Marcus Kallionkieli (15) of the Brandon Wheat Kings trips while firing a shot on goalie Beckett Langkow (35) of the Medicine Hat Tigers during WHL action at Westoba Place on Tuesday evening. - SUBMITTED PHOTO TIM SMITH, THE BRANDON SUN
The Medicine Hat Tigers are making history for all the wrong reasons.
Medicine Hat’s 6-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings Tuesday night marks the team’s 15th loss in a row, now the franchise’s longest losing streak in 25 years.
Their last stretch of this magnitude came in the 1998-’99 season when they lost 14 in a row. That Tigers team finished the year with a 15-56-1 record.
Nolan Ritchie opened Tuesday’s scoring for the Wheat Kings on a cross-crease pass from Chad Nychuk to jump ahead 1-0 only 3:52 into the game.
The Tigers answered back quickly on a loose puck that Lukas Svejkovsky knocked past Wheat Kings net minder Ethan Kruger. Tigers captain Daniel Baker picked up the assist on Svejkovsky’s 11th of the year that came at the 6:65 mark.
Medicine Hat appeared to score a few moments later as the puck flirted with the goal line and the goal light flashed, but the play was waved no goal and was deemed so after a lengthy review.
The Tabbies got their second goal on a late power play as Ashton Ferster tipped in a Baker point shot to put them ahead 2-1. Noah Danielson picked up the second assist on Ferster’s sixth of the season as the Tigers led 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Ferster’s goal marked the first time the Tigers have had the lead in a game since Nov. 23, when Lukas Svejkovsky scored three minutes into their 6-2 loss at home to the Regina Pats.
It wouldn’t last long however, as Brandon tied the game back up at 2-2 six minutes into the second on Nate Danielson’s sixth of the year. Tuesday night’s matchup marks the third face-off between the Tigers’ Noah and his brother Nate on the Wheat Kings.
The home Wheat Kings continued their offence halfway through the second when Ridly Greig scored on a man-advantage tic-tac-toe play to put Brandon up 3-2.
Tigers netminder Beckett Langkow made some key saves in the second to keep the orange and black within one. The 18-year-old stopped Greig on a late period breakaway that the Tigers took the other way to tie the contest up at 3-3. Tigers defenceman Reid Andresen knocked in a pass from Teague Patton for Andresen’s first of the season as the second period dwindled to a close.
Brandon jumped ahead early in the third on Greig’s second of the game to put the Wheat Kings up 3:24 into the frame. Not letting the momentum stray toward the home team, Hat defenceman Rhett Parsons slammed home a point shot to even the game up at 4-4. Andrew Basha and Svejkovsky’s picked up the assists on Parsons’ first of the season at the 6:38 mark.
Brandon’s Brett Hyland scored on a late power play to take a 5-4 lead with less than four minutes left in the game. Marcus Kallionkieli then scored an empty-netter for the Wheat Kings to finish off the 6-4 win.
Langkow stopped 31 shots in the losing effort as the Tigers now sit at 4-15-3-1.
Across the ice, Kruger turned away 21 shots to help the Wheat Kings improve to even on the year with a 12-12-0-1 record.
Medicine Hat’s next opportunity for their first win since Oct. 22 is tonight when they take on Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats (9-14-0-0) on the road at 6 p.m.
