Cubs stave off elimination again, beat Okotoks 7-5 to force Game 6

By James Tubb on March 11, 2022.

The Medicine Hat Cubs are still alive in the HJHL South Finals.

The Cubs took Game 5 of their third round series against the Okotoks Bisons 7-5 Friday night to stave off elimination and bring the series back to the Hat.

Connor Miller opened the game’s scoring for the Cubs, notching his third of the playoffs. Jamal Shaw assisted on the goal, his first of four assists in the win.

Okotoks tied it up after that as the first period ended at 1-1 with Medicine Hat leading in shots 12-10.

After an Okotoks goal early in the second, the Cubs jumped ahead with steam as Callan Prosofsky scored on a Cubs power play to tie the game up at 2-2 5:01 into the period. Shaw and Austin Klimosko had the assist on the Cubs first power play goal of the series.

They capitalized on another power play 2:47 later when Cooper Hilworth scored his seventh of the playoffs to give the Cubs as 3-2 lead. Jacob Milne and Shaw had the helpers.

The Cubs continued their run of the second period as captain Levi Schlosser potted another power play marker with assists going to Miller and Colby Friedrich, who scored minutes later to put Medicine Hat ahead 5-2.

Okotoks took some of the momentum back before the period came to a close with two goals late, shrinking the Cubs lead to 5-4 heading into the third.

The Bisons carried that momentum into the third period as they tied the game up 4:55 into the final frame.

But that was Okotoks’ final offence of the game as Friedrich scored the game winner on a power play, his second goal of the contest, 6:29 into the period. Schlosser had the lone assist on the goal.

Only minutes later, Shaw battled with Bisons attackers in the Cubs end and dug out the puck before sending a pass to Schlosser streaking up the left side who scored backhanded on a breakaway with 3:59 left to ice the Cubs 7-5 win.

After falling behind 3-0 in the series the Cubs have climbed back to only trail 3-2 after Friday’s win. They’ll face their third elimination game of the round Saturday night when they host the Bisons for Game 6 of the South Finals.

That contest is set to get underway at 7 p.m. in Medicine Hat but a venue is still to be determined as a result of the Kinplex 1 arena having an ammonia leak Friday afternoon.

The News will post the updated venue of the Cubs game on its Facebook page once the information is available.