NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs goaltender Adam Ranger dives out to cover a puck in the second period of a 7-1, Game 2 loss to the Okotoks Bisons on Sunday at the Kinplex.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs look to re-gain momentum in the South finals.
The Cubs entered Sunday off an all-time high, a 5-4 comeback OT win Friday at Okotoks over the Bisons for an early 1-0 lead in their South finals series. A quick 60 minutes and a 7-1 Game 2 loss later and what was a best-of-five series quickly turned into a best-of-three.
“We talked about momentum changes in the series and playoff hockey, so it don’t matter whether it’s 2-1 loss or a 7-1 loss, it’s one loss,” head coach Randy Wong said. “It doesn’t add up to any more than that. So we went in there and stole a game, they come back here and made it even. So you have to really just flip the page and you don’t have time to dwell and to pout. You just have to know what you did wrong, what your effort level was and make sure you’re ready for Game 3.”
Comparing Game 1 and Game 2, Wong says they had a bad stretch of eight minutes on Sunday that cost them while also pointing out low-effort moments in the loss.
“We didn’t work hard enough to get any puck luck,” Wong said. “You have to generate your own luck and we didn’t do that. We had our top guys were running into each other, a lot of missed passes, so that’s the makeup of the game. It was just one bad bounce after the other and it snowballed on us and got out of control. For that, we pay a price by losing Game 2 at home.”
Kyle Woolridge scored the Cubs lone goal in the loss Sunday. Tyler Wakelam started the game, lifted with four saves on eight shots. Adam Ranger finished the game, making 19 stops.
Wakelam was between the pipes in the OT win Friday, making 46 saves. Woolridge scored twice with an assist, tallying the game winner. Caleb Garrecht had a goal and an assist, Callen Prosofsky and Mason Osinski scored, Nolen Sutherland had three assists.
The series turns back to Okotoks on Tuesday for Game 3 before returning to the Kinplex on Thursday for a potentially decisive Game 4. If needed, Game 5 of the series would be back in Okotoks on Saturday. Heading into tonight’s action, Wong says they need to return with the same energy they had on Friday as they look for their second lead of the series.
“You have to show that this was just a one off,” Wong said. “So that’s kind of the theme, and making sure your top guys have to be your top guys.”
