NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs forward Brinley Degenstein carries the puck in the Rams end in the third period of the Cubs 4-2 win Saturday afternoon against the Rocky Rams at the Kinplex.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs shook the summer rust off this weekend, picking up their first set of wins.
After starting their Heritage Junior Hockey League season 0-2-2, the Cubs won two straight at the Kinplex, beating the Strathmore Wheatland Kings 9-6 on Friday and 4-2 against the Rocky Rams on Saturday.
Cubs head coach Randy Wong said the slow start was weighing on them and they made some changes that paid off.
“We addressed some things and I thought this weekend was better,” Wong said. “We’ll continue to improve and make sure our focus is there and, more importantly, our intensity and our commitment to the to the team really is there and making sure that we’re doing the right things on the ice.”
Coming out of Thanksgiving weekend the Cubs sit in fifth place of the Southern division. Wong said the success of last year and a little bit of complacency crept its way into the lockeroom heading into the season that has since been addressed during Friday’s win.
“We didn’t have a great first period, we were down by two and I felt that they responded really well. In the second period, I think we scored six goals,” Wong said. “I think that gave us a jumpstart of what we really need to do, how we need to play and then (Saturday), I thought was more consistent.”
Connor Miller scored in the first period against Strathmore on Friday but like Wong said, the Cubs trailed 3-1 early. After the first period talk five Cubs scored, with Levi Schlosser, Jamal Shaw, Connor Douglas (twice), Jacob Milne and Kyle Woolridge all finding the back of the net. Miller completed the hat trick in the third with two more goals, and Kaiden Morin made 20 saves as the Cubs beat Strathmore 9-6.
In Saturday’s contest against the Rams, Medicine Hat jumped ahead early with a goal from Caleb Garrett, his first of two in the game. After being tied 1-1 through the first period, the Cubs struck again in the second with goals from Milne and Garrecht’s second. Colby Friedrich scored in the third period and Mark Peddle had 25 saves in the 4-2 win.
Wong said he saw his team bring up the compete level over the weekend and begin following the systems in place more.
“They’re starting to believe the processes … and we’re just continuing to build on that to make sure that if we do those things properly, that we’ll have more success,” Wong said.
After enjoying some Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend, the Cubs have a few days of practice before they welcome the Okotoks Bisons and Three Hills Thrashers Saturday and Sunday at the Kinplex. Wong said they’ll need to continent their defensive play from the weekend into those matchups against tougher teams.
“Playing a better team in Okotoks next weekend gives us a chance to come in with some more confidence than we would have had we not had success this weekend,” Wong said. “Getting these two wins was real crucial for kind of setting the tone for the rest of the year.”
Saturday’s game against the Bisons gets underway at 6 p.m. with Sunday’s puck drop set for 3 p.m.
