NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs forward Connor Douglas fires a shot from the point on a power play in the Cubs 11-2 win Sunday afternoon against the Three Hills Thrashers at the Kinplex.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs went 1-1 in their last weekend at home for a month.
The Cubs lost 5-1 to the Okotoks Bisons on Saturday before putting up 11 goals to beat the Three Hills Thrashers 11-3 on Sunday.
Cubs head coach Randy Wong said Saturday’s loss to the Bisons came down to inches and the Cubs needed to execute better.
“You give a good team opportunity, they come down and we have a bad line change and they get the first one. Their transition game is really good, you have to be ready to defend against it and we got caught a couple times,” said Wong after their win on Sunday. “Our power play wasn’t good, our top players weren’t very good Saturday and their best line beat our better players. We have to learn from that and try to move forward. Today’s a small step that we can say that we did better, but it’s against a weaker team that isn’t as quick as we are.”
Josh Drefs had the Cubs’ lone goal in the loss to Okotoks, and Mark Peddle made 33 saves. The Cubs made up for the lack of offence against the Bisons, with nine different skaters scoring in Sunday’s win.
Connor Douglas led the way offensively with a goal and three assists, and Darnell Glasgow added two goals and an assist. Vaughn Strutt had two goals and Cooper Hilworth, Connor Miller, Levi Schlosser, Braden Patey, Caleb Garrecht and Jacob Milne each added a goal. Kaiden Morin made 12 saves for the win.
Wong said the difference in the Three Hills win than the Okotoks loss was shooting pucks where they needed to and not just on net.
“We had 40 shots against Okotoks but they were all right in the belly. Even though Three Hills isn’t as good as a team, where guys were shooting today, they are picking corners with a little bit more time and space to do that,” Wong said. “You have to have that success to be able to do that for when you get into those other games against better teams, that hopefully you have the same result.”
The Cubs take their 3-3-2 record on the road this weekend for the first of five straight away contests. Saturday they are in Cochrane taking on the Generals and Sunday they face off against the Strathmore Wheatland Kings.
Wong says the road trip comes at a good time for his team to bond while the season is still young.
“Bus trips are good for the guys, they’re a little more focused, they’re on the bus for a reason. Yes it’s nice to have the fans at home but at the end of the day, it’s pucks, boards and 10 rookies on the team, so half of our group is still trying to figure it out and they need those road trips and those road games to do so.”
Sunday’s Cubs game had international flair as the Jr. B club invited a group of international students from Medicine Hat College to come watch the game after receiving a hockey knowledge lesson from Wong. He said it was a rewarding experience.
“We just broke the game down and tried to help them and then we invited them to the game to see the real action. On top of the novice teams we had after the first period, the ice was full of Redcliff novice Grizzlies and that’s awesome,” Wong said. “It was a great atmosphere in the building today, lots of people and that’s what we hope to bring as far as the brand, the entertainment that the Cubs are all about.
