NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN Medicine Hat Tigers captain James Hamblin leads his team back to the bench after scoring the opening goal in a Western Hockey League game against the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019 at the Canalta Centre.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers are back in a big way.
After spending more than a month away from the Canalta Centre, the Tabbies returned to their home barn Saturday and left little to chance in a dominant 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
On top of being Medicine Hat’s first home game since Oct. 15, Saturday’s battle also served as Edmonton’s first trip to the Canalta Centre since eliminating the Tigers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final. While that loss is in the past, Hat captain James Hamblin admits they take some added satisfaction from Saturday’s win after having their playoff hopes dashed in overtime last season.
“One hundred per cent,” said Hamblin. “Coming in, we know how good of a team they are and we know that we had to play our best. I thought that we brought a really good game and we have to be proud of that.”
Medicine Hat’s top line of Hamblin, Corson Hopwo and Tyler Preziuso finished the game with a combined nine points, including two goals and an assist from Hopwo, two goals and two helpers from Hamblin and a pair of assists out of Preziuso. The four-point night pushes Hamblin’s point streak to five games with five goals and eight assists in the span.
“Those three together tonight, they turned the game for us,” said Tigers assistant coach Ryan Smith. “It’s not often that (Hamblin’s) not one of the top performers. I use the word exceptional. He’s playing pretty hard right now, playing pretty well. But it’s not just offence, it’s defence as well. He runs our power play, he plays lots of minutes, he takes key draws. He’s all-in to win every night. It was nice to see Hops get in on the scoresheet, and really nice goals as well … Tyler had a good game too. He had a couple of real nice assists.”
Mads Søgaard held the Tigers in the game early with a slew of first-period saves, then Hamblin pushed Medicine Hat out in front with a breakaway goal in the dying minutes of the frame.
“The start of the game, Mads Søgaard was our best player by far,” said Smith. “When you have that kind of goaltending it gives you a chance. I thought we came off a little sluggish off the long trip (Friday) to Red Deer and he held us in it early.”
The Oil Kings left the ice at the first intermission with a 16-8 edge in shots – the bulk of which were generated on a pair of late power play chances – but quickly found themselves in a 2-0 deficit when Hopwo struck from the slot 21 seconds into the middle frame.
The Tigers went right back to work in the offensive zone and Preziuso found Hamblin on the doorstep for his second assist of the evening just 47 seconds later.
Opportunities continued to arise for Medicine Hat and Hopwo took full advantage – streaking down the ice and beating Oil Kings goaltender Todd Scott on a breakaway to make it 4-0 less than four minutes into the second period.
“We just came out strong, and got lucky for sure,” Hopwo said of the second-period surge. “We know they’re a good team. It definitely felt nice to get a win in our first game back in the Canalta.”
The Oil Kings regrouped and Carter Souch put his team on the board by finishing off a centering pass from former Tiger Josh Williams with Cole Sillinger serving a minor for slashing, but it was all the offence they’d muster in the middle frame.
“In parts we did what we wanted to do, but I think overall, we didn’t have the best effort tonight,” said Oil Kings captain Scott Atkinson. “Ask anybody and they’d tell you that.”
Sillinger re-established Medicine Hat’s four-goal lead midway through the third period when he jumped on a pass from Elijah Brown and beat a sprawling Scott for his first goal since returning from the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
Søgaard held on to secure the 31-save victory and push Medicine Hat to 14-6-1-0 on the Western Hockey League season.
“It’s a tight race. We know it’s going to be like that with some really good teams in the division,” said Hamblin. “I think we just have to go in with that mindset. We can’t look at (the standings) too much, but we do have to know that it matters a lot.”
Scott stopped 22 shots – dropping the Oil Kings to 13-4-3-1 – though Atkinson says they didn’t do their goaltender any favours in the loss.
“I think we let him down a little bit tonight,” said Atkinson. “We’ve got to do a better job in front of him, giving up odd-man rushes and breakaways, tonight wasn’t a great one for that.”
The Tigers return to the Canalta Centre Tuesday to host the Brandon Wheat Kings (9-12-0-0) at 7 p.m.
NOTES: Tigers forward Bryan Lockner was missing from Saturday’s lineup after getting “nicked up” during Friday’s game against the Rebels in Red Deer. Smith says he isn’t expected to be out of the lineup for long. Defenceman Parker Gavlas was also missing Saturday after being suspended four games for a check to the head in Wednesday’s 5-4 win over the Prince George Cougars. Gavlas is eligible to return to the Tigers on Tuesday.
