Cubs relishing underdog role ahead of series with Coaldale

By RYAN MCCRACKEN on February 16, 2019.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Travelodge Cubs are happy to play the underdog.

After sweeping the Strathmore Wheatland Kings 2-0 in the first round of Heritage Junior Hockey League post-season, the Cubs will cross paths with the South Division champion Coaldale Copperheads in a best-of-seven battle. While they’ve yet to upset the Copperheads this season, Cubs forward Tristan Stensrud says Coaldale could be in for a surprise.

“Every time we’ve played Coaldale we’ve stuck with them,” said Stensrud, whose Cubs kick off the series Tuesday in Coaldale at 8 p.m. “They think it’s going to be a walk in the park and we’ve got to make sure it’s not. We’ve got to come out flying and be ready.”

Medicine Hat defeated Strathmore 2-0 on Tuesday and 5-2 on Thursday to punch their ticket to the second round for the first time in six years while earning the weekend to regroup and recoup before heading to Coaldale. Cubs head coach JD Gaetan says it’s a well-earned opportunity to fine tune a few things while allowing injured players like Desmond Crawford to fully recover before the puck drops again.

“We are battling a few injuries,” he said. “We’ve had a couple of AP’s play the last couple of games so to have the weekend off and rest up a little bit is going to be huge for us to get better. We should have Crawford back at the start of the next series, which should be huge for our back end. The rest is much needed.”

The Copperheads are coming off a stellar regular season performance, going 29-7-2 to earn a first-round bye, including a four-game season series sweep over Medicine Hat, but none of that is fazing the Cubs (17-17-4).

“I like our chances against Coaldale,” said Hat head coach JD Gaetan. “We haven’t beat them yet this year but we’ve taken them to overtime and they’ve all been one-two goal games. It’s going to be a good series I think.”

While they’ll be in tough, Cubs captain Quinten Karg – who has been with Medicine Hat for the past three seasons – says the team is simply elated to finally be over the playoff hump and into the second round.

“It means a ton,” said Karg. “Being in my last year and going into the second round of the playoffs, I couldn’t be happier.”

The Cubs have been getting strong efforts from key veterans like forwards Noah Irvine and Stensrud, as well as new faces like netminder Brett Vanderveer.

Irvine posted two goals and an assist in their first pair of playoff games, while Stensrud had one goal in Game 1 and two more in Game 2.

“He’s got a hot stick,” Karg said of Stensrud. “Even in the regular season toward the end he was putting in a few goals so it’s good that it carried over into playoffs.”

Vanderveer has backed Medicine Hat to both victories with some of his strongest work since joining the Cubs to start the year. After posting an .890 save percentage in 32 regular season games, Vanderveer closed out his first round at .970 with a 1.00 goals against average and a 31-save shutout in Game 1.

“He’s been great,” said Karg. “He’s a first-year goalie and he had his struggles, but going into the playoffs he’s been solid and that’s all we can ask from him.”

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