NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Hounds U16AA goaltender Adam Ranger admires his save in the first period of a 4-4 tie against the Okotoks Oilers at the Hockey Hounds arena.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat U16AA Hounds put on a show Thursday afternoon to start their playoff tournament.
After falling behind the Okotoks Oilers 3-0 in the first period, the Hounds scored three times in the second to tie the game up at 3-3 before taking a 4-3 lead early in the third. The Oilers did comeback with a late power play goal and the Hounds tournament opener, at the Hockey Hounds arena, resulted in a 4-4 tie.
Head coach Chris Gustafson says resiliency has been part of their makeup all season and comes from the leaders.
“It’s the guys in the room, I just go in there and try to help them understand we have more,” Gustafson said. “We’ve played these guys all year, we’ve been tight with them all year. We’re trying to get past having flat first periods like that. But once it happened, I know everybody in that room believed we could come back. That’s the type of team we have, they’re just a resilient bunch.”
Easton Kurbjuweit, Davin Torgerson, Hudson Jarvis and Grady Ford all scored for the Hounds on Thursday, with affiliated defenceman Theron Bensler registering two assists. Adam Ranger was between the pipes and turned aside 32 shots in the draw.
The Hounds are hosting the seven teams in the SCAHL division at the U16AA level for the playoff tournament that got underway Thursday at the Hockey Hounds arena. Each team has four round-robin games before a set of semifinals games Saturday will decide the two teams who will face off in a best-of-three championship series next weekend.
Medicine Hat’s next game is this morning at 9 against the West Central Panthers, they wrap up the day with a 5 p.m. contest against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. They finish their round-robin action Saturday at 11:45 a.m. against Red Deer TBS.
Gustafson says it will be the resiliency showcased Thursday afternoon that will lead them in the playoff tournament.
“There’s a belief in that room that no matter what’s going on, whether we’re up or down, we just come in even keel and play a full 60 minutes,” Gustafson said. “The group has been through a lot this year, so to come to this point and in these playoffs nothing is going to really faze them, they’ve seen it all.”
The Hounds finished their regular season with a record of 15-12-6, putting them third in the league. With the tournament hosted in Medicine Hat, Gustafson thanks everyone involved with organizing it and says it provides them an advantage and opportunity on and off the ice.
“It’s important for the kids to play in front of their home crowd, go to a final and just have everybody cheering for them, it’s like an extra player on the ice for them,” Gustafson said. “Even just to sleep in their own bed, have encouragement of family and friends around. It’s huge.
“We owe that to the Medicine Hat Minor Hockey, our great managerial staff and our team for setting all this up.”
U13AA, U18AA Hounds in playoffs on the road
The Medicine Hat U13AA and U18AA Hounds are also in playoff tournament action this weekend on the road.
The U13s are in Strathmore and opened their playoffs with a 2-1 loss on Thursday. Mason Pollard had Medicine Hat’s lone goal and Paxton Smigelski had 26 saves in the Hounds’ net. Their next action is this morning against the Okotoks Oilers before taking on the Foothills Bisons at 7 p.m.
The U18 Hounds are in High River for their playoff action. They faced the Taber Golden Suns on Thursday, that game was not complete by press time.
They continue their tournament Friday morning against the Foothills Bisons before wrapping up the round robin against the Okotoks Oilers.
