Tigers fall short against Winnipeg

By James Tubb on February 25, 2022.

The woes continue for the Medicine Hat Tigers.

The Tabbies picked up their ninth loss in a row Friday night as they fell 6-2 to the Winnipeg Ice.

Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins said the Ice got things going in the first and said he thought the Tigers had a good start to the third but credited Winnipeg’s lineup.

“They’re a good team and they are hard to handle,” Desjardins said.

Medicine Hat came into Friday’s contest on the heels of a 2-0 loss in Regina to the Pats on Wednesday. The Tigers also came in battling the injury bug, with regulars Tyler Mackenzie, Noah Danielson, Brendan Lee and net minder Beckett Langkow all on the shelf. Tomas Mrsic, the Tigers eighth overall pick in the Dec. draft, was called up Thursday and dressed against Winnipeg due to the shortened bench.

Desjardins said he was excited by Mrsic in his third game donning the orange and black.

The Tigers killed off two penalties in the first 10 minutes against the Ice that boost the WHL’s best power play, converting on 28.4 per cent of their chances.

It took 15:06 for the game’s first goal. Winnipeg’s Chase Wheatcroft knocked a waist high puck past net minder Garin Bjorklund to put the Ice ahead. The visiting Ice squad followed that up a little over two minutes later when Connor McClennon slipped the puck through Bjorklund’s legs to pick up his 34th goal of the season to give Winnipeg a 2-0 lead heading into intermission. McClennon sits in second place for goals scored in the WHL, trailing Red Deer Rebel Arshdeep Bains.

The Ice outshot Medicine Hat 10-3 in the frame as the Tigers found themselves in an early deficit.

Just like the first period, the Tigers started the second on the penalty kill. They weren’t able to contain the Ice power play as Zach Benson fired a puck through Bjorklund to put his team ahead 3-0.

The Ice kept the offence flowing minutes later when Conor Geekie tapped in a loose puck off a McClennon breakaway for his 15th of the season. A little over three minutes later, Benson had a point shot tipped in on a power play for his second of the game, as Winnipeg looked to be taking over the period.

Soon after, Medicine Hat had their first power play of the game and capitalized with a fateful bounce that brought the crowd of 2,042 to their feet. D-man Bogdans Hodass dumped a puck into the Ice end as Winnipeg goalie Daniel Hauser tried to play the dump in, but the puck ricocheted off the glass and into the empty net to get Medicine Hat on the board.

Reid Andresen picked up the assist on Hodass’s fifth of the season as the Tigers showed some life after five straight Winnipeg goals. The second came to a close as the shots in the frame were tied at 11-11 but the Tigers trailed 5-1.

Hodass said he was happy to see the puck go in because it was a lucky goal.

“Sometimes if you work hard and keep going, some times lucky goals like that go in,” the Latvian defenseman said.

The Tigers opened the third with a goal from Oasiz Wiesblatt to bring them within three early. Wiesblatt scored his ninth of season after knocking in a shot from Teague Patton. Andrew Basha had the other assist on the goal.

Winnipeg’s Mikey Milne knocked home a rebound late in the period to give the Ice a 6-2 win after outshooting the Tigers 36-17.

The message heading into the weekend from the Tigers was that they wanted to get a lot of shots on net. When asked what led to the low shot total Friday night, Desjardins again credited Winnipeg.

“They’re a Hugh end team, you look at their team they’re just a really good hockey team,” Desjardins said. “I don’t think there’s any secret in that, they are one of the best teams in the country. Whenever you play against them you are going to have to work for everything you get.”

In his 33rd start of the year, Bjorklund had 29 saves. Across the ice. Hauser turned aside 15 Tigers shots to give Winnipeg their 34th win of the year. The loss brings Medicine Hat’s record to 9-35-3-1.

Winnipeg head coach James Patrick said he liked the way the Ice locked down the play in the first and third periods.

“I don’t like the goal, I didn’t like the turnover on the goal but you take that one 10 second span out and we really had numbers back, went through bodies, stopped on pucks, that’s how you lock down a game,” Patrick said.

The Tigers are back in action Saturday when they head down Highway 3 to do battle with the their rival Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Desjardins said heading into their road game in Lethbridge the Tigers need to show discipline.

“We have to be all in and we have to stay out of the box,” Desjardins said. “We’ve talked about that, we’re just taking way too many penalties and we’re not giving ourselves a chance. We have to be better in that area.”

Saturday’s contest marks Logan Barlage’s first game in Lethbridge since being traded to the Hat on Jan. 17.

Wiesblatt said the Tigers have to start shooting more and said they have to play for guys in the room.

“We have to go to Lethbridge and bring our shots, play for Bargs, play good in front of Garin too,” Wiesblatt said. “We just have to work hard.”