NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
The Medicine Hat Tigers celebrate Bogdans Hodass' second period goal as teddy bears rain down in their Teddy Bear Toss game Saturday night.
Teddy bears raining down Saturday night was the only highlight in yet another tough loss for the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The Tabbies dropped their 14th straight game as they fell 4-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings and have now tied their longest losing streak in 25 years.
Tigers associate coach Joe Frazer said he thought the Tigers looked good in the first period but said they need a 60 minute effort if they want to get back in the win column.
“The last bit here it’s just putting together a full 60 and that’s the tough part right now,” Frazer said.
Before the puck dropped Saturday night, Tigers overage defenceman Daniel Baker was named captain for the remainder of the season.
Baker said it was an honour to be named the captain and he said he won’t change his leadership approach now that he has the ‘C’.
“I think it’s just playing how I always play, leading by example and just doing as much as I can,” Baker said. Not trying to change too much just keep it simple.”
The first period contained no offence but was filled with tension as the Tigers missed scoring multiple times. The 2518 fans in attendance stood ready with their teddy bears and winter clothes ready to be tossed.
Medicine Hat outshot the Wheat Kings 14-11 in the first and ended the frame with a flurry of opportunities in front of Brandon net minder Ethan Kruger, to no avail.
Brandon would jump ahead on a Nolan Ritchie goal only 5:17 into the second period. A little over two minutes later, the visiting Wheat Kings doubled down on their lead on Chad Nychuk’s sixth of the season.
It took a little over 30 minutes but once Bogdans Hodass scored his third of the year, the Teddy Bears started flying.
The Latvian d-man said earlier in the week, in a team released video promoting the game, that he would score to release the bears. He said it felt good to deliver on that promise.
“I feel great, it’s so good,” Hodass said. “I said before the game when Hops (Corson Hopwo) asked me who would score, I said me and I scored, so I’m happy.”
All teddy bears and winter clothes thrown onto the ice will be split between the Medicine Hat & District Health Foundation, the Salvation Army, the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter and the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund.
The Wheat Kings would quiet the buzz in Co-op Place after the teddy bear toss as Ritchie potted his second of the game and 12th of the season to put the visitors up 3-1 over halfway through the frame. Brandon outshot the Tigers 16-14 in the period and led by two where it counted.
Medicine Hat and the Wheat Kings traded chances in the third period but the majority of the frame went by without any offence. Brandon added on late with Marcus Kallionkieli’s fifth of the season to give them their final 4-1 lead at the 16:57 mark.
Tigers forward Noah Danielson, who drew into the game after missing the Tabbies 8-2 loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday night due to injury, said he enjoyed his first Teddy Bear game.
“Obviously we didn’t get the result but I thought our effort was better than some of the other games we have had,” Danielson said. “The Teddy Bear Toss was fun, it was my first one, it was enjoyable.”
Danielson faced his brother Nate, a forward for the Wheat Kings, for the second time at the WHL level Saturday night. He said it was nice having family being able to come from their hometown of Red Deer for the contest.
“It’s a lot closer to home for us so lots of family and friends can come on down, so it was fun” Danielson said.
Garin Bjorklund stopped 33 of the 37 shots he faced in the loss as the Tigers record now sits at 4-14-3-1. Across the ice, Brandon’s net minder Kruger turned away 34 of the 35 Tabby shots he faced to pick up his eighth win on the year.
The Tigers have a quick turnaround for a chance to pick up their first win since Oct. 22 as they hit the road for a rematch with the Wheat Kings on Tuesday before visiting Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats on Wednesday.
Frazer said the Tigers need more buy in from their entire roster if they want to get a win on the road.
“Each guy just has to buy into it. We need all 20 guys buying into puck management and getting above,” Frazer said. “We just have to keep preaching it and sooner or later we will start doing it.”
