PHOTO COURTESY KEITH DWIGGINS/PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS
The Medicine Hat Tigers return from the U.S. division road trip with 11 of a possible 12 points. Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt leads the charge in celebration after scoring in the first period of a 7-2 win Jan. 31 at Portland over the Winterhawks.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers returned home with a near-perfect road trip.
The Tigers picked up 11 of a possible 12 points on their six-game, nine-day road trip through the U.S. division. They ended the two-week stretch with a split, beating the Portland Winterhawks 7-2 on Friday to extend their win streak to 12 games, seeing it snapped the next night in a 4-3, 11-round shootout loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The Tigers outscored U.S. opponents 28-14, coming back for wins against Western conference leaders in the Spokane Chiefs and Everett Silvertips.
“Spokane was a great game, started off coming down to them, that’s a tough team,” head coach Willie Desjardins said. “There was a good battle all the way through, but we had guys that were banged up, having trouble skating and they played. It was a gutty, gutty effort from our group, they played hard.”
The Tigers ended the road trip with some injury scares. Defenceman Tanner Molendyk blocked a shot in the third period of the Portland win, finishing the game but unable to play against Seattle.
Defenceman Bryce Pickford fought in the first period against the Thunderbirds, leaving after sitting in the penalty box for a shift and not returning.
Goaltender Jordan Switzer was bumped into on a breakaway against Seattle and he was down on the ice for awhile before finishing the frame. He was replaced by Harrison Meneghin to finish the game.
Desjardins had no update on the injuries Saturday when speaking with the News from Seattle and says all three would be evaluated.
The Tigers return from the trip with some individual standouts, led by Gavin McKenna’s WHL leading 26-game point streak. He sits second in the WHL in scoring, one point back of Spokane forward Andrew Cristall who tallied 11 points in three games over the weekend for 89 on the season.
McKenna also hit the 200-point threshold in Friday’s win, becoming the third-fastest to hit the plateau in the WHL since 1996.
Meneghin climbed atop the goaltender ranks, with a WHL-leading 2.49 goals against average and a .903 save percentage, eighth in the WHL.
Oasiz Wiesblatt surpassed the 250-point plateau and Marcus Pacheco suited up in his 200th WHL game on the trip.
As a group, the Tigers performed to the level needed to keep them atop the Eastern conference and Central division. The 13-game point streak gives the Tigers (33-15-2-1) a four-point gap on the Calgary Hitmen (30-13-3-2) who lost 4-3 to the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
They put together a special teams masterclass on the road, with the power play operating at 31.25 per cent and the penalty at a beyond stingy rate of 95.45 per cent, while also scoring three shorthanded goals.
“The group played hard, like they all did, like they all played hard and we needed everybody,” Desjardins said. “It was a big effort all the way through, lots of gritty performances. So we’re happy with how hard the boys played. We have lots of tough hockey ahead though, that’s not going to change. Every game is going to be tough.”
The Tigers are off until Friday when they host the Swift Current Broncos for the first of two homes games. They’ll host the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday.
