-final series against the Regina Pats on April 9.
