Another overtime exit

By Ryan McCracken on April 2, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Mark Rassell’s Western Hockey League career came to an end on Sunday at Dauphin’s Credit Union Place, but he made sure to go out with a bang.

The Medicine Hat Tigers overage captain potted a hat trick to keep hope alive in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final series against Brandon, but the Wheat Kings stormed back to clinch the best-of-seven series and send the Tabbies packing in a 4-3 overtime thriller.

“It was a fun ride, that’s for sure,” said Rassell. “Looking back I’m going to be pretty proud of myself the way I went out with my junior career, but I think it ended a little early.Just one more goal and we’re back home for Game 7, and I like our odds at home like I always say. But now that it’s over I think we can be proud. We fought so hard and battled so much adversity that we really need to be proud of ourselves in this series.”

Rassell completed his hat trick 34 seconds into the third period — allowing the Tigers to extend their season into overtime — but Linden McCorrister punched Brandon’s ticket to a second-round matchup with the Lethbridge Hurricanes when he beat Hat goaltender Jordan Hollett eight minutes into sudden death.

“Sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to, but I know the guys cared and gave it everything they had,” said Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston. “You could have expected the guys to pack it in a little bit when we lost (James) Hamblin in the lasst game of the season but we played really hard.

“We lost (Dylan)MacPherson in Game 1 and it started getting tougher. When we lost (Elijah) Brown in Game 4 it was hard. It was just tough to overcome, but I thought the players really battled.”

The Wheat Kings pushed the early pace, but Medicine Hat struck for the opening goal when David Quenneville found Mark Rassell with a stretch pass through neutral ice and the Hat captain cashed in on a breakaway.

Brandon nearly set things back to even entering the final minute of the first after Quenneville crashed through Hollett in the middle of a goalmouth scramble, but the 20-year-old blueliner managed to stop Luka Burzan’s shot and freeze the puck between his legs. Hollett closed out the period with 14 saves to keep Medicine Hat’s narrow lead intact.

Needing a win to extend his major junior career, Rassell doubled up on Medicine Hat’s lead midway through the second period by jumping on a Jaeger White rebound in the blue paint and jamming it through Myskiw for his seventh goal of the post-season.

But the Wheat Kings battled back into the conversation following a spirited fight between Brandon rearguard Zach Wytinck and Tigers winger Baxter Anderson just over a minute after Rassell’s marker. The bout clearly sparked something on Brandon’s bench — and within five minutes, Medicine Hat’s lead was gone.

“I thought our response after going down 2-0 was very positive. I thought we did a lot of things well after that,” said Wheat Kings head coach David Anning. “It was a good battle. We were playing some tough competition tonight. Obviously their season was on the line and we expected their best.They’re an honest, hard working team that brings it every night.”

Stelio Mattheos put Brandon on the board just 23 seconds after Wytinck’s scrap stepping into a one-timer from Ty Lewis for his third of the series.

Hollett did all he could to keep his Tigers ahead with a slew of highlight reel saves a few moments later, but the Wheat Kings followed it up with a 2-on-1 chance and Evan Weinger went top shelf to knot the game up.

While Brandon took over the momentum after 40 minutes, Rassell once again silenced the crowd of 1,255 when he picked up a rebound beside the net and chipped it past Myskiw to complete his second career playoff hat trick early in the final frame.

“It was unreal. We just needed one more guy to score or we needed Rassell to get four,”said Clouston, adding his outgoing captain has a bright future. “It’s been an unbelievable career. He sets a great example, he wasn’t drafted as a bantam and scored 50 goals as a 20-year-old.

Medicine Hat rode the energy to a 14-0 edge in shots to start the third, but the opportunistic Wheat Kings battled back into the game when Weinger found McCorrister for a one-timer on the doorstep to set up overtime 11 minutes later.

McCorrister struck again in overtime to clear the benches when he deflected a puck past Hollett midway through the first overtime frame, sealing a 4-2 series victory and ending Medicine Hat’s post-season in overtime for the second consecutive year.

“We needed one more bounce,”said Clouston. “Had we got that one more bounce it could have been our game, but that’s not the way it’s supposed to be I guess. We’ll learn from it and there will be a lot of guys who I believe will be motivated to come back and have an even better year next year.”

Myskiw improved to 4-0 in Brandon’s crease with a staggering 52-save victory. Hollett stopped 42 in the season-ending loss, including seven in sudden death.

— With files from Perry Bergson, BrandonSun

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