NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Jonas Woo celebrates with the rest of the power play after scoring in the second period of a 7-1 win Wednesday at Co-op Place over the Prince Albert Raiders.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
Wednesday night’s WHL action at Co-op Place got a little Western.
The Medicine Hat Tigers picked up their fifth-straight win with a 7-1 drubbing of the East division leading Prince Albert Raiders. The two teams combined for 194 penalty minutes as benches depleted and tempers flared amidst the blow-out win.
“That was a great win, Prince Albert has a really good team, the score didn’t indicate the game,” head coach Willie Desjardins said. “Our goaltender made some big saves, we just got out in front and then it seemed every shot went it. The power play was pretty good but it’s hard, both teams play hard. Nobody likes when things aren’t going your way. That’s just the way of the game.”
It was the first game for both clubs since the Tigers beat the Raiders 3-2 Saturday in Prince Albert on a late, flukey goal. The loss is also just the third time the Raiders have fell in regulation this season. The Tigers were expecting a response and jumped out ahead defenceman Jonas Woo says.
“We know they’re a good team, so we had to come out hard, come with a lot of energy, and play defence first,” Woo said. “That’s what created our offence was playing our D-zone first and it ended up well.”
Woo and his defence partner Bryce Pickford, who scored twice, combined for three goals and six points. The pair of 19-year-old blue liners sit tied with 15 goals, leading both the team and all WHL defenceman in goals. Woo leads all WHL defenceman with 32 points, one ahead of Pickford.
“Hopefully we can keep it going, it’d be pretty cool if we could,” Pickford said.
The Tigers kicked off the offensive party Wednesday with a four-goal first period.
Misha Volotovskii opened the scoring 3:23 into the game. The overage forward knocked in a puck in the slot, breaking his stick but still finding twine for his ninth of the year. Pickford and Josh Van Mulligen had the assists.
They made it a 2-0 lead a little over four minutes later with a laser. Pickford had the puck up high and worked his way into the slot before beating starter Michal Orsulak with a shot. Woo had the lone assist.
After almost five minutes without a goal, the Tigers rewarded the 3,357 in attendance with another. On a line change, Woo held the puck in the Prince Albert end. He fed Liam Ruck with a cross-ice blast and the Osoyoos, B.C. product one-timed a tight-angle shot for his 10th of the season.
The final goal of the opening period saw Yaroslav Bryzgalov carry the puck up ice on a two-on-one before dishing to Ethan Neutens for the tap-in at the net front door the 4-0 score. Defenceman Veeti Väisänen had the second assist on Neutens’ third on the year. That goal momentarily ended Orsulak’s night, Dimitri Fortin took over between the pipes. Fortin finished with 10 saves.
The Tigers started the second period on a power play. They weren’t able to score on the man advantage but made good on two ensuing power plays.
Markus Ruck had the puck at the top of the circles in the Prince Albert end and sent a pass to Kadon McCann at the net front for the tap-in. Liam Ruck had the second assist on McCann’s 10th of the year as the Tigers lead 5-0 8:22 into the second period.
Less than a minute later, Liam Ruck set Pickford up for a one-time blast that hit the back of the net with a thump, blasting home his second of the night and 15th on the year. Markus Ruck had the second assist.
Before the Tigers two power play goals, a hit in the corner by Kyle Heger sparked scrums around the ice with six players heading to the box as a result. The scrums were a sign for silliness to come later in the game.
Prince Albert got on the scoreboard less than 30 seconds after Pickford’s goal.
Max Heise carried the puck from the Raiders’ end all the way up ice before beating Switzer on backhand shot to snap the shutout bid. Defenceman Brock Cripps had the lone assist on the San Jose Sharks’ prospect’s 11th on the year. Switzer finished with 24 saves for his 10th win on the year.
“The process needed to be good, that was a scrappy game, lots of whistles, I thought I stay composed in there and when I got called on I was good,” Switzer said.
The Tigers responded quickly in the second, with Woo scoring 28 seconds later. Bryzgalov had the puck along the boards in the Prince Albert end and he floated a cross-ice pass to the Tigers’ blue liner who hammered home his 15th of the season. Volotovskii had the second assist as Woo tied Pickford for the team/league defenceman lead.
Medicine Hat ended the second period with a 7-1 lead, outshooting Prince Albert 18-17.
The third period was slowed down as the two teams engaged in a couple of scrums, stemming from frustration on the Prince Albert side and the Tigers standing up for themselves. Switzer was slashed and tripped up behind the Tigers’ net by Jonah Sivertson before the halfway mark in the third, sparking one scrum that ended seven players nights with 10-minute misconducts.
Another scrum came after Woo fell into Fortin, sending the Raiders’ net minder into a fury as the pair shoved one another. Three more 10-minute misconducts came out of that and Fortin, who broke Woo’s stick while the refs sorted out the penalties, was assessed a double minor for roughing and a game misconduct. Orsulak re-appeared in the game, finishing with 13 saves.
Desjardins took no issue with how the game settled out.
” If we were behind, we’d be upset too, it’s just the way it is,” Desjardins said. “It’s not there’s anything more than that, you think their record is like that if they’re not competitive? If they don’t like winning, they don’t have that record. So obviously they have a lot of pride in that room.”
The Tigers outshot the Raiders 30-25 and narrowly won the face-off battle 29-28. Medicine Hat’s power play finished 2-5 and the penalty kill held Prince Albert scoreless on two chances.
The Tigers (17-6-3-2) are off Thursday before they head to Moose Jaw on Friday to face the Warriors. They host the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday for the Medicine Hat News Teddy Bear Toss.
