Loewen leads Blazers past Tigers
By Ryan McCracken on January 31, 2018.
Jermaine Loewen gave the Medicine Hat Tigers plenty of trouble on Wednesday night at the Sandman Centre. The Kamloops Blazers forward picked up a goal and an assist while wreaking havoc in front of the Tigers net all game long to hand Medicine Hat their second straight loss in a 3-1 setback. Both goaltenders had to be sharp early, but the Blazers jumped out in front when Luc Smith beat Tigers goaltender Michael Bullion on the rebound with five minutes left in the opening frame. While Medicine Hat left the ice after 20 minutes with a 14-13 lead in shots, Blazers netminder Vegas Golden Knights prospect Dylan Ferguson had an answer for every chance the Tigers sent his way. Ferguson continued the trend well into the second period, but newly acquired Tigers centre Elijah Brown finally put one past him on a power play in the dying minutes of the frame. The 18-year-old Edmonton product chipped a rebound over the shoulder of Ferguson to finish off a 3-on-1 chance and record his first goal since joining the Tigers at the trade deadline — leaving the teams deadlocked after two periods. But the Tigers put themselves in trouble when Bryan Lockner was nabbed for a high sticking double-minor 24 seconds into the third period, and Luke Zazula struck to re-establish Kamloops’ narrow lead. Zazula stepped into a slap shot at the point and put the puck past Bullion with 6-foot-4, 221-pound winger Loewen providing a timely screen in front of the Tigers net. Nick Chyzowski — brother of Tigers centre Ryan Chyzowski — picked up an assist on the goal. Loewen gave the Blazers some breathing room in similar fashion six minutes later. After parking himself back in front of Bullion, the 20-year-old Manitoba product tipped an incoming shot from Montana Onyebuchi into the net to leave the Tigers down by a pair. Medicine Hat pressured for a window back into the contest, but Ferguson refused to let another puck past him and the Blazers escaped with the victory. Bullion stopped 32 shots in the loss, dropping the Tigers to 26-21-6-0. Ferguson collected the 36-save victory to put Kamloops at .500 with a 24-24-1-2 record. The Tigers close out their four-game B.C. Division road trip with games Friday in Victoria against the Royals (30-17-3-1) and Saturday in Vancouver against the Giants (25-16-5-3). 13-12
