RED DEER 2
VICTORIA 1
There may be benefits in taking up coaching as a career, but job security and establishing roots aren't high on the list.
Brent Sutter spent the previous three seasons as head coach of the Calgary Flames in the National Hockey League with Dave Lowry as his assistant.
Neither could have imagined that less than a year later, they would meet on a Friday night in Red Deer 鈥� Sutter as head coach of the Rebels and Lowry coaching the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League.
It was Sutter who held the upper hand on this night against his old compatriot Lowry as Red Deer recorded a 2-1 shootout victory over Victoria in an excellent game that had a playoff-like vibe before 6,639 fans at the Enmax Centrium.
Lowry downplayed the coaching-angle storyline, saying any game is about the players.
鈥淢y primary focus tonight was making sure we鈥檙e ready to play,鈥� he said.
鈥淗is [Sutter鈥檚] team played hard, too. They always play hard and work hard.鈥�
There is one thing the Rebels certainly do well, as the Royals discovered after regulation time and overtime were exhausted. The Rebels (31-22-6) have proven uncanny in the shootout this season and moved to 8-2 in those games.
Victoria (32-20-5) was perhaps unlucky not to get two points out of the night instead of one.
Victoria forward and assistant captain Tim Traber looked to be the hero of the piece when his greasy goal gave the Royals the lead at 4:28 of the third period.
But then Traber exacerbated his controversial hooking penalty at 13:41 of the third 鈥� the Red Deer player appeared to have Traber鈥檚 stick trapped between his arm and ribs 鈥� by drawing an additional two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct when Traber shot the puck to the back boards in frustration.
It was during the tail end of that four-minute Red Deer power play that defenceman Mathew Dumba showed why he recently almost made the roster of the Minnesota Wild, the club which drafted him seventh overall in the first round of the 2012 NHL draft.
Dumba鈥檚 13th goal of the season, at 17:29 of the third, barely made it over the line but it tied the game 1-1.
鈥淲e played a very solid game,鈥� said Lowry.
鈥淯nfortunately, we made one mistake. Our guys played hard and deserved better.鈥�
Lowry said he didn鈥檛 particularly focus on Dumba.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a good player but I'm focusing more on my team,鈥� said the Royals bench boss.
After overtime settled nothing, Logan Nelson, Brandon Magee and Steven Hodges missed for Victoria in the shootout as Rhyse Dieno connected for Red Deer to win it.
The goaltenders, both Czech imports, were outstanding with Patrik Bartosak of Red Deer making 44 saves in regulation and overtime and Patrik Polivka of Victoria 37.
The Royals close out their six-game road trip 鈥� tonight in Calgary against the Hitmen and Sunday in Edmonton against the Oil Kings 鈥� against the two teams with the best records in the Eastern Conference.
