NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN Medicine Hat Tigers forward Corson Hopwo leads his team back to the bench after scoring a goal in a Western Hockey League game against the Swift Current Broncos on Tuesday at Canalta Centre.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Medicine Hat’s top line made quick work of the Swift Current Broncos on Tuesday night at Canalta Centre.
Corson Hopwo and James Hamblin both racked up four points while linemate Lukas Svejkovsky added three more to open a home-and-home set against Swift Current with a 7-0 landslide victory.
“They’re jelling nicely,” Tigers assistant coach Ryan Smith said of his top line. “They work hard. They support the puck and support each other, and when you shoot the puck good things happen.”
Hamblin took over sole possession of first place in the Western Hockey League’s scoring race with the one-goal, three-assist performance. The 20-year-old Edmonton product now boasts 76 points in just 47 games.
“It’s really cool,” said Hamblin. “I’ve said this before, but I think it’s just a product of hard work and some really good teammates helping me out. I’m just going to keep looking at it that way, I’m going to try to not think about it too much and keep trying to play my game.”
Medicine Hat improved to 31-14-1-1 with the win – one point behind Lethbridge for second in the Central Division and 11 back of Edmonton for first.
The Tigers took the spirit out of Swift Current early in Tuesday’s contest – erupting for five goals in the first period while outshooting the Broncos 14-8 in the process.
“We’ve been having good starts lately, especially our line,” said Svejkovsky. “Going up 5-0 after the first, that’s tough to do in a league like this.”
Hopwo got the offence rolling early by ripping a shot off the bar and watching it bounce off Broncos defenceman Alex Moar and into the net. The 5-foot-11, 173-pound Hopwo struck again less than a minute later, picking up his own rebound in front of Swift netminder Isaiah DiLaura and this time beating him clean.
Hamblin then tacked onto the lead with a shot from the high slot. The onslaught continued just over a minute later when defenceman Daniel Baker beat DiLaura with a wrist shot from the left circle, then Nick McCarry added another to leave the Broncos in a daunting deficit after 20.
“We have to have that every game,” Hamblin said of the start. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’ve got to play the same way. If we score five or if we don’t score, we’ve got to have good starts.”
Svejkovsky joined the scoring party early in the second by picking the top corner from the slot – giving him three points while pushing Hopwo and Hamblin to four.
Ryan Chyzowski put the extra point on the proverbial touchdown by finishing a cross-crease feed from Brett Kemp in the dying minutes of the frame.
“It was a tough game,” said Broncos forward Hayden Ostir, a former Tiger spending his overage season in Swift Current. “We’ve got to find a way to bounce back. It’s a good thing that we’re playing them this coming weekend. Hopefully we can find a way to make it a bit closer and learn from it.”
Hat netminder Garin Bjorklund – who collected the shutout with a 17-save performance.
DiLaura stopped 35 shots in the loss, dropping the Broncos to 10-32-1-3.
The Tigers and Broncos close out their home-and-home set Friday in Swift at 6 p.m.
NOTE: Tabby winger Cole Sillinger left Tuesday’s game with an apparent upper-body injury and did not return. The 16-year-old Regina product took a heavy hit near the end of the first period.
