NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Kadon McCann celebrates his first of two goals in a 10-1 win Monday afternoon at Co-op Place over the Red Deer Rebels.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers capped off the weekend in a big way.
The Tigers, coming off a pair of overtime losses, beat the Red Deer Rebels 10-1 on Monday to earn four of six points in their three-game weekend. They entered play Monday off a pair of overtime losses, falling 5-4 in Red Deer on Friday and 4-3 Saturday at home to the WHL-leading Everett Silvertips.
“(Everett) was a game we had marked on our calendar for a long time and then Red Deer on Friday, they’ve been playing well lately … they got better over the deadline, not many teams can do that,” forward Kadon McCann said. “They’re a really good team over there, we have (them) a couple more times this year, so it’s a battle for us and those are close points that they need and we definitely need.
“Obviously we want those two wins, but at the end of the day we got points.”
McCann scored twice Monday, as did Noah Davidson. The Ruck twins combined for a nine-point effort, with Markus recording a goal and three assists and Liam notching a goal and four assists.
Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll had a goal and two assists, Cam Parr and Andrew Basha had a goal and an assist, Kade Stengrim added a solo marker. Jordan Switzer stopped 22 shots for his league-leading 24th win.
On Saturday the Tigers trailed Everett 3-2 through 20 minutes with goals from Jonas Woo and Basha, tying the game in the second period with a goal from Ethan Neutens.
They had chances in the third period and overtime before the Silvertips took the win.
“They’re tough games, Red Deer was tough up there, we could have got (it), Everett was a great game here,” Desjardins said. “It was nice to get a little bit of breathing room, but lots of guys played well (Monday).
The Tigers played with a shorter bench as the game wore on Monday, seeing Neutens leave after getting checked awkwardly into the boards late in the second period by Rebel Kohen Lodge, who was assessed five minutes and a game misconduct for boarding. Defenceman Niilopekka Muhonen also left the game in the third.
Desjardins says they will evaluate both this week. Defenceman Veeti Väisänen was scratched Monday and captain Bryce Pickford remains day to day.
The Rucks, as well as forward Yaroslav Bryzgalov and goaltender Carter Casey, were leaving postgame Monday for Vancouver to take part in the inaugural WHL Prospects Showcase on Wednesday.
“I’m looking forward to that, it should be a great experience,” Liam said. “To see what it’s like with the best guys in the Western (League) for the draft, and it’ll be nice to have those three guys coming with me. They all deserve to be there, so it’ll be fun.”
