NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN Medicine Hat Jasper Homes Hounds forward Mason Mowat controls the puck from his knees during a midget South Central Alberta Hockey League game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday at the Kinplex. Mowat had a hat trick to lead Medicine Hat to a 6-1 victory.
The South East Athletic Club’s Tigers ended 2019 on a high note.
On Saturday at Hockey Hounds Recreation Centre, the bantam AAA team from SEAC beat the visiting Calgary Northstar Sabres 3-2. It snapped a three-game losing streak and earned a measure of redemption after a loss to the Sabres last month.
Ford Gilbert scored the game-winner on a power play with 2:34 remaining in the third period. That followed Josh Van Mulligen’s tying goal two minutes earlier and combined with the second half of a double minor penalty kept the Sabres from pulling their goaltender.
Beck Boiteau made 37 saves in the Tigers net, while Dawson Stewart had a first-period goal and Grady Martin two assists in the third as other game highlights.
Calgary scored both its goals in a 32-second span early in the third. Shots on goal were 41-39 in SEAC’s favour.
The Tigers head into the holiday break third in their division with a 6-12-3 record. They open 2020 with four games critical to how they’ll head into playoffs, all against divisional opponents.
Midget 15’s
The midget 15-year-old Tigers headed into the break with a narrow loss to rival Lethbridge.
In Lethbridge Saturday, SEAC fell 3-2. Kyle Woolridge and Austin Derzaph scored and Kaiden Morin made 29 saves, but Lethbridge never trailed and led 32-22 in shots on goal.
Now 9-10-4 in their league, the Tigers trail 15-3-3 Lethbridge by 11 points in the standings. They won’t have another home game until Jan. 19.
Midget AA
Success hasn’t come easily for the reigning provincial midget AA champions, but it has certainly come.
The Jasper Homes Hounds won a raucous 6-1 decision over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes Saturday to round out the year, a game that featured 19 power plays but only two power play goals.
Cole Rath scored with a second left in the first period, then one of the man advantage markers with 5:11 to go in the second that made it 4-1. Medicine Hat killed off a checking from behind major to end the frame and didn’t look back, Mason Mowat completing a hat trick in the third and Ty Moore scoring as well.
Nate Hoffman’s 40 saves in net were key given the Hurricanes had 10 power play chances and didn’t convert on any of them. Shots were 41-40 in Lethbridge’s favour but the final score was one-sided.
The 12-2-3 Hounds return home Jan. 3 to play Okotoks.
Midget House League
A local house league team did themselves proud with a bronze medal finish at the Springbank Midget Holiday Hustle Tournament this past weekend.
Facing the Okotoks Oilers Sunday with a podium spot on the line, the Hat team won 5-3.
Bantam AA
In Blackie Saturday, the bantam AA Hounds earned a 6-6 tie with the host Foothills Bisons to wrap up their first half.
Down 4-1 after 20 minutes and 5-1 through 25, Medicine Hat came up with a monumental comeback. Wyatt Bishop had goals 51 seconds apart mid-way through the third period to pull even, following a shorthanded marker from Jayden Richards and a power play goal from Josh Evaschesen in the second.
Jesse Klimosko and Wyatt Dreger also scored, while Kaige Schafer replaced Tyler Wakelam in net, each letting up three goals in the roller coaster of a contest.
The Hounds next play on home ice Jan. 4
Peewee AA
An eight-game unbeaten streak came to an end Sunday for the peewee AA Black team.
After dispatching Okotoks Green by a 6-3 score Friday night, the Medicine Hat side was felled 6-2 by the West Central Tigers at the Moose Rec Centre.
Ty Wasyluk and Colby Motz each had a goal and an assist in the loss, and Medicine Hat outshot West Central 38-28, but the visiting Tigers never trailed.
Black had trailed Okotoks 3-0 Friday but rallied with six unanswered goals, including two from Hudson Gainer in the waning minutes. Ty Hynes, Ryan Miller and Parker Kienzle had the other goals.
Medicine Hat’s other peewee AA team, Orange, lost its only game of the weekend 7-2 to Taber.
Cash Olson and Karter Kurpjuweit had the Orange goals, but the Golden Suns outshot them 44-25.
Peewee girls
The Wildcats peewee girls team showed its defensive mettle in two shutouts this past weekend.
On Saturday they beat West Central 3-0, getting two goals from Riley Gramlich and the other from Jailyn Painter. Keyana Bert had two assists but the goaltender’s name was not reported.
Sunday saw Medicine Hat beat West Central 2-0, this time with goals from Marley Howes and Treah Hall.
