SUBMITTED PHOTO BY JUSTIN COSTEA/COSTEA IMAGES Medicine Hat Cubs' Noah Irvine fights for a puck with Mitchell Knoschuk of the Coaldale Copperheads Tuesday, Jan. 8, 209 at the Kinplex in Heritage Junior B Hockey League action.
Medicine Hat News
The Medicine Hat Cubs showed how far they’ve come in Tuesday’s home game against the Coaldale Copperheads, but there’s still work to be done.
At the Kinplex, the Cubs led through 20 minutes, didn’t trail until the third period but ultimately fell 5-3 to the top team in the Heritage Junior B Hockey League’s Southern Division.
Chandler Aleman scored 37 seconds in, Mackenzie Fritzler made it 2-1 with a shorthanded marker late in the first period, then the Cubs withstood a ton of Copperheads pressure before finally giving way in the final frame.
Coaldale outshot the hosts 40-10 through the last 40 minutes, getting third-period goals from Tyler Strath and Levi Anderson. Medicine Hat’s Jareh Gray made it 4-3 but Tyler Anderson’s empty-netter sealed the win for the 24-4-2 team.
The Cubs, now 13-13-3, are fourth in the division. They kept close to the Copperheads thanks in part to goaltender Brett Vanderveer, who made 49 saves on the night.
Medicine Hat heads to Bassano to play the expansion Lomond Lakers Saturday.
All-star showing
Two Cubs took part in the Heritage league’s all-star game Sunday in Airdrie, with one netting the game-winner.
As expected, the game was a shootout, but not as expected, it required a literal shootout with the Hat’s Noah Irvine scoring in the seventh round as the Southern team beat their Northern counterparts 5-4.
High River’s Tyler Alger forced overtime with a goal in the final minute of regulation for the Southern squad, which fired 56 shots on net compared to the 53 the Northern team got off.
Irvine and Aleman represented the Cubs in the all-star festivities.
