NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER - Tigers captain James Hamblin celebrates with teammate Eric Van Impe after scoring the night's first goal on Friday at Canalta Centre.
The Medicine Hat Tigers are off to the playoffs for the 17th time in the last 18 seasons.
The spot was sealed midway through their 4-2 win over the Tri-City Americans Friday at Canalta Centre, when Regina lost 6-3 to Saskatoon. At 35-18-2-1 Medicine Hat is third in the Central Division, while 19-31-3-2 Regina can no longer match their point total.
A pair of goals late in the first period were just what the home team needed. James Hamblin’s 34th of the season got past Americans goalie Talyn Boyko with 42 seconds left in the period, then 20 seconds later Nick McCarry notched his 13th to make it 2-0.
Jadon Joseph responded with a second-period goal for Tri-City, but Lukas Svejkovsky’s 16th, on the power play, added some insurance early in the third. They needed it, as Sasha Mutala scored with 5:43 left to make for a tense finish.
Hamblin added an empty-netter with the same amount of time left on the clock as his first-period goal, to the delight of most of the crowd of 2,858.
Garin Bjorklund wasn’t tested often, turning aside 23 shots in improving to 18-6 on the season. Boyko made 38 saves and fell to 5-10.
The Tigers have made the post-season every season since 2003, with the exception of 2016 when they lost a tiebreaker game after tying Edmonton for the final spot in the Eastern Conference.
They’re back in action at Canalta Saturday, a 7:30 p.m. start against the Spokane Chiefs. The 34-18-4-1 Chiefs booked their post-season spot earlier this week and are among the hottest teams in the WHL, 9-1 in their past 10 games including a 5-1 win in Swift Current Friday.
They also feature WHL leading scorer Adam Beckman, who’s been on a tear with points in his last 11 games. Beckman has 98 points in 56 games, 14 ahead of Portland’s Seth Jarvis and Hamblin.
Medicine Hat then has a five-day break before a home-and-home set with Regina next weekend.
