Message sent to division leaders

By Ryan McCracken on October 25, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Mads Søgaard continued the sensational start to his Western Hockey League career with another stingy showing Wednesday night at the Canalta Centre.

The 17-year-old Danish netminder led the Medicine Hat Tigers back into the win column with 30 stops while pushing his save percentage to a staggering .936 in a 4-1 victory over the Red Deer Rebels.

“If we keep playing as we do, we’re going to be a hard team to beat,” said Søgaard, who improved to 4-0 between the pipes with the win. “My defencemen in front of me did a pretty good job of giving me clear lanes to track the puck all the way.”

Eager to shake off Saturday’s 8-3 setback at the hands of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the Tigers exploded into action and quickly took a stranglehold on the early momentum.

Cole Clayton kicked off the scoring when he stepped into a slapshot at the point and beat Rebels netminder Byron Fancy through the wickets for his first of the season eight minutes into the opening frame.

“That wasn’t the start we wanted, especially on the road,” said Rebels captain Reese Johnson. “We’ve got to be better than that for sure.”

The Tigers continued to push the pace and found another opening when Johnson was sent to the bin for hooking. Ryan Jevne found Tyler Preziuso with a slap pass less than a minute into the advantage, pushing both of their point streaks to five games while doubling up on Medicine Hat’s lead after 20 minutes.

“I thought the first period was some of the best hockey we’ve played all year,” said Tigers captain James Hamblin, adding his team has been embracing its role as an underdog. “You look in the standings and (the Rebels) are first place. You always want to knock off the top guys so whenever you have that opportunity, you go after it.”

Hamblin kept the offence rolling on an early second-period power play, beating Fancy with a wrist shot for his third point of the night and seventh in the past four games.

The Rebels — listed as an honourable mention in this week’s Canadian Hockey League top 10 rankings — stole back some momentum in the dying minutes of the second when Jeff de Wit tapped a feed from Chris Douglas past Søgaard with Eric Van Impe in the box for interference.

Red Deer’s struggles continued early in the third when penalties to Zak Smith and Johnson put the Tigers on an extended two-man advantage, and Bryan Lockner converted to re-establish Medicine Hat’s three-goal cushion.

“He got his stick on the ice at the right time,” said Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston, adding the power play unit worked well as a group of five. “We mostly kept it fairly simple and when there was something open they move the puck.”

The Rebels managed to gather some steam in the dying minutes of the third, but they were unable to put another puck past Søgaard and slipped to 8-4-1-0 as a result.

“He’s played real well,” Clouston said of Søgaard. “He’s a really great guy, he’s a hard worker. He’s earned his ice time, for sure.”

Medicine Hat improved to 7-6-0-1 with the victory. Fancy stopped 23 in the loss for Red Deer.

The Tigers hit the road to Regina to face the Pats (3-9-0-0) Friday at 7 p.m.

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