MEDICINE HAT NEWS JAMES TUBB
Brandon Wheat Kings forward Joby Baumuller sends a pass along the boards while pressured by TigersÕ forward Dayton Reschny in the first period of WHL action Saturday at Medicine HatÕs Co-op Place
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Tigers were going shot-for-shot with the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings Saturday night through 40 minutes before a knockout punch in the third sealed a fourth-straight loss.
The Wheat Kings scored four straight goals in the third period to down the Tigers 7-4, giving Medicine Hat four losses in a row and back-to-back one-point weekends. Associate coach Joe Frazer liked their effort through 40 minutes but he says they didn’t win their battles in the last frame.
“In the third period they pushed and we just lost some one-on-one battles,” Frazer said. “They have a lot of skill and they’re going to bury those chances. So we just have to learn from it, play a full 60 minutes and make sure we’re winning our one-on-one battles.”
Medicine Hat outshot the Wheat Kings 40-27, won the face-off battle 49-26 and went 2-4 on the power play to Brandon’s 1-3. Good steps Frazer says, just not enough throughout the entire game.
“It’s finding a way to bring the compete and the passion for a full 60 and just doing whatever it takes to win, it’s a mindset,” Frazer said. “We have to learn from this, it’s good adversity to go through. If we stick together and find our way on the other side, it’ll be worth it. We just have to make sure we keep working together and getting better.”
The Tigers opened the scoring just before the eight-minute mark.
Yaroslav Bryzgalov sprung Jonas Woo for a breakaway, with the defenceman staying just onside as he received the puck. He broke in and scored on Ruzicka for the 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Ethan Neutens had the second assist on Woo’s first of the night.
The second period saw both teams trade goals for a tie through 40.
Brandon kicked things off with a one-timer from a familiar foe. Former Swift Current Broncos’ forward Luke Mistelbacher hammered a one-timer from the bottom of the circles that beat Carter Casey, tying the game up at 1-1 4:37 into the middle frame.
The 20-year-old forward gave the Wheat Kings a lead 54 seconds later, firing a shot from inside the face-off circle in the Tigers’ end that squeaked through Casey, putting the visitors ahead 2-1.
Medicine Hat responded a little over three minutes later, capitalizing on a power play. Captain Bryce Pickford held the line on a Wheat Kings’ clearing attempt, keeping the puck in with his skate blade. The puck bounced right to Woo who skated in and scored his second of the night, ninth of the season.
Tied at 2-2 at the 9:07 mark, Brandon scored on a man advantage of their own. A passing play from Jordan Gavin sent Jaxon Jacobson streaking up ice into the Tigers’ end. He sent a cross-ice pass to Brady Turko who out-paced defenders, scoring on Casey for the 3-2 lead at 11:14.
Medicine Hat tied the game up for a second time, scoring on a second power play.
Pickford had the puck at the point and he skated in and beat Ruzicka with a laser to the top shelf for the 3-3 score after 40 minutes. Markus Ruck and Woo had the helpers on the Montreal Canadiens’ prospect’s ninth of the year, briefly tying Woo for the team lead in goals.
The Wheat Kings grabbed a lead for the third time in the game and didn’t look back.
Defenceman Grayson Burzynski, also a former Broncos, scored 3:27 into the third and Turko scored his second of the night, finding the back of the net 3:06 later.
The Tigers pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with 5:29 left in the game. Mistelbacher scored his hat trick goal a few seconds later on the empty cage, notching his 14th of the season. Brandon rounded out their offence with a goal from Gavin 35 seconds later for a 7-3 lead.
Medicine Hat had the final tally as Woo hammered home a shot for his hat trick, the first by a Tigers this season and his first in the WHL. He finished his night with three goals and an assist. All four Tigers’ goals coming from the blue line in the loss.
“We’re just wanting to do whatever it takes,” Woo said. “Obviously we’re getting pretty fortunate, but also those goals come a lot from the forwards being in front and helping us out. Obviously we want all four lines scoring, so we’re definitely going to work on that. We’re trying to do whatever we can.”
Ruzicka finished with 36 saves in the net for the Wheat Kings. Across from him, Casey had 20 stops.
The Tigers (10-6-2-1) are off until Friday when they head to Regina to take on the Pats for the first of a two-game road trip. They’ll face Brandon on Nov. 15.
