Medicine Hat 6 Red Deer 3

Oh, the horror, the absolute shame.

Well, not really.

What the Red Deer Rebels were so rudely reminded of Friday night at the Centrium is that there are no free lunches in the Western Hockey League, no guaranteed victories.

As they learned the hard way, being ranked No. 4 in the nation doesn't guarantee a victory over even the lowliest of teams, not even the Medicine Hat Tigers, losers of five in a row before upending the Rebels 6-3 before 5,150 disgruntled patrons.

"We didn't compete hard enough tonight. I thought our top-end players were very average," snarled Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter.

"It's something we talked about all week, about being ready to play this game and making sure we were disciplined, and in the first nine minutes of the game we take four minors. It tells me where our preparation was and where our heads were.

"I'm disappointed in our hockey team tonight. I can accept losing but not the way we lost here tonight. The challenge is on for tomorrow night to see how they respond."

Indeed, the Rebels have no time to lick their wounds, as the Kelowna Rockets invade the Centrium tonight for a 7:30 p.m. meeting.

Rebels captain Jim Vandermeer insisted the opportunity of getting right back on the horse is superior to sitting around for a few days stewing over two points that got away.

"The sooner you can play after playing as poorly as we did tonight . . . well, you get to redeem yourself right away," he said.

The Tigers' victory was their second in as many games against Red Deer this season. Considering the Rebels are 2-0 versus the powerhouse Kootenay Ice this fall, the picture is more than a little clouded.

"Any time you get six goals scored against you it doesn't matter who you're playing, there's something wrong," said Vandermeer. "With the defensive breakdowns we had tonight, we didn't give ourselves a chance."

The Tigers managed a mere 19 shots at Rebels netminder Michael Garnett and seemed to cash in on basically every one of their chances, while the Rebels tossed 34 pucks at visiting stopper Brett Jaeger and with a bounce here and there, could have pulled out a win.

"Some games are like that. Some games you get very few opportunities but you make good on them,” said Tigers coach Randy Wong. "We've played a lot of games where the other team has done that to us, so it's good to be on the other side."

Sutter wasn't crying over missed opportunities, but rather the lack of a work ethic and his team's failure to bear down defensively.

"We got what we deserved. It was another good lesson for our hockey team," he said. "These guys have to understand that when you're a top team everyone is gunning for you.

"I just felt we were an average team tonight. We didn't play with the discipline I wanted and we showed a real lack of commitment."

The kicker for the Tigers is that they pulled off the upset without two of their top defencemen.

Veterans Jeremy Goetzinger and Brett Scheffelmaier were both out with injuries.

"We feel our depth is pretty good," said Wong. "We were missing some key guys but we still scratched out a win."

Sutter, meanwhile, must have felt like scratching a chalkboard.

"I'm not going to scream and yell all the time. These guys have to learn and understand that you have to come prepared for every game," he said.

"There's a lot of parity in this league and if you're not prepared to play you're going to get beat. Medicine Hat only had a few shots tonight and we had opportunities to score and their goalie played well, but it was the (defensive) breakdowns that cost us and I didn't think Garney played one of his better games.

"Overall, it was a bad loss."