Red Deer 4 Calgary 2
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE — There was something awfully familiar about the opening period of Friday’s Western Hockey League preseason game between the Red Deer Rebels and Calgary Hitmen. The Hitmen, as was the case in each of the past two winters, dominated the Rebels through 20 minutes before roughly 950 fans.

While Calgary netminder Brent Krahn stopped only eight shots, Red Deer’s Michael Garnett turned aside 20.

And then came the first intermission and a sudden change in momentum.

The Rebels picked up the pace and ruled the final two frames en route to a 4-2 victory, scoring all of their goals in the third period.

“I thought after the first period we started skating and started playing the way I’d like to see us play,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter.

“Garnett was outstanding for us in the first period and after that we played well as a team. It was the first exhibition game and both teams had a lot of kids in there, but we did what we needed to do to win.”

The Rebels got solid performances from veteran forwards Colby Armstrong, Devin Francon and Andrew Bergen, who each scored, as well as experienced defencemen Jim Vandermeer and Colin Johnson, who picked up two assists.

But it didn’t stop there.

“All of our young guys played well, too,” said Sutter, who dressed 12 rookies, including Garnett. “We had two 15-year-olds in (Colin) Fraser and (Dion) Phaneuf and neither of them looked out of place.”

Sutter also praised hopefuls Donovan Rattray, Joel Rupprecht, Shey Stephenson and Wayne Gotto, all forwards.

“I thought they were very strong in the third period and our back end started feeling more comfortable as the game went on,” said the Rebels boss. “It was the first tier one game for some of these guys and it took awhile for them to adjust.”

Rookie rearguard Derek Meech looked comfortable right from the start, as did Francon, who skated miles and dished out a handful of punishing checks.

The overage forward was impressed with the Rebels’ team speed, which the Hitmen couldn’t handle over the final two periods. “We’re going to be strong on the back end and we should have a good corps of fast forwards,” he said.

While the result didn’t count for anything but pride, Francon said it was important to kickstart the preseason schedule with a victory. “It’s just nice to win the first one. It gives everybody confidence and  puts everyone in a happier mood,” he said.

The Melfort, Sask., native knows he’ll have to contribute on a regular basis this winter in order to keep a job that could quickly revert to a younger player.

“I can’t take anything for granted,” said Francon. “The way I played tonight, I want to play like that all season. “I have to be physical and I have to produce offensively. Hopefully I can contribute a little of both, maybe a lot of both.”

Czech import Martin Vymazal notched the other Red Deer goal, while Michael Bubnick and Chad Wolkowski scored for the Hitmen.

Neither Krahn nor Garnett allowed a goal before leaving at 11:11 of the second period.

Ryan Martin entered the Calgary net and stopped 19 of 23 shots the rest of the way, while Cam Ward blocked eight of 11 shots for the Rebels.

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Hitmen defenceman Jared Carli suffered a suspected separated shoulder when he crashed into the boards early in the second period. Rebels forward Jeff Smith received a match penalty on the play for checking from behind.

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The clubs meet again Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Airdrie.