NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN Medicine Hat Tigers forward Jonathan Brinkman celebrates by holstering his stick after scoring a goal during a Western Hockey League game against the Regina Pats at Canalta Centre on Tuesday.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Jonathan Brinkman brought out the big guns on Tuesday night at the Canalta Centre.
The 18-year-old Danish forward led his Medicine Hat Tigers to a 7-0 victory over the Regina Pats with the first two-goal performance of his Western Hockey League career – holstering his hot stick like a six-shooter after each highlight-reel tally.
“I do it every time I score,” said Brinkman. “I really don’t think about it. It just happens, it’s the only celebration I have.”
Medicine Hat picked up two power play chances early in the first period, then Regina earned a pair of their own – but both teams came up empty-handed on their opportunities.
Brinkman broke the goose egg with just over three minutes left in the opening frame by beating Pats goaltender Donovan Buskey to the top corner for his 10th of the year.
“His speed and shot excelled tonight,” said Tigers assistant coach Ryan Smith. “He arguably has been struggling a little bit on the scoresheet. It’s always good to see players like that get off that. He had a couple opportunities to get a hat trick tonight or even more.”
James Hamblin picked the offence back up for Medicine Hat to start the second period – converting a power play that carried over from the first to double up on the Tabby lead – then Parker Gavlas added another from the top of the right circle to push the Pats onto their heels.
“I think we got on them early and took the life away from them,” said Hat centre Bryan Lockner. “We had some big kills and we were good on the power play. That kind of just took the game over.”
Regina’s struggles continued with a parade of four consecutive penalties. Elijah Brown cashed in on a set-up feed from Hamblin with Robbie Holmes in the box for tripping, then Brinkman sniped his second of the night for an even-strength backbreaker 56 seconds later.
The tally chased Buskey from the crease in favour of Danton Belluk to start the third.
“We’ve been struggling with winning some games so it was nice to get back home and get a W,” said Brinkman, who spent the night filling in for the injured Cole Sillinger on a line with Brett Kemp and Ryan Chyzowski. “It’s been an up-and-down season for me. I had some trouble adapting to the game (in North America), but now I think I’ve adapted and I’m starting to play better. I’m ready for playoffs now.”
Belluk did well to prevent the Tigers from piling on, but Chyzowski snuck one past him on a Dylan Plouffe rebound to bury the Pats in a six-goal deficit halfway through the final frame. Brown picked up his third point on the goal in his first night back after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury.
“They asked me if I wanted to play this game or if I wanted to take a little more time off. I said, ‘You’ve got to fight through a little pain,'” said Brown. “My teammates were there to help me out and I just followed them.”
Chyzowski added his second of the period three minutes later when he cut down the left wing and beat Belluk top corner, bringing the 19-year-old Kamloops product to 25 goals on the campaign.
Things got ugly late in the period when Regina’s Jake Johnson took a run at Kemp off a draw in the Tigers end – prompting a brawl between all 10 skaters on the ice. Johnson was given a charging minor, while Kemp got five for fighting and a game misconduct. Gavlas and Regina’s Drew Englot were also given fighting majors on the play.
“I was just going for the puck and kind of got blind-sided,” said Kemp, who finished with two assists and a plus-four rating. “I didn’t really like the hit and I saw a guy kind of jump me, so I wanted to stick up for myself, defend myself. I kind of blacked out there a little bit. Honestly I just wanted to defend myself.”
The Pats earned a three-minute power play after the dust settled and pressured for a consolation tally, but Mads Søgaard kept the paddle down for a 24-save shutout.
Medicine Hat improved to 34-16-2-1 with the victory.
Buskey stopped 27 shots to take the loss, dropping Regina to 18-27-3-2. Belluk turned away nine in relief.
The Tigers will be in Edmonton to face the Central Division-leading Oil Kings (35-8-6-3) on Saturday at 7 p.m.
