NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Hunter St. Martin follows through on a shot while in mid-air in the second period of a 3-0, Game 4 win Wednesday in Prince Albert at the Art Hauser Centre. With the win, the Tigers sweep the second-round series with the Raiders 4-0.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers did the best they could, they’re back in Alberta and are East finals bound.
The Tigers recorded a series sweep for the first time since 2017 with a 3-0 win Thursday at Prince Albert’s Art Hauser Centre, winning the second-round series with the Raiders 4-0. It’s the first East finals appearance for the Tigers since 2014.
Head coach Willie Desjardins tipped his hat to the Raiders saying the series was closer than the numbers showed.
“The series wasn’t the 4-0 series, if they came back and won (Game 1), Game 2 goes to overtime they win two and it’s totally different,” Desjardins said. “They have a good team, that seven-game series in Edmonton hurt them a little bit. They had some guys who were tired, but I’ll take that, it’s not that I’m not happy about it, I am. Tonight we played a really solid game throughout, it was a good win for us.”
After winning two close games on home ice to open the series last weekend the Tigers headed on the road into hostile territory and the lively Art Hauser Centre. The only hostile attribute came from the Tiger offence.
They routed the Raiders 6-1 in Game 3 Wednesday, keeping the Hauser at a hush besides the Tigers’ faithful in attendance on a night capped off by a highlight reel ‘Michigan’ lacrosse-style goal from Gavin McKenna, who had a goal and three assists in Games 3 and 4.
The Tigers carried the momentum into the decisive Game 4 Thursday as Harrison Meneghin stopped all 18 shots he faced in a 3-0 shutout win that saw Medicine Hat outshoot the Raiders 57-18. Oasiz Wiesblatt scored his 10th of the playoffs and Hunter St. Martin scored his fourth of the postseason to cap the win.
“Their goalie is unbelievable, he’s the backbone of their team,” defenceman Tanner Molendyk said postgame Thursday. “We were told to put shots on net and I think we did a good job of that.”
Molendyk entered the series without a point, tallying a combined four assists in the first two games at Co-op Place before scoring in back-to-back games, including the game and series winner Thursday. The former Saskatoon Blade eliminated the Raiders for a second year in a row, winning in four games this year as opposed to five last year.
It’s also his second straight trip to the East finals, but he hopes for a better result than last year where the Blades fell in Game 7 of a legendary series with the eventual champion Moose Jaw Warriors that featured six overtimes.
“Hopefully we don’t have six overtimes this year, hopefully we can just get it done,” Molendyk said. “Obviously we have a group who can do a lot of special things, but we just have to come in with a clean mindset and look at it as a whole new season.”
Medicine Hat outscored the Raiders 20-9 in the series, holding their power play to three goals on 13 man advantages while scoring twice shorthanded. On the flip side, the Tigers’ power play scored at least once in each of the four games, finishing 7-for-15.
The Tigers were able to get to Raiders’ overage net minder Max Hildebrand in the series, seeing him get pulled in Games 1 and 3. Prince Albert led for just 6:19 across the four games in the series, a number that Desjardins says isn’t reflective of the matchup.
“Every game is a hard game, we play hard every game and that’s how we approach it, that’s how we approached (Thursday),” Desjardins said. “They were going to be desperate and they were going to be hard, if we didn’t play our best hockey, we weren’t going to win.”
The Tigers returned early Friday morning to Medicine Hat with off days scheduled for Friday and Sunday before they get back to work on Monday preparing for the East finals. They await the winner of the Calgary Hitmen and Lethbridge Hurricanes’ series that was tied at 2-2 entering play Friday. Game 6 of that series is Saturday in Lethbridge and, if needed, Game 7 would be Wednesday in Calgary.
A start date for the East finals has not been determined, but Medicine Hat will hold home ice as they look to advance to the WHL finals for the first time since they last captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2007.
“We’ll enjoy this one tonight and then throughout the weekend recover and make sure we’re still sharp in practices,” Wiesblatt said Thursday. “Make sure the water stays hot and be ready to go.”
