SCREENSHOT FROM TWITCH.TV/DJORANGEMAN - The Medicine Hat Tigers celebrate what turns out to be a game-winning goal on Brandon McGraw's livestream of NHL20 Tuesday night.
Two late goals turned a loss into a 4-3 win for the Medicine Hat Tigers against the Red Deer Rebels Tuesday.
Bryan Lockner tied it with a minute to go, then Lucas Svejkovsky got the game-winner 30 seconds later on the Tigers’ eighth power play of the night in a game you probably didn’t know about, because it didn’t really happen.
The fact it was a video game simulation broadcast by Brandon “Orangeman” McGraw means it won’t count in the standings, but it might be a sign of things to come. The WHL is expected to follow the lead of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and cancel the remainder of its regular season, while the future of playoffs and even the Memorial Cup are up in the air as a result of precautions taken due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The QMJHL made its decision Tuesday, while the Tigers announced their office at Canalta Centre “will be closed until further notice.”
With players already sent home and five games left in their real-life regular season, the next questions to be answered are if and when WHL playoffs might be cancelled, along with the Memorial Cup set for Kelowna in late May.
Hockey Canada cancelled the remainder of its national championships last week and both British Columbia and Alberta have declared public emergencies due to the threat of the spreading coronavirus.
In the simulation, run on McGraw’s copy of NHL20 and broadcast at twitch.tv/djorangeman, the Tigers trailed 2-0 in the second period on goals from Blake Gustafson and Arshdeep Bains.
Cole Clayton’s power play goal late in the second got Medicine Hat going in the virtual road game set at Red Deer’s Centrium. Attendance, which is to say viewers, peaked at around 10 for McGraw on Twitch.
Ben King added a goal early in the third. Elijah Brown replied off a feed from James Hamblin to cut the gap to one again.
Dylan Plouffe snapped a shot past Enders with five minutes to go but Lucas Svejkovsky was ruled to have been in the Red Deer crease and it was called off.
Pouring on the pressure late, Bryan Lockner scored the tying goal off a loose puck in the slot with a minute to play in regulation.
Shots were a ridiculous 84-61 in Medicine Hat’s favour. Red Deer went 1-for-6 on its power play chances, while Medicine Hat was 3-for-8.
McGraw plans to livestream all of the Tigers’ remaining originally-scheduled games at the time they were set to play. The next one is Friday at 7 p.m. against Lethbridge.
