Lethbridge Herald photo by Ian Martens - Medicine Hat Tigers Brett Kemp battles along the boards with Lethbridge Hurricanes Ty Prefontaine during WHL action Friday night at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge.
sports@lethbridgeherald.com
Plenty of plush toys were served up as an early Christmas gift Friday night at the Enmax Centre.
So it was only fitting the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Medicine Hat Tigers gave a little something extra as well in a wild Western Hockey League clash of Central Division rivals.
At the end, it was the Tigers who left with the extra warm and cuddly feeling following a 4-3 shootout win over the Hurricanes in Lethbridge’s annual Toque and Teddy Bear Toss.
Down 3-1 late in the second, the Tigers got goals Cyle McNabb and and Elijah Brown to tie things up at 3-3 heading into the second intermission.
When the third period and overtime didn’t produce a winner, James Hamblin and Brett Kemp scored in the shootout, while only Lethbridge’s D-Jay Jerome was able to beat Garin Bjorklund as the Tigers grabbed the second point and their sixth straight win.
With the win, the Tigers are 20-7-1-0 and move two points up on the Canes for second in the Central Division. The Canes are now 17-9-0-5 with the loss and winless in their last four.
Oliver Okuliar scored twice for the Hurricanes for his league-leading 22nd and 23rd goals of the season and added an assist.
Lethbridge hit the scoresheet first and sent the teddy bears and toques flying as Okuliar scored 9:57 into the first period.
The Tigers penalty kill looked dangerous early on, but the Hurricanes went to the power play late in the first and cashed in as Alex Cotton took a feed from Okuliar and wired a point shot home for a 2-0 lead with 2:40 left in the first.
The Tigers went to the power play 1:33 into the second when Cotton was called for slashing. Medicine Hat did just that to the Canes lead, cutting it in half as Cole Sillinger made no mistake burying a blocked shot past Hurricanes goaltender Carl Tetachuk to make it 2-1 Lethbridge.
Medicine Hat got tagged for their second bench minor at 5:07 and the Hurricanes made it count with their second man-advantage marker, and Okuliar’s second of the night, for a 3-1 lead 6:34 into the second period.
Hurricanes defenceman Trevor Thurston and Tigers forward Bryan Lockner squared off in front of the Hurricanes goal early in the second. Lockner was handed the instigator and a 10-minute misconduct.
Lethbridge nearly added another goal, but were unable to finish off a wild scramble in front of the Tigers net.
The hosts were handed another chance to go up 4-1 when Hurricane Justin Hall drew a penalty shot with Lethbridge killing an infraction, but the forward was unable to convert the chance to keep it 3-1.
But the Tigers roster took a hit on the call when Ryan Chyzowski was handed a 10-minute and game misconduct.
The Hurricanes killed off a pair of penalties late in the second, including a 16-second five-on-three, but the Tigers still evened it up before the second intermission with a pair of goals in 14 seconds.
McNabb netted his third of the season with 1:39 remaining and Brown evened it up seconds later on the power play to knot things up 3-3 after 40 minutes.
In the shootout, Hurricanes Zack Stringer and Dylan Cozens – on Lethbridge’s last chance – were unable to score.
The Tigers outshot the Hurricanes 38-36.
Bjorklund made 33 saves and Hurricanes goaltender Carl Tetachuk kicked out 35-of-38 shots.
Both team’s power plays were 2-for-5.
This year’s Toque and Teddy Bear toss produced 3,568 teddy bears and 679 toques.
Friday’s announced attendance was 5,191.
