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Friday, Dec. 14, 2012
Maxwell’s game improving REBELS SOPHMORE IS REBOUNDING AFTER A SLOW START TO SEASON COLIN ARCHER
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Colin Archer suited up with the Red Deer Rebels for four seasons and was the team captain for the final three — 2008-09 to 2010-11. The Red Deer minor hockey graduate appeared in 249 regularseason games, scoring 17 goals and recording 66 points and 407 minutes in penalties. He also played in 13 post-season games. Upon graduation, Archer enrolled at McGill University but had a change of heart and switched to Acadia. Due to the transfer, he was unable to suit up with the Acadia Axemen last season but is an assistant captain this season, as a rookie. Archer played senior hockey with the North CeeBee Stars in Conception Bay, Nfld., last winter.
WHO’S A SINNER
Portland Winterhawks LW Adam De Champlain is actually the WHL’s second-most penalized player, sitting just behind Lethbridge LW Jaimen Yakubowski. But the 18-year-old from Sherwood Park has accumulated his 83 minutes in only 25 games, a league-high average of 3.32 minutes per outing.
THEY SAID IT “Obviously you want to beat them in every way possible. I think after what happened last time there are some prices that need to still be paid and some things we’ve still got to do. Naturally there’s always a rivalry with those guys, but last game took it to another level. I think we’re excited to play two straight games against them this weekend, take four points from them, and dominate them physically and on the scoresheet.” — Saskatoon Blades overage RW Josh Nicholls, to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix after the Blades whipped the Regina Pats 9-0 and 7-0 last weekend, also reflecting back on a Nov. 9 fight-filled game between the rivals.
BY GREG MEACHEM ADVOCATE SPORTS EDITOR As the Red Deer Rebels have revved up their game in recent weeks, Brooks Maxwell has been right on board. “No question. He’s played really well,” Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter said Thursday. “He’s a really good player. He’s smart, he’s a good skater, he makes plays and he’s playing with confidence now.” After a promising rookie season in which he scored six goals and garnered 21 points in 54 games, Maxwell seemed to be in a state of regression early in his sophomore campaign. But since Sutter’s arrival as head coach in mid-November and his adoption of a more wide-open style of play, the Raymond native has clearly been a better player. “I’ve stepped up my game from earlier. I’ve played some good hockey lately as has the entire team,” said the 18-yearold. “We’re kind of playing on the edge now, we’re up on our toes and going after teams instead of sitting back. That’s been our mindset lately.” Maxwell has certainly been given every opportunity to improve as the centre on the Rebels’ top line with wingers Rhyse Dieno and captain Turner Elson. “Those two (Turner and Dieno) are really skilled guys. They’re great guys and they’ve been great linemates,” said Maxwell. “We’ve built some chemistry and that’s shown over the last 11 games or so.” The only downside to Maxwells re-emergence is his lack of offensive production, although his overall game has been better. He currently sits with 10 points (2-8) through 34 outings heading into tonight’s meeting with the visiting Victoria Royals. “You want to score more
Photo by DAVE BRUNNER PHOTOGRAPHY
Red Deer Rebels second-year centre Brooks Maxwell has seen his play improve in recent games, especially since Brent Sutter has taken over as coach. He had a slow start to the season but has been playing well as the team’s first line centre. and help the team that way. I haven’t been doing that but other aspects of my game have developed and that’s always good,” he said. “Hopefully the goals will come.” “Sure, we’d like him to find his niche and get more offence out of him, but the biggest thing for him is just getting him to settle in and allowing him to be the player he wants to be,” said Sutter. “We’re not moving him all over the map, where he’s playing all forward positions. “If he has a bad game he’s not being moved from one line
to another. You don’t build confidence that way. It’s about allowing guys to grow and settle in. “That’s really important, and I think he’s more settled now as a player. He knows that if he makes a mistake or if certain things happen, that he isn’t going to be demoted because of it . . . that he can fight through it and grow through it.” After winning nine in a row and losing their next game 5-4 in overtime last weekend at Brandon, the Rebels suffered their first regulation-time loss under Sutter’s watch — 2-1 to
the visiting Calgary Hitmen Wednesday. The Rebels coughed up goals 26 seconds apart in the setback and probably deserved a better fate. They clearly weren’t outplayed by the Hitmen, who are ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation. “We took strides in that game, confidence-wise,” said Maxwell “Calgary has a great team, but we were missing two high-end guys and still were right there with them. It’s just too bad we couldn’t squeak it out.” gmeachem@reddeeradvocate. com
