NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Kadon McCann looks to make a pass after crossing the blue line into the Lethbridge Hurricanes end in the first period of a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers closed the chapter on their 2023-24 regular season Saturday night.
The Tigers lost 4-3 in overtime to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the final contest of their 68-game schedule. Medicine Hat came into the night with a 3-2 overtime win Friday at Lethbridge and end the regular season with a 37-23-6-2 record.
Head coach Willie Desjardins says the back and forth weekend gave them some pointers to work on heading into the playoffs,
“They’re good team they play hard,” Desjardins said. “This game could have gone either way, so could have the game in Lethbridge, so pretty even teams. We had our chances to win and we just didn’t capitalize.”
The Tigers opened the scoring in the back-and-forth affair with Gavin McKenna’s first marker of the night. He found twine 1:45 into the game, electrifying the crowd of 4,840.
Lethbridge answered back with a shorthanded goal just over the halfway point of the first. Carter Dereniwsky scored five-hole on Zach Zahara to tie the game up at 1-1.
Medicine Hat regained the lead with a goal from Oasiz Wiesblatt with 3:53 left in the frame. McKenna and Hunter St. Martin had the assists. With the helper on Wiesblatt’s 26th, McKenna broke a Tigers record, passing Al Conroy’s record for most points by a 16-year-old. With a goal in the second period he finishes his rookie season with 34 goals and 97 points.
Before the first period could end, the Hurricanes scored on a. red-directed shot off the stick of Dylan Sydor. His goal tied the game up at 2-2 with 49 seconds left in the frame.
Medicine Hat again grabbed an early lead at the start of the second. McKenna loaded up and scored on a power play for his 34th. Tomas Mrsic and Andrew Basha had the assists as they led 3-2 6:09 into the second.
Lethbridge answered back just over two minutes later with a one-time goal from Sydor on a power play, tying the game up at 3-3.
Neither team scored in the third period and the game was off to overtime for the second straight night. Tristan Doyle called game with a goal off a rush 1:54 into the extra frame for the 4-3 win.
Zahara made 26 saves in the Tiger net, across the ice from him, Brady Smith stopped 27 shots. Medicine Hat was one-for-six on the power play, the Hurricanes went one-for-three on the man advantage.
The Tigers are off until Friday when they host the Red Deer Rebels for Game 1 of their first round series.
Editors note: An earlier version of the story said Noah Chadwick scoring the game winning goal for Lethbridge.
