NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN - Medicine Hat Cubs goaltender Logan Leroux poke checks the puck away from Coaldale Copperheads forward Isaac Benoit during a Heritage Junior Hockey League game at the Kinplex on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Cubs ousted the Coaldale Copperheads from the race for second place with a 6-1 victory on Friday night at the Kinplex.
Cooper Hilworth scored twice, Brayden Anderson had four assists and Logan Leroux logged 43 saves to lead the Cubs their Highway 3 rival – ending Coaldale’s hopes of finishing second in the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s Southern Division while leaving the Cubs in a two-horse race for the first-round bye.
“It’s exciting. I think the guys knew what was at stake today,” said Cubs co-coach JD Gaetan. “I’m usually the first one at the rink and when I came today there was already 10 guys here. They were ready to go. They knew what was on the line and it showed.
“I can’t think back to when the Cubs actually finished ahead of Coaldale in the standings.”
Medicine Hat (24-9-2) is now tied with the Cochrane Generals (24-8-2) for the coveted second-place spot with just three games left in the regular season. While the Generals have one game in hand, they’ll close out their campaign next weekend with a home-and-home battle against the Cubs to determine who will earn a direct ticket to the Southern Division semifinals.
“We’re going to treat that as a Round 1 playoff series and hopefully come out of it in second place,” said Gaetan.
While Friday’s battle ended with a season series-splitting victory, the game didn’t come without its setbacks. Cubs goaltender Dawsen Savage was initially slated to start the game but suffered an injury during warm-up, prompting Leroux to take over in the crease.
“It didn’t look good,” said Gaetan, unsure of Savage’s status. “Leroux stepped up and did what he had to do. He played great for us.”
The Cubs left nothing to chance in the early going, running up a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes with even strength goals from Chandler Aleman and Hilworth and a power play tally out of Mason Fischer.
“It was a great start. Everybody started buzzing right off the hop,” said Hilworth. “Everybody was going, everybody was banging helmets when they got off the ice. It was a really good atmosphere.”
Medicine Hat picked things up where they left off to start the second, with Carson Dingwall striking for a 4-0 lead before Hilworth added his second of the night.
“All the boys were ready to go. It’s all about mental preparation,” said Anderson. “All we’re doing is working hard. We’re out there to win.”
The Copperheads finally pushed back with a power play goal from Tyler Anderson and came out strong to start the third – but Brandon Hauck scored five minutes in to chase former Cubs netminder Brett Vanderveer from the Coaldale crease after six goals on 29 shots. The Cubs traded Vanderveer to Pilot Butte, Sask. in December, but he was shipped to Coaldale two weeks ago.
“That felt good,” said Hilworth. “(Vanderveer) was a pretty good friend of mine when he played here, but as soon as he’s gone you’ve kind of got to cut ties and just play hockey. Playing with him, you get all his weak spots.”
The Copperheads continued to apply pressure in the Cubs zone, but they were unable to get anything else past Leroux and slipped to 23-13-1 as a result.
Ethan Barrows stopped six shots in relief of Vanderveer.
The Cubs return to the Kinplex Sunday to host the Lomond Lakers at 2:15 p.m.
