NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Mads Søgaard makes a stop on Lethrbridge Hurricanes centre Chase Wheatcroft during a Western Hockey League game on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Lethbridge Hurricanes spoiled Willie Desjardins’ return to the Gas City with a narrow 3-1 victory on Saturday at the Canalta Centre.
After coughing up a two-goal lead and settling for a 4-3 shootout loss to the Tigers in Friday’s season opener in Lethbridge, the Hurricanes again jumped in front by a pair – but this time held on to open the season with a home-and-home split.
“That’s a game you’ve got to find a way to win,” said Desjardins. “We had some guys who probably didn’t get their best out. I think if they looked at their game they’d say they have a little bit more to give.”
Alex Cotton gave Lethbridge an early edge when he crept into the slot all by himself, picked up a feed from Zack Stringer and slotted the puck past Hat netminder Mads Søgaard just over three minutes into the game.
“I think what they got, especially early on, we kind of gave to them,” said Tigers captain James Hamblin. “We need to work on that.”
While the Tigers quickly shifted momentum back in their favour – outshooting Lethbridge 14-8 in the opening frame – they couldn’t find an answer for ‘Canes netminder Bryan Thomson in the period and entered the second in a deficit.
“I thought Thomson was outstanding in net,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio. “I thought we played hard. We were missing some guys (Friday) and adding (Calen) Addison and (Koletrane) Wilson in tonight obviously made us a little bit older. Just adding that depth on the back end helped.”
Medicine Hat earned a pair of chances to tie up the game when Hurricanes Addison and Dino Kambeitz were sent to the box for back-to-back minors, but the Tigers were unable to convert on either chance and Lethbridge responded with a late tally from Noah Boyko to double up on the lead after 40 minutes.
“We can’t be putting ourselves in holes early,” said Tigers centre Ryan Chyzowski. “We couldn’t really come back from that one tonight. It’s disappointing to see that we kind of went back to that again. We’ve got to play a little bit harder and not let them push us around as much.”
Chyzowski gave the Tigers some life halfway through the final frame when he dove to tap in a loose puck with Hurricanes winger Alex Thacker in the penalty box for holding – igniting the crowd of 4,050.
Medicine Hat kept the pressure on in the dying minutes, pouring 10 shots on Thomson in the frame to outshoot Lethbridge 33-26 in the contest, but Oliver Okuliar put the game away with an empty-netter in the final minute.
“It’s good that we responded in the third period, but our first and second have got to be better,” said Tigers alternate captain Bryan Lockner. “You can’t be relying on that all year, you can’t be down every game.”
Thomson turned away 32 shots to secure the victory in his first start of the season – pushing the Hurricanes to 1-0-0-1.
“The boys were blocking shots in front of me which is huge, not just for me but the rest of the team,” said Thomson. “When the rest of the team on the bench sees the boys blocking shots it motivates them as well.”
Søgaard settled for the loss on 23 saves, dropping Medicine Hat to 1-1-0-0.
“He’s been good both games,” Desjardins said of Søgaard. “We’re going to rely on him a lot this year. He made a couple saves that gave us a chance to get back in and we just couldn’t capitalize.”
The evening opened with a special 50th season video looking back at the team’s highlights over the past 5 decades. The video was followed by the introduction of Desjardins, which brought the crowd to its feet for a rousing ovation.
“It’s a great town,” said Desjardins. “There are so many good people in this city and I think they’re good hockey fans too. They want us to do well. And they’re die-hard. They live with their team. The one thing I’ve said is you can’t guarantee wins, but you can guarantee you’re going to work hard. So far this team has worked pretty hard.”
Lockner added the Tigers could feel the rumbling ovation from the hall while they await their own introductions, adding the crowd stayed active throughout the evening.
“We heard them screaming as we were lining up so it was pretty nice to see that and they were with us the whole night,” he said. “I just wish we could have given them a better performance.”
The Tigers are back on the ice for a home-and-home set against the Swift Current Broncos this weekend. The action starts Friday at the Innovation Credit Union i-plex before both teams head to the Canalta Centre for a Saturday night rematch.
