NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Ryder Ritchie celebrates his second goal of the third period, a power play marker that tied the Saturday night action at Co-op Place against the Calgary Hitmen at 2-2. Medicine Hat won 3-2 after an eight-round shootout for a sixth-straight victory.
The Gas City and Co-op Place went full-electric Saturday night.
The Medicine Hat Tigers scored twice in the third period to come back, winning in the eighth round of a shootout to beat the Calgary Hitmen 3-2.
Ryder Ritchie scored twice in the third period to tie the game up, Jonas Woo scored the shootout winner and Harrison Meneghin made the final stop in the eighth round of the shootout for the weekend sweep over the Hitmen and the sixth win in a row for the Tigers who sit alone atop the WHL’s Eastern conference.
“It’s really good, this weekend going to Calgary and then coming back tonight, it’s two big games that we really wanted to have and took control,” Woo said. “We fought back in the third period for a good, team win.”
The Tigers blanked the Hitmen 3-0 Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome, snapping Calgary’s 11-game win streak on home ice. Harrison Meneghin made 20 saves in that win for his second shutout of the season, making another 14 tonight for his 10th win of the season.
“It was a little bit of a weird night, one of those games where I don’t get a lot of shots again but I just have to get used to that,” Meneghin said. “You have to play the game that you’re given. Obviously I wasn’t happy with the way that I played in the shootout, but we won. So that’s the only thing that matters.”
Long before the game turned electric with the 4,416 in attendance, the Tigers took control of the first period. They drove play in the opening frame, outshooting the Hitmen 10-1.
Calgary won the second period, scoring the long goal of the frame.
NHL draft eligible forward Ben Kinder picked up the puck in the Hitmen end, swinging up ice before sending a pass to former Kelowna Rocket Caden Price. He carried the puck into the Tiger end on a three-on-two before sending a cross-ice pass to 19-year-old Oliver Tuck who scored glove-side on Meneghin. His 23rd of the season gave Calgary the 1-0 lead at 8:56, an advantage they finished the period with.
After getting outshot in the first period, Calgary out-fired the Tigers 7-5 in the frame. Head coach Willie Desjardins says the Hitmen were the better team in the middle frame but liked how his team responded.
“They played better for sure, we didn’t play as good,” Desjardins said. “We had four good periods on them this weekend and then we were relaxed. Since we relaxed, they played well. So you have to give Calgary credit because we had to be a little better in that period.”
The Hitmen opened the scoring in the third period off a face-off.
Fresh off a pair of penalties called in the Tigers end, Tanner Howe scooped up a loose puck off the draw. The former Regina Pat drove the net and fired a puck past Meneghin for the 2-0 lead 4:15 into the period. Axel Hurtig and Connor Hvidston had the assists on Howe’s 10th of the season.
Calgary starter Anders Miller made a stop on Gavin McKenna later on the four-on-four, maintaining the 2-0 advantage.
The Tigers then tied the game up on the back of Ritchie.
They first found twine at 10:57 off an end-to-end rush from Tanner Molendyk. The former Saskatoon Blade flew up ice with the puck, touching a pass to Gavin McKenna at the hashmarks who sent to puck to Ritchie for a blast into the back of the net. His first of the night extended both his and Molendyk’s point streak to six games, bumping McKenna’s streak to 19 games.
The Tigers tied the game up on a power play with exactly five minutes left in the period. Wiesblatt and McKenna combined for passes to Ritchie who levelled a backhand shot on net for a rebound. He cleaned up his own doing, knocking in the rebound for his second of the night and 15th of the season. The 18-year-old forward joked he was making up for his start to the game and credited McKenna and the rest of the team for the success.
” Just to put those in the net, it obviously feels good, but I couldn’t do it without my line mates,” Ritchie said. “We just stuck together, picking each other up on the bench. Just as a brotherhood, we won that game.”
Neither team scored in the remaining five minutes, Tigers faithful had a scare in the crease. Meneghin was bumped into and laid upon during a dog pile for a loose puck in his crease with 4:11 left in the frame. He was tended to at the Tigers bench but remained in the game. Post-game, the Tampa Bay Lightning prospect says he was accidentally stepped on during the dog pile and he had no intentions of leaving the game.
The Tigers were able to get a chance off with 1.4 seconds left in the period, with a shot from Ritchie, but couldn’t solve the game in regulation. They outshot the Hitmen 2-0 in the extra frame but couldn’t score, sending the game to a shootout.
The skills competition itself was a show, with a combined nine shooters scoring in the eight rounds.
Connor Hvidston, Tanner Howe, Ethan Moore and Carson Wetsch each scored for the Hitmen. McKenna, Hunter St. Martin, Liam Ruck and Bryce Pickford all scored for the Tigers before Woo tucked the final goal of the shootout. It was the first career shootout attempt for the Winnipeg product.
“That’s one-for-one,” Woo said proudly. “It’s a little nerve wracking, but you get out there and you kind of forget about everything. So it’s good that one went in.”
The Tigers finish the game with the shots lead 24-16, also winning the face-off battle 37-25. Medicine Hat was 1-2 on the power play and held Calgary scoreless on both of their power plays. The Tigers (26-15-2) are back in action Tuesday when they host the Regina Pats at Co-op Place before embarking for the six-game, nine-day U.S. road trip.
“We have to play hard, every team is a good team, so we’ll have to be ready,” Desjardins said about Tuesday’s game. “We have to work and hopefully it’ll set us up to be good on the road, but it’ll be a tough game.”
