Red Deer Rebels fall in overtime to Calgary Hitmen
Published 9:20 pm Saturday, March 14, 2026
The Red Deer Rebels earned three critical points in back-to-back home matchups amid a tight Western Hockey League playoff race.
After besting the Brandon Wheat Kings 3-2 on Friday, March 13, the Red Deer Rebels fell 6-5 in overtime to the Calgary Hitmen the following night at the Marchant Crane Centrium.
“Taking everything into consideration, we had a pretty good defenceman out (in Aleskey Chichkin) and were playing two pretty good teams. We got three of four points, so it’s not the worst situation. We would’ve liked to win both, but we’ll take three of four and move on,” said Rebels head coach Marc Habscheid.
The Rebels are currently battling the Moose Jaw Warriors for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference. Following Saturday’s overtime loss, the Rebels sit three points ahead of the Warriors, with each team having three games remaining in the regular season. Red Deer is also three points behind the seventh-place Regina Pats.
Cameron Kuzma opened the scoring about two and a half minutes into the opening period, beating Hitmen goaltender Aidan Hesse with a wrist shot from the top of the circle.
Rebels forward Kalder Varga doubled his team’s lead 18 seconds later. A Varga wrist shot was stopped, but the rebound bounced off a Hitmen defenceman and into the net.
Varga then added another tally 5:43 into the first period. That goal marked the end of Hesse’s night, as he was pulled after letting in three goals on four shots.
Calgary got one back a couple minutes later, when Wyatt Pisarczyk hammered a shot past Rebels goaltender Matthew Kondro. Keaton Jundt got the Hitmen within one before the end of the period.
The Rebels and Hitmen traded power play goals early in the second. Rebels forward Landon MacSwain scored his 12th of the season 5:05 into the second, while Red Deer had the man advantage. Harrison Lodewyk scored a power play goal for the Hitmen 29 seconds later.
Varga stormed in on a breakaway and beat Hitmen goaltender Eric Tu five hole to complete the hat trick with about seven minutes left in the second period.
Lodewyk scored his second of the game 7:05 into the third period. Kale Dach then tied the game with a power play goal with 5:05 remaining in regulation. Hunter Aura then scored the overtime winner for the Hitmen, with 33 seconds left on the clock.
“When you get into extra time anything can happen. (Friday) night it went our way, (Saturday) night it went their way,” said Habscheid.
The Rebels return to action Wednesday, March 18 for a road matchup against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Red Deer hosts the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday, March 20 at the Marchant Crane Centrium.
The Rebels will then wrap up their regular season with a road game against the Tigers the following night.