Two products of the St. Albert minor hockey system will suit up for the Red Deer Rebels against the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Turner Elson and Colten Mayor, a pair of left wingers who finished the regular season with 31 and 19 points respectively, relish every chance they get to play in Edmonton.
“It’s always nice to play in front of your home crowd,” said Elson, after the Rebels edged the Oil Kings in a spirited 4-3 tussle at Rexall Place last Friday. “I have my mom, family and everybody out here so it's always great. I want to impress them so I try my hardest.”
The next night in Red Deer, the Rebels beat the Oil Kings 3-1 in the last game before the playoffs for both teams.
“We’re going to end up playing them in the playoffs so we had to go out there and send them a message,” said Mayor. “It will be a tough series and I think they will stick with us.”
In the first tilt in Edmonton, the opening seven minutes featured three fights, including a dust-up between Elson and Colton Stephenson.
“It was a great physical game. Everybody was throwing the body around and that’s playoff hockey. We’re preparing for the playoffs and you have to play like it’s sudden elimination,” said Elson, 18, a scrappy Rebel with 124 penalty minutes in 68 games, while going plus-27 with 16 goals, after posting 9-8-17 totals in 66 games in his WHL debut last season.
With potential 2011 NHL first-round draft pick in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (31 goals, 106 points) in the line-up, the Rebels contain enough firepower to outscore the Oil Kings over the course of a seven game series.
“We still have to play our game the entire game and not take shifts off,” said Mayor, 17, who posted eight goals in 65 games and was plus-eight, after going 2-3-5 in 40 games in his rookie campaign last season.
The Rebels (48-16-4-4) and Oil Kings (31-34-2-5) kicked off their playoff series in Red Deer on Friday night, but the score was unavailable at press time. The Rebels host game two tonight at 7:30 p.m. Games three and four go Monday and Thursday in Edmonton at 7 p.m.
