Tigers drop first of three weekend games

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on January 15, 2022.

It was not the start to the weekend the Medicine Hat Tigers would’ve wanted.

Robert Baco scored five goals in a row Friday night to lead the Moose Jaw Warriors past the Tigers 6-2 at Mosaic Place.

Tigers assistant captain Noah Danielson did not play in the contest. He is third on the Tigers in scoring with eight goals and eight assists for 16 points.

Brayden Ager opened the scoring 1:35 into the contest for the Warriors in their first game since Jan. 1 due to being on COVID pause by the WHL.

Recently signed Carter Chorney answered back for the Tigers late in the first to tie the game up heading into intermission. Ashton Ferster and Owen MacNeil picked up the helpers on Chorney’s first of the season and first in orange and black.

Ferster and MacNeil both scored for the Tigers in their 4-3 overtime win over the Brandon Wheat Kings Wednesday night at home. That win was Medicine Hat’s first game back from their own COVID pause.

Shots were tied 9-9 after the first before the Warriors went on their five-goal tear over a period and half in front of 2,249 Moose Jaw faithful. Besides the Moose Jaw rookie Baco’s three goals, Yager notched his second of the contest and Eric Alarie scored his 10th of the season to cap off the Warriors streak.

On top of his goal, Alarie added two assists on the night to join Baco in a three-point night for the Warriors. Jagger Firkus and Ryder Korczak had two assists each in the bloated win for Moose Jaw.

Tigers defenceman Rhett Parsons scored with 4:09 left in the third period to stop the bleeding and bring Medicine Hat within four. Bogdans Hodass and Teague Patton had the assists on Parsons’ second of the season. For Hodass, the assist is his first point in over a month since leaving the Tigers to represent Latvia at the Division 1 world juniors.

Parsons’ goal was too little too late for the Tabbies however, as the Warriors held onto their four-goal lead for the win. Medicine Hat outshot Moose Jaw 27-22 in the game but could not find the back of the net to the same degree.

Moose Jaw netminder Carl Tetachuk turned aside 25 of the 27 Tigers shots he faced for his 14th win of the season. With the victory, the Warriors climb to 17-14-3-1 and sit tied with the Saskatoon Blades for second place in the WHL’s East Division with 38 points.

Across the ice, Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow stopped 16 of the 22 shots he faced in his 12th start of the season for the Tabbies. Medicine Hat’s record sits at 7-22-3-1 after the loss.

The Tigers have two more contests over the weekend as they are in the middle of a stretch of four games in five nights ahead of Monday’s WHL trade deadline. The Tabbies host the Lethbridge Hurricanes Saturday night at 7 p.m. and face off against the Red Deer Rebels Sunday night for a rare 6 p.m. game.

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