NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Red Deer Rebels goaltender Ethan Anders makes a save on Medicine Hat Tigers centre Ryan Chyzowski during a Western Hockey League game at the Canalta Centre on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers ran into a wall named Ethan Anders on Saturday night at the Canalta Centre.
The 19-year-old Red Deer Rebels goaltender weathered a 60-minute storm to steal a 4-3 overtime victory from the clutches of the Tigers by stopping 39 shots while watching his team put up just 21 at the other end of the ice.
“We’ve struggled against Med Hat for the past two years, so any win against (them) feels two times better,” said Anders. “The team played really well, they blocked a ton of shots and played really well defensively. We got nice offensive chances – we didn’t get as many shots as we wanted to, but we came out with the win so that’s all we needed.”
Rebels winger Chris Douglas ended the game 38 seconds into overtime by chipping a backhand over Tigers goaltender Mads Søgaard off the rush.
“At the end of the day they got an extra point and that hurts, but there were a lot of good things that happened tonight for us,” said Tigers assistant coach Ryan Smith. “We never trailed by too many and we kind of kept that focus that you have to stay with the game plan.”
Medicine Hat seized control of the early flow, but Red Deer’s Jaxsen Wiebe drew first blood when he jumped on a loose puck in the slot and chipped it behind Søgaard for the first goal of his career.
The Tigers responded by hemming the Rebels into their own end for the rest of the period, but they were unable to get anything past Anders and took a 1-0 deficit into the break.
“From the start the pace was there from both teams,” said Tigers centre Elijah Brown. “We know we played a hard game and there wasn’t much more we could do. After every goal we were coming back and on the bench everyone was getting excited.”
Trevor Longo picked the offence up for Medicine Hat early in the second period. The 17-year-old defenceman took a feed from Brown in the left circle and beat Anders over the glove to knot things up just over a minute into the frame.
“I have to give all credit to Brown and (Bryan Lockner), they set the whole play up,” said Longo. “I kind of had an open net and just had to finish it off.”
Red Deer stole back the lead on a power play a few minutes later. Centre Brett Davis picked up credit for the go-ahead tally when his shot bounced off Tigers defenceman Parker Gavlas and into the net with Daniel Baker in the bin for high sticking.
The Rebels had a prime opportunity to add some insurance when Corson Hopwo and Brett Kemp were sent to the box for an overlapping 24 seconds of 5-on-3, but the Tigers killed off both infractions and Ryan Chyzowski promptly tied the game back up with a backhand breakaway goal.
Second-period penalties continued to plague the Tigers, however, and Ethan Sakowich made them pay with a late backbreaker. The Rebel blueliner beat Søgaard over the glove from the left circle with Cole Sillinger in the box to give the Rebels an edge after 40 – despite trailing 28-14 in shots.
Fortunes shifted in Medicine Hat’s favour early in the third when Douglas and Zak Smith took back-to-back tripping minors – but the Tigers were unable to generate anything on the ensuing two-man advantage. Brown nearly netted an equalizer from a sharp angle, but Anders pulled the puck off the line with his paddle to keep the Rebels in front.
“After one play he stoned me and I went up to him and said ‘You’re a pretty good goalie, I just want to let you know that,'” said Brown. “He really kept them in there.”
James Hamblin finally set things back to even with seven minutes left in regulation when he was granted a penalty shot due to a covered puck in the crease. The Hat captain beat Anders low on the glove side for his third of the year to set up overtime – but the Rebels escaped with two points thanks to Douglas’ sudden death game-winner.
“That third one from Jimmy, you could just feel it on the bench that we were going to win this game,” said Brown. “Obviously it was a nice play that Douglas made on that goal and there’s not much you can do on that.”
It was a tough night on special teams for Medicine Hat, as Red Deer struck for a pair of power play goals while holding the Tabbies off the board on five chances with the man advantage. The result comes after Medicine Hat limited opponents to just one goal on 17 opportunities through the first six games of the season.
“(Friday in Regina) you could have asked the same question and we would have said we were really happy with the special teams. We had a couple power play goals, we killed off a bunch of penalties. Tonight they scored two and we didn’t score any. The responsibility falls on the power play as well,” said Smith. “The power play did some good things tonight, but it has to be sharper and we do need to score. The penalty kill, for sure, they’ll take some responsibility – that’s the difference in the game, plus-two for them – but the PK is not to blame. They’ve been really good this year.”
Søgaard settled for the loss on 17 saves, dropping Medicine Hat to 4-2-1-0 on the season.
Red Deer improved to 4-3-0-0 with the win.
The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre Tuesday to host the Portland Winterhawks at 7 p.m.
