NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN The Medicine Hat Hounds celebrate on the bench following an empty-netter in their South Central Alberta Hockey League South final matchup against the Wheatland Chiefs on Sunday, March 8, 2020 at Moose Recreation Centre.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Jasper Homes Hounds remain on track to defend their provincial title.
After taking a 1-1 tie into the second intermission of Sunday’s South Central Alberta Hockey League midget AA South Division final, Hat forward Ty Moore scored to ignite a packed house at Moose Recreation Centre then netminder Nate Hoffman held the door shut to secure a 3-1 victory.
“It’s an exciting moment,” said Moore. “The puck just came to me and I knew right away I had to shoot it and get it on net. That’s what I did and luckily it went in.”
The victory sends Medicine Hat into a best-of-three battle with the Red Deer Elks for the right to go to provincials in Calgary. While the Hounds hold the distinction of reigning champions, they lost a good deal of talent in the off-season and faced an uphill climb for a chance to repeat.
“We weren’t sure where we were going to be at the beginning of the year,” said Wong, whose Hounds went undefeated in the group stage before defeating the Foothills Bisons 6-1 in the semis to earn a place in the division final.
“We’ve got eight graduating players, we’ve got 11 possibly returning. I consider that a pretty young team. We were pretty excited that we did so well in the regular season, and I think as we kept playing we all felt we had a chance again this year. So far, so good. We’re headed for the league final again and hopefully things go well for us.”
Wheatland’s Joel Romano opened the scoring seven minutes into the first period to give the Chiefs a lead at the break, but Connor Miller responded for Medicine Hat halfway through the second to set up a winner-take-all third.
Moore converted on an early power-play to put Medicine Hat in the driver’s seat, then Cameron Hall put the game away with a late empty-netter after missing on a penalty shot in the second period.
“Especially after I missed that penalty shot, I’ve never felt better,” said Hall. “In a close game like that it always feels good to get one late, especially because I had so many chances throughout the game and I couldn’t capitalize, so that one felt good to get off my back.”
The Chiefs desperately pressured for a way back, but Hoffman refused to let anything else get behind him in a 17-save effort.
“We never got overly excited, nobody was down,” said Wong. “We just knew we had to keep playing our game. Our game plan all year has been to wear teams down. I feel like we’ve got good depth and I think we use our speed really well, so we know it’s the third period that counts.”
Wheatland’s Drew Dovichak stopped 18 shots in the loss.
The Hounds will host the SCAHL championship series against Red Deer. Dates have yet to be announced.
“We’re jacked,” said Wong. “I think we’re peaking at the right time so we’re anxious to keep it going.”
