NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN - Medicine Hat Cubs forward Mason Fischer celebrates after scoring a goal against the High River Flyers in a Heritage Junior Hockey League game on Friday at the Kinplex.
The Medicine Hat Cubs made quick work of the High River Flyers on Friday night at the Kinplex.
After taking a 3-0 lead on their first six shots of the evening, the Cubs cruised to a 6-1 victory to kick off a three-game homestand heading into the holiday break.
The win pushes Medicine Hat to a 16-7-2 record on the Heritage Junior Hockey League season – good enough for fourth in the Southern Division – while snapping a two-game slide.
Chandler Aleman opened the scoring by jamming in a loose puck just over two minutes into the game, then Desmond Crawford doubled up on the lead a few minutes later before Mason Fischer snapped one home from the slot to make it 3-0 while holding High River without a single shot through seven minutes of action.
The Cubs kept chipping away and Cooper Hilworth broke through on a late power play chance to extend Medicine Hat’s lead to four at the end of the opening frame.
After putting up just five shots to Medicine Hat’s 15 through the first 20 minutes, High River brought a better effort to the ice in the second – narrowing the gap to 26-22 entering the third – but they were unable to find a way past Cubs netminder Dawsen Savage.
High River finally mustered a response just over four minutes into the third period, but Aleman answered with his second of the night, then Austin Klimosko added another to snuff out any chance for a comeback.
Savage stopped 34 shots to take the win, while High River’s Max Johnston settled for the loss on 34 saves of his own – dropping the Flyers to 10-15-3.
The Cubs are back at the Kinplex for two more games this weekend. First they’ll host the Strathmore Wheatland Kings on Saturday at 7:45 p.m., then the Cochrane Generals come to town for a 2:15 p.m. battle on Sunday.
