Red Deer Rebels

The Red Deer Rebels are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Red Deer, Alberta. The Rebels are members of the Western Hockey League and play home games at the Peavey Mart Centrium. The Rebels won the President's Cup and the Memorial Cup during the 2000–01 season.

History
In 1991, legendary coach Terry Simpson and his brother, Wayne, were granted an expansion franchise, and they wanted to locate it in Red Deer. A "Name the Team" contest ran in Red Deer from October 7 to 17, 1991. The top three ideas from the over 1,000 entries were Rebels, Renegades, and Centurions—team management chose Rebels. On February 5, 1992, the Rebels selected Mike McBain as their first player in the Bantam Draft. The Rebels' first game was on September 25, 1992, in Red Deer against the Prince Albert Raiders; the Rebels won 6–3 in front of 5,240 fans. The Rebels had their first sell-out game at the Centrium on January 9, 1993, with 6,476 in attendance.

Goalie Jason Clague was credited with a goal on March 28, 1994, during a playoff game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. David Hruska scored five goals in one game on October 20, 1995, in a game against the Medicine Hat Tigers. BJ Young set a team record for fastest goal at the start of a game at 0:06 of the first period on December 6, 1995, against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

In 1999, the Simpsons sold the team to Brent Sutter. With Sutter as coach and manager, the Rebels were successful in the early 2000s, winning three consecutive division and conference titles between 2000–01 and 2002–03. The period began with President's Cup and Memorial Cup championships in 2001, with Jeff Smith scoring the overtime winner against the Val-d'Or Foreurs in the Memorial Cup final. The Rebels were unable to duplicate these accomplishments, falling in the league championship series the next two seasons.

Brent Sutter stepped aside as coach in 2007 and his brother, Brian Sutter, took over the reins of the team for the 2007–08 season. Brian was with the team for just one season before former captain Jesse Wallin took over. In 2012, Brent Sutter fired Wallin and took over as head coach for the first time since 2007.

The Rebels hosted team of the 2016 Memorial Cup tournament, thus making their second appearance at the national championship. The Rebels advanced to the semi-final, where they were eliminated by the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

In 2022, the team set a WHL record for the longest winning streak at the beginning of their season, opening with 15 straight wins.

Season-by-season record
Legend: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties OTL = Overtime losses Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Championship history

 * Memorial Cups: 2001
 * Ed Chynoweth Cups: 2001
 * Scotty Munro Memorial Trophies: 2000–01, 2001–02
 * Division titles won: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2010–11, 2022–23

WHL finals

 * 2000–01: Win, 4–1 vs Portland Winter Hawks
 * 2001–02: Loss, 2–4 vs Kootenay Ice
 * 2002–03: Loss, 2–4 vs Kelowna Rockets

Memorial Cup finals

 * 2001: Win, 6–5 (OT) vs Val-d'Or Foreurs

Current roster
Updated June 29, 2024.


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Team captains

 * 1992–93, Todd Johnson
 * 1993–94, Ken Richardson
 * 1994–95, Peter Leboutillier
 * 1995–96, Terry Lindgren
 * 1996–1998, Jesse Wallin
 * 1998–99, Brad Leeb
 * 1999–2001, Jim Vandermeer
 * 2001–02, Colby Armstrong
 * 2004–05, Colin Fraser
 * 2006–07, Brett Sutter
 * 2007–08, Brandon Sutter
 * 2009–10, Colin Archer
 * 2010–11, Colin Archer
 * 2011–12, Turner Elison
 * 2013–14, Conner Bleackley
 * 2014–15, Luke Philp
 * 2014–2016, Wyatt Johnson
 * 2016–17, Adam Musil
 * 2017–18, Grayson Pawlenchuk
 * 2018–19, Reese Johnson
 * 2019–20, Dawson Barteaux
 * 2020, Ethan Sakowich
 * 2020–2023, Jayden Grubbe
 * 2023–24, Kai Uchacz

NHL alumni

 * Alexander Alexeyev
 * Colby Armstrong
 * Arron Asham
 * Arshdeep Bains
 * Ryan Bonni
 * Mike Brown
 * Jake DeBrusk
 * Mathew Dumba
 * Matt Ellison
 * Turner Elson
 * Martin Erat
 * Landon Ferraro
 * Haydn Fleury
 * Colin Fraser
 * Matt Fraser
 * Byron Froese
 * Michael Garnett
 * Carsen Germyn
 * Boyd Gordon
 * Brandon Hagel
 * Martin Hanzal
 * Jay Henderson
 * Reese Johnson
 * Blair Jones
 * Matt Keith
 * Darcy Kuemper
 * Peter Leboutillier
 * Brad Leeb
 * Brian Loney
 * Ross Lupaschuk
 * Doug Lynch
 * Steve MacIntyre
 * Josh Mahura
 * Justin Mapletoft
 * Masi Marjamaki
 * Mike McBain
 * Derek Meech
 * Vladimir Mihalik
 * Nelson Nogier
 * Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
 * Stephen Peat
 * Lane Pederson
 * John Persson
 * Alex Petrovic
 * Dion Phaneuf
 * Luke Philp
 * Kristian Reichel
 * Craig Reichert
 * James Reimer
 * Terry Ryan
 * Robert Schnabel
 * Sean Selmser
 * Shay Stephenson
 * Austin Strand
 * Brandon Sutter
 * Brett Sutter
 * Jim Vandermeer
 * Pete Vandermeer
 * Darren Van Impe
 * Kris Versteeg
 * Jesse Wallin
 * Kyle Wanvig
 * Cam Ward
 * Lance Ward
 * Roman Wick
 * Jeff Woywitka
 * Mikhail Yakubov
 * B. J. Young