Tigers hold on to win back and forth affair in Prince Albert

By James Tubb on January 22, 2022.

It was a bounce back win the Medicine Hat Tigers sorely needed.

Oasiz Wiesblatt led the offence for the orange and black with his first career Western Hockey league hat trick as the Tigers beat the Prince Albert Raiders 6-4 Saturday night.

The Tigers came into Saturday night’s contest on the heels of a 9-2 loss in Saskatoon on Friday. Medicine Hat started that game up 2-0 early before giving up nine unanswered Blades goals in the loss.

Tyler MacKenzie went down early in the first period against the Raiders after absorbing a hit in the corner. He immediately went off to the Tigers dressing room and did not return to the game.
MacKenzie is the Tigers leading scorer with two goals and 18 assists for 20 points in 34 games donning the orange and black.

Medicine Hat opened the scoring for their second straight contest.

Oasiz Wiesblatt slid an in-tight pass from Noah Danielson past Raiders net minder Tikhon Chaika to put the Tigers ahead 1-0 halfway through the first period.

Reid Andresen had the second assist on Wiesblatt’s sixth goal of the season and second goal of the Saskatchewan road trip. Saturday night was almost a family reunion for Wiesblatt on the ice, as his older brother Ozzy is the Raiders leading scorer but did not dress in the game.

Teague Patton appeared to score and put the Tigers up 2-0 but Wiesblatt was called for a clipping penalty behind the play and the goal was waved off.

Evan Herman capitalized on the Raiders power play to tie the game up at 1-1 with less than four minutes left in the first frame. The Tigers outshot Prince Albert 13-10 in the first period.

Medicine Hat jumped ahead early in a wild second period on a Reid Andresen point shot tipped past Chaika by Brendan Lee.

Oren Shtrom had the second assist on Lee’s eighth of the season as the Tigers had the early momentum in the frame. Only 18 seconds later, the Raiders took over control with Herman’s second of the game to tie it up at 2-2.

The Tigers and Prince Albert traded goals throughout the second period in the Saturday night affair. Zachary Wilson scored for the Raiders to go ahead 3-2 before Noah Danielson picked up a drop pass from Gleb Ivanov and fired it home to once again tie the game.

Harrison Lodewyk knocked in a loose puck around Tigers net minder Garin Bjorklund to give Prince Albert their second lead of the period. The Raiders were heading towards having a lead after 40 minutes before Ivanov fired a point shot by the Raiders Chaika to tie the contest up at 4-4 after two periods. Bogdans Hodass and Owen MacNeil had the assists on Ivanov’s second goal in his first WHL season.

Saturday night’s contest marked MacNeil’s 100th career WHL game. The Calgary product joined the Tigers in a pre-season trade from the Spokane Chiefs who drafted him in 2018.

Prince Albert led the frame in shots, 15-10 and were up 25-24 heading into the third period.

The third period opened up with Danielson taking a heavy hit in front of the Raiders bench. He took his time getting up and limped off the ice and down the tunnel to the Tigers dressing room. He returned to play minutes later.

For the second time in the game, the Tigers grabbed a lead early in a frame.

Lee and Wiesblatt had a two on one break away that was capped off with Wiesblatt firing home a pass from Lee to put the Tigers ahead 5-4. Medicine Hat captain Daniel Baker had the second assists on Wiesblatt’s second of the game.

The Tigers held off the Raiders in the rest of the period that included a strong Tabbies penalty kill and a pulled goalie for Prince Albert.

Wiesblatt found the puck in the neutral zone and fired it into the empty net to complete the hat trick, the first of his WHL career and secure the 6-4 win for the Tigers.

Bjorklund was unbeatable in the third period, turning aside all 10 shots he faced, as he picked up his sixth win of the season, turning aside 31 of the 35 total Prince Albert shots thrown his way.

Across the ice, Chaika stopped 21 of the 26 shots he faced in the loss as the Raiders record falls to 15-21-1-1.

For the Tigers, the win marks their eighth of the season as their record sits at 8-25-3-1. They split their mini Saskatchewan road trip 1-1 and are in action against a recent foe on Tuesday.

The Tigers host the Saskatoon Blades Tuesday for a mid week rematch at Co-op Place. That game gets underway at 7 p.m.