NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Matt Paranych gets mauled from behind by rookie forward Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll, celebrating Parancyh's first period goal Saturday night. The goal, Parancyh's first in the WHL, was the second of four for the Tigers who beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-2 at Co-op Place.
No better way to open the season than with a win.
The Medicine Hat Tigers kicked off their 55th season in winning fashion, beating the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-2 Saturday night at Co-op Place. Its the third-straight season the Tigers have won their season opener.
“It’s a big win for us,” head coach Willie Desjardins said. “They’re missing some guys, we’re missing some guys, so we knew it was going to be a battle, but it was good. Our penalty killing was outstanding, they got a late one but I thought he kill was good. (Ethan) McCallum was good in net and our young guys played well.”
The Tigers were missing nine skaters at NHL camps, Edmonton had five players out of the lineup for the same reason. The absences in Medicine Hat allowed eight rookies to get into the lineup, with five making their WHL debuts. Forwards Avery Watson, Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll, Luke Ruptash and defencemen Riley Steen and Koray Bozkaya all made their debuts.
With the amount of rookies in the lineup, Saturday’s win came with pucks getting scooped up after goals.
The Tigers got on the board first, scoring 7:52 into the game. Markus Ruck redirected a pass from Nate Corbet for his first WHL goal.
Edmonton pushed for the tie and thought they had made the game a draw on a puck that dribbled through McCallum. Steen played goaltender and yanked the puck off the goal line. The play was reviewed after originally being waved off and stood as no goal.
Just 28 seconds later, Gordon-Carroll carried the puck up the left side of the ice on a four-on-one rush, sending a pass over to defenceman Matt Paranych who scored his first WHL goal in his 57th game. The 17-year-old had long chased his first and celebrated with the weight of the world off his shoulders.
“It’s pretty remarkable, Paranych said. “It t was a long, long time waiting for that one, but just a good play and I put it home.
“It’s a monkey off the back, a real confidence boost.”
On the play, Gordon-Carroll and Ryan-MacKay both recorded assists for their first WHL points.
The Tigers struck 32 seconds later, with Liam Ruck, not to be outshined by Markus the older twin, scoring on a laser from the slot to make it a 3-0 Tigers lead with 2:23 left in the opening frame.
Edmonton got on the board a little over the halfway point of the second. The newly-signed Lukas Sawchyn was left alone in front and scored on a pass from Joe Iginla. Sawchyn’s first WHL goal and point made it a 3-1 game at 13:56.
The Tigers regained the three-goal lead under four minutes later. In the Edmonton end, Brayden Boehm sent a cross-ice pass to Gordon-Carroll who wasted no time getting the puck off his stick with a one-timer. His goal, his first in the WHL, put the Tigers ahead 4-1 with 2:53 left in the middle frame.
The Salt Lake City, Utah product was more excited about Paranych’s getting his first WHL goal and credited his line mates for the goal.
“Patches (Marcus Pacheco) created a nice turnover, I saw Boehmer get the puck and I beelined it to the net, and Boehmer, with a great dish, and all I had to do was finish,” Gordon-Carroll said.
Medicine Hat led 4-1 after the second period and led the Oil Kings in shots 27-15. The Tigers did see injury trouble in the second. Ruptash, the Tigers first round pick in the 2024 WHL draft, went hard into the boards and quickly down the tunnel to the dressing room. Desjardins did not have an update on the forward who did not return to the game.
Edmonton made the game interesting late.
The Oil Kings’ Iginla scored on a power play, their sixth of the night, with 3:49 left in the game to make it a 4-2 contest.
Medicine Hat held onto the lead, with a couple of tries at the empty net prolonging the end, securing the 4-2 victory.
They outshot the Oil Kings 41-25 and won the face-off contest 37-30. Ethan McCallum made 23 saves in the win, across the ice from him, Alex Worthington stopped 37 shots.
The Tigers (1-0) are off until Friday when they head to Red Deer to face the Rebels in the first of a home-and-home series and a rematch of the first round series from last year’s playoffs Red Deer won 4-1.
“We have to stay out of the box,” Desjardins said. “That hurt us tons. We have to stop and start, we were swinging like we were looking for offence, and we got to play good defence.”
