REBELS BLANK CONTACTS, WILL PLAY FOR TELUS CUP

LEDUC, Alta. – Brady Bakke scored the game-winning goal early in the second period and Dasan Sydora made it stand up with a 29-save shutout as the Red Deer Rebels advanced to play for the 2012 TELUS Cup thanks to a 2-0 semifinal win over the Saskatoon Contacts on Saturday afternoon.

It’s the fourth time Red Deer will play for Canada’s National Midget Championship – the Rebels took home silver in 1994, 1995 and 2007, losing the ’94 and ’07 championship games in double overtime.

Scott Ferguson had the other goal for Red Deer, giving the Rebels some breathing room with 1:18 remaining. Red Deer will attempt Sunday to become the first Pacific Region team since the Calgary Northstars in 2003 to win the national title, and just the fifth from Alberta.

Sydora was at his busiest in the third period, when the Contacts directed 14 shots at the Rebels’ netminder but couldn’t find a way to get a puck past the winner of the tournament’s Top Goaltender award.

Mack Shields matched Sydora save for save, finishing with 30, but was a hard-luck loser for Saskatoon, which failed in its attempt to be the ninth consecutive West Region champion to play for the gold medal.

Red Deer will await the outcome of Saturday’s second semifinal between Collège Esther-Blondin and Leduc to find out who it will face on Sunday afternoon for gold (2:30 p.m. MT, TSN), while the Contacts will take on the loser of the Phénix-Oil Kings game in Sunday’s bronze medal game (10:30 a.m. MT).