Kemp nets four

By Medicine Hat News on February 29, 2020.

Brett Kemp wasn’t satisfied with a hat trick.

The 19-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers forward completed a three-goal performance with five minutes left in Friday’s game against the Regina Pats at the Brandt Centre, then added a fourth for good measure in a dominant 8-2 victory.

Medicine Hat’s five-forward power play unit was reunited Friday as a result of Cole Sillinger’s return from an upper-body injury, and the group got its chance to shine late in the first period on a 40-second two-man advantage.

Regina managed to kill off the remaining time on Austin Pratt’s hooking minor, but Kemp pounced on a loose puck in the slot and beat Donovan Buskey with Logan Nijhoff still in the bin for delay of game.

The Pats were held to just four shots in the opening frame, but Zack Smith snapped his team’s fifth past Mads Søgaard after a hard bounce off the end boards early in the second period.

Medicine Hat’s man advantage went back to work a few minutes later and Kemp broke through again – this time with a hard shot from the left circle – to re-establish a narrow lead for the Tigers.

Sillinger jumped in on the scoring eight minutes later when he cut in down the left wing and beat Buskey to the top corner for his third point of the evening in front of a hometown Regina crowd.

Parker Gavlas extended the lead to three in the final minute of the second by joining the rush and beating Buskey from the slot, then Lukas Svejkovsky made it 5-1 just 47 seconds into the third.

Regina responded on a power play less than a minute later when Nijhoff intercepted a behind-the-net pass from Søgaard and deposited the puck into a vacant cage.

Kemp completed the hat trick with five minutes left in regulation then added a fourth just over a minute later with Kyle Walker in the box for interference – bringing Kemp to 29 goals on the season.

Baxter Anderson supplied a late insurance marker for Medicine Hat with 4.2 seconds left to round out the scoring.

Søgaard held on to secure the 18-save victory, pushing the Tigers to 36-19-2-1 on the season.

Buskey stopped 32 shots in the loss, leaving Regina at 20-32-4-2.

The Tigers and Pats close out a home-and-home set, as well as their season series, on Saturday night at the Canalta Centre. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m.

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