Struggles continue for Tigers in 16th straight loss

By James Tubb on December 9, 2021.

The Medicine Hat News

The Medicine Hat Tigers could not contain Connor Bedard.

The Western Hockey League’s exceptional status star scored two and picked up an assist to hand the Tigers their 16th straight loss Wednesday night in a 4-2 to the Regina Pats.

Medicine Hat came into Wednesday’s contest coming off a 6-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings Tuesday night.

Bedard opened the scoring on a mini-break with a pass that banked in off a sprawling Gleb Ivanov and past Garin Bjorklund. Bedard’s first of the game came at the 13:32 mark.

Wednesday’s contest against the Tigers was Bedard’s last game with the Pats before the 16-year-old heads to team Canada’s world junior selection camp in Calgary. Medicine Hat outshot Regina 13-12 in the frame but still trailed.

Medicine Hat has been without import defenceman Bogdans Hodass on their two-game road trip, as he’s joined Team Latvia in Denmark getting ready for the upcoming Division I World Juniors.

The Pats doubled down on their lead when Bedard scored 6:20 into the second frame to put Regina ahead 2-0.

The Tabbies clawed back late in the second on a Noah Danielson power play goal with 55 seconds left in the period. Danielson’s goal came off a Lukas Svejkovsky shot that ricocheted off Pats goaltender Matthew Kieper’s blocker to Danielson on the other side of the net. Tigers captain Daniel Baker picked up the second assist as the second period closed with the shots even at 24 a side and the Pats up 2-1.

Regina regained a two-goal lead early in the third on a Borya Valis power play goal, 1:35 into the frame. Bedard picked up the second assist on Valis’ fifth of the season to give him three points on the night. The goal scorer also had three points in the win as he assisted on both of Bedard’s goals.

The Tigers appeared to score a little over halfway through the third as Brayden Boehm knocked a puck into Kieper’s net, but it was immediately waved off. For the second straight game, Medicine Hat had a goal disallowed. Tuesday night’s loss in Brandon had a disallowed goal in the first period for the Tabbies.

Medicine Hat made things interesting late on Danielson’s second goal of the game, again on the power play, to bring the orange and black within one with 4:07 left in the game. His seventh of the year was assisted by Baker and Owen MacNeil, as the Tigers went 2-for-4 on the man advantage in the loss.

Cole Carrier scored an empty netter to help the Pats hold on for the 4-2 win to snap Regina’s four-game losing streak. As for the Tigers, their record now sits at 4-16-3-1 as they continue to search for their first win since Oct. 22.

Between the pipes, Bjorklund stopped 22 shots to put his record for the year at 2-11-2-0. Accross the ice, Kieper turned away 23 Tigers shots to pick up his 10th win of the campaign. Regina is 10-14-0-0 on the season.

The Tigers have a couple days off before they hit the road to Red Deer on Saturday for a match with the Rebels.