Sutter going to finish season on the bench Colour him in for the rest of the season. the future, the Rebels’ first-round pick in Brent Sutter has decided he’ll be the this year’s bantam draft was on display in main man behind the Red Deer Rebels Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Calgary Hitmen bench until at least March, and hopefully a and will remain in the lineup for home little longer. games versus Victoria and KelWhen the club’s owner/presiowna tonight and Saturday. dent/general manager replaced Forward Adam Musil looked Jesse Wallin as head coach last right at home while getting month he suggested that he third-line minutes and most would hand the reins to somelikely could be a full-time WHL one else, possibly new assistant player right now. The 15-year-old Jeff Truitt, in the not too distant with the six-foot-one, 185-pound future. frame, played a contact game But he’s had a change of Wednesday and showed a high heart, and with the club playlevel of on-ice intelligence and a ing by far its best hockey of the smooth skating stride. season since he took over, that’s But he’s only eligible to play clearly understandable. five games this season, unless “I just think it’s the right thing his midget team’s (Greater VanGREG to do,” Sutter said Thursday. couver Canadians’) season is MEACHEM “It wouldn’t be fair to the kids over before the Rebels’ season now to make a change. There’s concludes. For sure, though, he’s a certain way I want this team to already pencilled in for next play and I don’t think it would be year, although Sutter won’t rush right to all of a sudden make another coach- the youngster once he arrives for keeps. ing change. “It’s not where he’s at today, it’s visual“It wouldn’t be fair to anyone involved, izing where a young man like that is going including the fans. The right thing to do is to be when he’s 18 and 19 years of age,” said stay the course and get through the year, Sutter, who was suitably impressed with hopefully have a real good second half (of Musil’s WHL regular-season debut. the regular season) and a good playoff run. “Obviously he’s a big, strong player and Then I can take some time to think about he’s going to be a real good player for us in the situation.” the future.” The off-season, he insisted, will be the ● Call it The Curious Case of Charles right time to make such an important deci- Inglis. sion as to who will guide the team moving Upper case letters are necessary in this forward, even if he finds that he’s the right case, not only because the above line is a choice. playful take on a splendid Brad Pitt movie, “If I decide we’re going to bring a new but because Inglis himself presents a capicoach in then I can evaluate the situation tal puzzle. properly, I will have more people to look at Certainly not void of talent, Inglis is, at that time.” however, apparently lacking in the personSutter said Truitt will definitely be on al makeup that is necessary to blend into a the list of any front-running candidates. team environment. Both outspoken and out“Absolutely, and doing it this way gives going, the 20-year-old centre has estranged me more time to work with Jeff,” he said. himself from four WHL teams and has now “Really, I don’t know what’s going to hap- almost certainly played himself out of the pen down the road, I just know that it’s im- league. portant we do it this way for now.” The Saskatoon Blades, by all reports, Meanwhile, Sutter said he will meet with grew weary of his off-ice behaviour and Wallin next week and learn whether the dealt him to the Prince George Cougars, former coach is interested in taking anoth- who then sent him to Red Deer last Decemer position with the organization. ber despite the fact Inglis had scored 32 ● Speaking of both the present and goals with the B.C. Division club the pre-
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vious season and had 16 points (9-7) in 16 games in the two months leading up to the trade. The Cougars, in fact, had sent Inglis home to await a deal. Jesse Wallin, the Rebels GM/bench boss at the time, decided the fiery forward was worth the risk, and although he potted 21 goals in 57 games and was a model citizen during his time in Red Deer, he was gone the moment Brent Sutter cut ties with Wallin and placed himself behind the bench in mid-November. Enter the Kamloops Blazers, who a week later dealt a conditional fifth-round bantam draft pick to the Rebels for Inglis, who filled the club’s final 20-year-old spot. But after 11 games with no goals and five assists, Inglis was released Wednesday following the Blazers’ 5-2 loss at Edmonton. Blazers’ GM Craig Bonner, in conversation with Marty Hasting of Kamloops This Week, hinted that he wasn’t surprised that the Inglis experiment didn’t pan out. “To be honest, I knew the chances of it working here were less than 50 per cent, but I thought we gave it a fair shake. It just didn’t work out,” said Bonner. Inglis’ days in Kamloops were numbered even as the team prepared for its current four-game road trip which concludes with stops in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat tonight and Saturday. “Going into the trip, the coaches expressed, and I was in agreement, some concerns with Charles’ play and his presence on our team,” Bonner continued. “He demands a lot of attention, but the majority of it was performance. His production . . . he was struggling. I thought his work ethic and his compete level, which we pride ourselves on, was average at best.” So Inglis, who was twice passed over in the NHL entry draft yet received training camp invitations from Phoenix and San Jose in 2010 and 2011, will likely have to play in the Ontario or Quebec leagues if he’s to stay at the major junior level. If not, junior A is an option for the player who never fulfilled his on-ice potential due partly to a lack of a consistent work ethic, but largely because of his off-ice behaviour, which, perhaps, had more to do with his need for attention than bad habits. gmeachem@reddeeradvocate.com
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