Back at the break-even point

By Ryan McCracken on November 29, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Tigers clawed their way back to the .500 mark on Wednesday night at the Canalta Centre.

Overage winger Ryan Jevne potted his first career hat trick and added an assist for good measure to lead the Tigers to a commanding 6-2 victory over the Red Deer Rebels and push Medicine Hat’s record to 12-12-1-2 on the Western Hockey League season.

“It’s a good feeling. It’s my 20-year-old season so to finally get that hat trick felt good,” said Jevne, who completed the milestone night with just over a minute left in regulation. “It’s a big moment and I’m lucky the coaches gave me that chance late in the game.”

Both goaltenders were on their game early — refusing to let anything past them in a scoreless first period — but the offence caught up in the middle frame.

“We had to block too many shots because we were stuck in our zone a bit, especially in the first, but we did weather it,” said Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston. “We paid a price to keep the puck away from our net. It was an outstanding job. The good thing is we seem to be able to, recently, battle back and overcome.”

Jevne kicked off the scoring four minutes into the second when he walked into the Rebel end and beat Byron Fancy over the glove with a wrist shot from the top of the circle.

Red Deer answered back three minutes later when Zak Smith crashed the net and chipped a puck over Hat netminder Mads Søgaard, but Ryan Chyzowski responded in a hurry to take back the lead for Medicine Hat with his 10th goal of the year.

“We just played hard, we played physical and I think it’s turned out well. We’ve got lots of energy from it,” said Chyzowski. “We don’t really worry about playing to their game. It’s just kind of worrying about our game and what makes us successful.”

Rebels centre Jeff de Wit continued the ebb-and-flow trend midway through the period by jamming a loose puck in the crease through Søgaard to draw even at the end of 40 minutes, but the Tigers seized control in the third.

“They came out hard and we knew that,” said Tigers winger Bryan Lockner. “They were coming off two losses so we knew their coach was going to push them. It was huge for us to weather that then get on top of them.”

Sophomore blueliner Trevor Longo took back the lead for Medicine Hat two minutes into the final frame when he jumped in on the rush and finished off a give-and-go with Lockner for his third goal of the year and second in as many games.

“We want our D to be involved,” said Clouston. “If they’re the closest guy and it’s the right decision to push through the middle and go to the net, then we want them to do that. It was a good decision by Trevor to keep going and he was rewarded for that decision.”

The Rebels responded with some sustained pressure in the Tigers end, but Hat captain James Hamblin broke the back-and-forth swing near the halfway mark of the period by driving the net and deflecting a shot from Daniel Baker past Fancy for his 11th of the year.

“We were really working hard. That’s a big part of it — you’ve got to outwork the opponent,” said Jevne. “We were getting pucks in deep on them and spending a lot of time in their end and that really wore them down. They played last night so by the end of the game they were tired and we found a way to get pucks to the net.”

Jevne scored his second of the night on a power play four minutes later then completed the hat trick by kicking in a pass from Jaxon Steele to push the game out reach and give Medicine Hat a commanding edge in the six-game season series with a 3-0-0-0 lead.

“That was unreal to see,” said Chyzowski, who has been playing on a line with Jevne for the past three seasons. “He’s an unreal guy and he’s an unreal hockey player so it’s good to see him finally get that. It’s a pretty special accomplishment.”

Søgaard stopped 21 shots to secure the victory. Fancy settled for the loss after allowing six goals on 47 shots — dropping Red Deer to 16-8-1-0.

The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre for the Medicine Hat News Teddy Bear Toss against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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