Cubs find way past hot goalie

By Ryan McCracken on January 19, 2019.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Perseverance paid off for the Medicine Hat Travelodge Cubs on Friday night at the Kinplex.

After being held off the scoreboard on their first 33 shots of the game, Chandler Aleman broke through for the Cubs with back-to-back tallies to lead Medicine Hat to a 3-2 victory over the Lomond Lakers.

“It was good to see them stick with it,” said Cubs head coach JD Gaetan. “We just have to start putting a full 60 together coming into playoffs. We want to get to that mindset now.”

Christian Dees opened the scoring for Lomond seven minutes into the first period. While Lakers goaltender Brady Newton did all he could to keep his team out in front, Aleman finally snapped the shutout bid midway through the second with a shot over the glove.

Aleman repeated the feat from the other side of the ice a few minutes later, then Noah Irvine gave the Cubs some breathing room by nudging a loose puck in the crease across the line in the final minute of the second.

Wacy Sandum pushed back for the Lakers on an early third-period power play by squeaking a shot through Cubs goaltender Brett Vanderveer to cut the deficit in half, but they were unable to complete the comeback and slipped to 5-26-0.

Vanderveer stopped 22 shots to secure the victory and push Medicine Hat to 15-13-3 on the Heritage Junior Hockey League season. Newton settled for a 51-save loss.

The Cubs return to the Kinplex Saturday to host the High River Flyers at 7:45 p.m.

“It’s just about a 60-minute effort, staying disciplined and getting that preparedness for playoffs,” said Gaetan. “We know we’re there now and we’re probably either going to be playing High River or Strathmore, so the message right now is to start playing playoff hockey.”

11
-10