NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers winger Ryan Jevne is robbed by Lethbridge Hurricanes goaltender Bryan Thomson during a Western Hockey League game on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the Canalta Centre.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
It may have been a meaningless game in terms of the standings, but the Medicine Hat Tigers and Lethbridge Hurricanes still recorded another riveting chapter in the Highway 3 rivalry in Saturday’s regular season finale at the Canalta Centre.
Nick Henry scored twice and Bryan Thomson stopped 29 shots to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over Medicine Hat on a hard-hitting night filled with plenty of bad blood.
“I thought it was a great game. I liked the crowd, the crowd was large and into it,” Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston said of the 5,536 fans in attendance. “Unfortunately we came out on the bottom end but we did a lot of good things. We’ve been playing better hockey for a while so I was glad to see the compete and some pretty good structure.”
The Tigers are set to face the Central Division champion Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round of the Western Hockey League’s post-season, while the Hurricanes will meet up with the Calgary Hitmen.
Edmonton locked up the Central banner with a 6-1 win over Calgary on Saturday afternoon, making the evening’s game in the Gas City nothing more than a playoff tune-up – but considering the Tigers and Hurricanes could cross paths in the second round, there was no shortage of energy on the ice.
“For as long as I can remember growing up, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge have always been clashing heads and I think it’s carried on with me playing here too,” said Hurricanes winger Jake Elmer, who had two points in Saturday’s win. “The home-and-homes are always a battle, you’re always playing hard. Those guys work their butts off all the time.”
Tigers winger Ryan Jevne – who stepped in as captain Saturday with James Hamblin, and defenceman Dylan MacPherson, out for the night on rest – helped give Medicine Hat an early edge when he found Brett Kemp in the slot for a power play goal with just over two minutes left in the first period, but the Hurricanes immediately pushed back on a seeing-eye shot from Henry with 21 seconds left in the frame.
Lethbridge took over the lead early in the second period after generating some sustained pressure with Brett Kemp in the box for hooking. While Medicine Hat managed to kill off the penalty, Henry struck for his second of the night on a point shot just six seconds after Kemp stepped out of the box.
Jake Elmer tacked on for Lethbridge with a shorthanded goal five minutes later, beating Tigers goaltender Jordan Hollett through the wickets with his squad serving a minor for too many men.
Medicine Hat kept up the pressure in the third and Jevne struck to cut the deficit in half with just over five minutes left in regulation, but Thomson refused to let anything else past him and the Hurricanes skated with the narrow victory.
“We were flying in the first, kind of lulled in the second, but I think we closed it out in the third. I think our team responded well to having an OK second period,” said Elmer, who recently signed an entry-level contract with the New York Rangers. “It’s been a super exciting time for me and my family. They’ve supported me throughout my whole life to pursue a dream. That dream is to play in the NHL and I’m one step closer.”
Hollett stopped 29 shots in the loss, leaving Medicine Hat at 35-27-4-2 to end the campaign.
Lethbridge closed out their season at 40-18-5-5 with the win.
“They’re playing kind of similar as we do,” said Tigers defenceman Linus Nassen. “They’re playing fast, they’re playing physical and every game is a good game. There’s a lot of speed and you’ve got to be ready … Hopefully we play them in Round 2, we’ve just got to beat Edmonton first.”
Clouston added the Tigers put a plan in place before the season started that if Hamblin were to ever miss a game, Jevne would step in to serve as captain. But given Hamblin laced them up for every game but the regular season finale, that opportunity had to wait until the last moment.
“I’m thinking he probably really appreciated it. He’s been part of our leadership group for a long time,” said Clouston. “It was nice, and he scored a great goal.”
Jevne says it was an honour to wear the C in the final regular season game of his career, but he made a point of not letting it change his approach to the game.
“It just kind of showed up in my stall. It’s a big honour because a lot of great players have worn it and it means something special to be able to have that on there,” said Jevne. “It’s not too much different. It’s really only a different letter. I think if you go out there and try to change the way you are and do a little too much extra to be that leader then it takes away from your game. It was a cool experience and I’ll probably get a couple cool pictures to make fun of Jimmy with, but other than that it was just another game.”
The Tigers will open the post-season Saturday in Edmonton at 7:30 p.m. Game 2 goes Sunday at 6 p.m., then the series shifts back to Medicine Hat for Games 3 and 4 on the following Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
