Lane, Bjorklund combine to shut out Warriors

By Ryan McCracken on September 10, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Kaeden Lane and Garin Bjorklund put on a show Saturday night at the Irvine Sports Complex.

The two Medicine Hat Tigers goaltending prospects combined to back their squad to a 3-0 shutout over the Moose Jaw Warriors in pre-season action after dropping a 5-2 contest at Mosaic Place the night before. With the pair battling for a potential back-up role behind Jordan Hollett, along with Danish netminder Mads Søgaard, Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston has his work cut out for him with just one exhibition game left on the docket.

“I think it’s a good situation,”said Clouston. “The goalies were good.”

Clouston added the team’s penalty kill responded well to Friday’s loss in Moose Jaw— which featured four power play goals from the Warriors.

“That was where we really struggled (Friday). There were some tic-tac-toe plays that were empty net goals,”said Clouston. “I thought our forwards did a real good job tracking back and protecting the net-front area as well.”

Gary Haden scored four minutes into the third period to break open a scoreless tie, then Josh Williams followed up with a shorthanded tally just past the halfway point of the frame to leave Moose Jaw in a 2-0 hole.

“It’s always nice to score,”said Haden, a superstitious forward who unfortunately snapped his stick on a backcheck a few minutes after his goal. “I’m sad about that. I was just getting hot with that stick and then I break up a defensive play and it breaks.”

Haden also took the brunt of Saturday’s physical play — something he says was a little bit more difficult in the unforgiving Irvine Sports Complex — but it was worth it for the nostalgic experience.

“It doesn’t help when the boards really have no give … You had to make sure you had your head up,”he said. “It was a fun atmosphere. It kind of brings you back to your minor hockey days, with a lot more people there than you have in your minor hockey days.”

The Warriors responded with some sustained pressure in the Tigers zone, but they were unable to sneak a puck past Bjorklund — who took over from Lane halfway through the second period and stopped 16 to secure the shutout. Lane turned away 20 in the first half of the game.

“Ithink we all worked together as a team. We didn’t have the greatest start but we bounced back and started bearing down in the third. I think that was the difference maker,” said Bjorklund. “We just kind of dialed in and focused on our penalty, and we shut them down.”

Dawson Heathcote added an empty netter in the final two minutes of the game.

The Tigers enter the Enmax Centrium Saturday to close out their pre-season schedule against the Red Deer Rebels at 7 p.m.

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