MacKenzie propels Tigers over Hitmen

By James Tubb on December 30, 2021.

NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB Medicine Hat Tigers forward Tyler MacKenzie is all smiles as he celebrates his first goal of the season in his team’s Western Hockey League game against the Calgary Hitmen on Thursday night at Co-op Place.

Tyler MacKenzie scored his first two goals of the season as the Medicine Hat Tigers defeated the Calgary Hitmen 3-2 Thursday night at Co-op Place.

The Tigers got revenge against Calgary, coming off a 3-1 loss to the Hitmen in Calgary Tuesday night. 

MacKenzie said he owes the first goal to his line mates of Brayden Boehm and Teague Patton and it was great to get the monkey off the back.

“I picked it up and just ripped it and it was just chills in front of the home fans, they were just pumped about it so it was awesome,” MacKenzie said.

Garin Bjorklund kept the Tigers in the game for the victory as he stopped 41 of the 43 shots he faced for his fourth win on the season.

The net minder said they knew they had un-finished business against the Hitmen and it was nice that head coach Willie Desjardins gave him the start after being in the net for Tuesday’s loss.

“He tapped me and said, ‘you’re beating them the next game,'” Bjorklund said.

Desjardins said it was good to see Bjorklund get rewarded with the win and said he’s looked better this season that his record of 4-13-2 shows.

Thursday night’s game was full of firsts for the Tigers, as rookie forward Cayden Lindstrom made his WHL debut only hours after signing his WHL player agreement with the Tigers. Lindstrom was drafted 54th overall by the Tigers in the 2021 WHL draft. 

Forward Brendan Lee and defenceman Pasha Bocharov also made their orange and black debuts after being acquired by the Tigers Tuesday afternoon from the Saskatoon Blades in the three-way deal that sent Ryan Nolan to Saskatoon and Cayden Glover and Carlin Dezainde to Prince George.

Desjardins said it was exciting to get Bocharov and Lee in the lineup and said they showed speed in their Tigers debuts. He had praise for the freshly signed Lindstrom.

“It’s a little different from U17 this league, so it’s hard to for him to come in and do that but it was really nice to see him so confident with the puck, so that was big,” Desjardins said.

The first period was a back-and-forth affair, as both the Tigers and Hitmen traded chances. Medicine Hat jumped out to an early lead on Mackenzie’s first a little over six minutes into the contest. Oasiz Wiesblatt and Reid Andresen picked up the assists on Mackenzie’s goal.

Calgary outshot Medicine Hat in the first period 16-10 but did not muster any offence and trailed the Tigers 1-0 after 20 minutes.

Just like the first frame, the Tigers did not wait to get ahead. Noah Danielson put one past Hitmen netminder Brayden Peters on a power play to double the Tiger lead. Dru Krebs and Corson Hopwo had the helpers on Danielson’s eighth of the season.

Calgary then quieted the crowd of 2,130 as Grayden Siepmann scored on a mini breakaway to cut the lead to 2-1. 

The Tigers had multiple chances in the second as the newcomer Lee was stonewalled on a one-timer on a 3-on-1 break, and Teague Patton missed the net wide with a backhand shot in close. 

Bjorklund kept the Tigers ahead late in the second as the Hitmen poured on the offence. Calgary ended the frame still ahead in the shot count, 28-16 but, trailed the Tigers where it mattered 2-1. 

MacKenzie intercepted an errant Hitmen power-play pass at the blue line and scored his second of the game on a shorthanded breakaway to put the Tigers ahead 3-1 only 1:03 into the third frame. 

When asked how nice it was for him to see MacKenzie get the goal monkey off his back, Desjardins spoke highly of his work ethic in practice.

“For me, I can go back to two other guys that since I’ve been here have worked like that and one was (Clarke) MacArthur and the other one was (Darren) Helm,” Desjardins said. “That’s saying a lot because those are two pretty good hockey players and they got to the NHL because of how hard they worked in practice and Mackenzie works like that and that’s a real compliment to him.”

For the second time this season, the Tigers’ opponent exploded a puck on the crossbar. With a little over 10 minutes left in the frame, Zac Funk blasted a shot that hit the bar and sent the puck into three different pieces, but unlike when it happened against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, no pieces of the puck ended up in the net. 

Funk capitalized on a too many men penalty and scored in the last seconds of the advantage to bring the Hitmen within one late in the third.  But Medicine Hat held on for the win to give them a 6-19-3-1 record heading into the New Year despite being out shot 43-22 in the game.

Desjardins said the Tigers had lot’s of different guys stepping up to hold the lead in the win which he said is something they haven’t had to do a lot this season.

“We had lot’s of different guys stepping up and those guys haven’t been in that role, we haven’t had a lot of leads to hold onto so we had a lot of young guys in roles they haven’t had but it was good they came through,” Desjardins said.

Across the ice from Bjorklund, Peters turned aside 19 shots. Hitmen head coach Steve Hamilton said he thought his team’s effort was excellent in the loss.

“You get 50 shots on net and outshoot a team two to one, you know you’re doing some positive things,” Hamilton said.

The Tigers are back in action Saturday night when they host the Winnipeg Ice for their first game of 2022. They follow it up with a rematch against the Hitmen on the road Sunday.