The Edmonton Oil Kings (1-0-0-0) take on the Red Deer Rebels (0-1-0-0) in their first road game of the season from the newly renovated Peavey Mart Centrium. Edmonton defeated the Rebels last night at Rogers Place, by the tune of 4-1. Sebastian Cossa turned away 35 of 36 Rebels shots, while Josh Williams netted a hat-trick on opening night.
Edmonton’s visit to Red Deer begins an early season 4-game road trip, in which they’ll see the rest of the Central Division except for Calgary. They will not play a home game until October 15th, against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Just like last night, Sebastian Cossa will get the start between the pipes for the Oil Kings. Not a surprise as Cossa will be expected to carry most of the load this season.
The Game
Unlike last night, the Rebels would be the team to score first in this game. Blake Gustafson would give Red Deer the lead only 1:22 into the period. Edmonton would find themselves in a lot of penalty trouble early, but Cossa would turn away 10 shots and keep the game within one.
Edmonton would get the response they are looking for roughly 7 minutes into the second period. Thanks to a lucky bounce and a short review upstairs. Jakub Demek gets credited with his first WHL goal and more importantly ties the game up.
The Rebels would answer back before the end of the period with Ben King scoring his second of the season. Red Deer outplaying the Oil Kings through 40 minutes as they look to split the weekend series.
Red Deer would keep their foot on the gas and be rewarded with a couple empty netters in the final minutes.
Chase Coward would turn away 32 of Edmonton’s 33 shots as he stood tall for Red Deer. Cossa played well as well, only allowing 2 goals on 24 shots.
Edmonton moves to 1-1 on the season and will continue their roadtrip Wednesday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Not the outcome Edmonton wanted, but their was some good takeaways from this game. Jakub Demek was all over the ice, using his speed and frame to chase down loose pucks. Sebastian Cossa proved that playing in back-to-backs isn’t going to be a problem this season.
Red Deer came out and played the better game, but it is way too early in the season to be pushing the panic button as Oil Kings fans.
Three Stars
1st star – Chase Coward
2nd star – Kai Uchacz
3rd star – Jakub Demek 
Edmonton Oil Kings Season Seats, Flex-Packs, Weekend Passes and Single-Game tickets, for as low as $20 per game, are currently on sale at oilkings.ca.
