Medicine Hat Tigers forward Cayden Glover clashes with Calgary Hitmen forward Adam Kydd during a Western Hockey League game at Co-op Place on Monday.--NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
mccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers had a five-game winning streak snapped with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Calgary Hitmen on Monday night at Co-op Place.
After taking the first two games of a weekend set, the Tigers fell short of the sweep in the third round of the sudden-death skills competition.
Calgary took hold of the early momentum when Sean Tschigerl gave the Hitmen a lead eight minutes into the game. That momentum didn’t last long though, as Corson Hopwo beat Hitmen goaltender Jack McNaughton to knot it up two minutes later.
The Hitmen then took back-to-back penalties halfway through in the second, and Brett Kemp converted just 21 seconds into a 5-on-3 for Medicine Hat’s first lead of the night.
Calgary pushed back when Cael Zimmerman snuck a rebound under Hat netminder Garin Bjorklund to set up a winner-take-all finish.
After a scrum to end the second, the Hitmen entered the third with an extended two-man advantage and Orca Wiesblatt broke through for Calgary’s first power play goal in 45 attempts this season.
Hat rookie Oren Shtrom evened things back up a few minutes later, then Tschigerl quickly responded in kind before Shtrom struck again on a late power play to force overtime.
Kemp and Josh Prokop scored in the first round of the shootout, then Riley Stotts put the game away in the third after McNaughton stopped Ryan Chyzowski and Lukas Svejkovsky. Wiesblatt’s chance in the second round was saved by Bjorklund.
Bjorklund stopped 41 shots in the loss, dropping Medicine Hat to 9-3-0-1. McNaughton turned away 29 in the win, pushing Calgary to 6-6-2-0.
Dorsett steps behind Tigers bench
Medicine Hat added a familiar face behind the bench with the recent hiring of former Tiger Derek Dorsett as an assistant coach.
Dorsett joins the coaching staff for the season after putting in 180 games with the team as a player from 2004-07, then going on to fulfil a 515-game NHL career with the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.
“He’s a true Tiger,” head coach Willie Desjardins said in Friday’s post-game media conference. “He’s been one of the best competitors we’ve ever had in our program, so it’s big to have him here.”
Dorsett recorded 49 goals and 79 assists with 593 penalty minutes during his three seasons with the Tigers, and went on to play another three years under Desjardins with the Canucks. He put up 51 goals and 76 assists in the NHL before announcing his retirement in 2017 due to health concerns related to playing.
Director of player personnel Bobby Fox – a former assistant coach himself – had been filling in for the Tigers to start the season after former assistant Ryan Smith opted to take on an associate coaching role with the Spokane Chiefs back in September.
The Tigers return to the ice Friday in Lethbridge to open a three-game set against the Hurricanes (3-6-2-0) at 7 p.m.
— with files from Kellen Taniguchi
