Hamblin, Chyzowski share the wealth

By Ryan McCracken on February 4, 2019.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

James Hamblin and Ryan Chyzowski reached a pair of milestones together on Saturday night at the Canalta Centre.

The two Medicine Hat Tigers forwards combined to set up Ryan Jevne’s second-period tally and push Hamblin to 100 career assists while lifting Chyzowski to 100 career points en route to a 5-0 victory.

“It’s super cool,” said Hamblin. “He’s a great player. He really earned that and it’s amazing to see. We were both really excited for each other.”

Eager to shake off Friday’s painful 6-1 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Tigers came out blazing. Hamblin put Medicine Hat on the board after directing a feed from Linus Nassen off the crossbar and into the back of the net four minutes into the opening frame.

“It was very impressive to see the response. It was a big response,” said Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston. “We challenged them to be better and to do things the right way. We had our feet moving, we managed the puck real well, if there was something open we made a play, if not we got it in. We got after their defencemen, we played a real quick game.”

Logan Christensen followed up on the marker by picking up a rebound in the slot and firing it past Wheat Kings netminder Connor Ungar three minutes later. Brett Kemp then added to the onslaught midway through the first — this time on the power play — by jamming home a rebound to chase Ungar from the crease in favour of Ethan Krugar.

“We knew we had to come out fast. They’ve been playing well, so we got on them early. They have a few young D-men so we got on them early and kind of poured the pressure on,” said Christensen. “After (Friday) we definitely emphasized a quick start, just coming out and kind of outworking them. I thought we did a really good job.”

Jevne piled on midway through the second period when he ripped a shot under the bar with Wheaties defenceman Vincent Iorio in the bin for kneeing — pushing Hamblin and Chyzowski into respective triple-digit territory.

“I know (Chyzowski) has been waiting for that one for a while,” said Jevne. “It’s one of those things that, for yourself, it feels good to get those numbers, and a significant one like that. It’s good to be a part of it and obviously there’s many more for them.”

The Tigers further padded their lead midway through the third when Jaxon Steele snapped a shot on goal and Elijah Brown tucked the rebound past Kruger for his 10th of the season.

The Wheat Kings pushed for a way past Mads S¿gaard, but they were unable to solve the Hat netminder and slipped to 22-20-3-4 as a result.

S¿gaard stopped 16 shots to collect his second career shutout and push Medicine Hat to 28-18-2-2 on the season.

Ungar settled for the loss after allowing three goals on 11 shots in the first period. Kruger stopped 20 in relief.

The Tigers start a four-game road trip Wednesday in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice (11-32-7-1) at 7 p.m.

The Central Division is currently a five-horse race, with just nine points separating the first-place Edmonton Oil Kings (29-15-4-4) and the fifth-place Calgary Hitmen (26-19-4-1).

“Every game for us right now is a playoff game. We’re battling for a playoff spot so every game we’ve got to be sharp,” said Hamblin. “It’s super tight but at the same time it’s a lot of fun having to come out and battle every night.”

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