NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Cayden Lindstrom pulls up with the puck in front of a crowd in the first period of the Tigers 4-2 loss to the Red Deer Rebels on Friday at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers could not hold back the undefeated Rebels.
The Tigers had an early lead Friday night but ultimately fell 4-2 to Red Deer at C0-0p Place.
Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins was happy with how the Tigers played.
“I thought they were really good, we played hard,” Desjardins said. “It’s a good team, we had chances to score and we didn’t score on them. But I thought our team played well.”
Friday’s contest was the Tigers first game since their 6-3 loss to the Spokane Chiefs on Oct. 14 to round up their U.S. trip. The win for Red Deer makes it a perfect 9-0 to start their season. Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk thought his team cleaned up its early mistakes to continue their streak.
“Through these nine games we’ve been behind several times and it’s really about how you’re playing,” Konowalchuk said. “I didn’t think we were playing bad. We had a couple bad mistakes that cost us but our overall team, I thought we were skating and there were some good things.”
The Tigers struck first offensively in the opening frame with two goals from Cayden Lindstrom coming in the first 10 minutes of action.
“He’s a good young player, he plays hard and he shows where he should be at and as a 16-year-old, he is a force to be reckoned with,” Desjardins said about Lindstrom.
The 16-year-old says it felt good to score but would have preferred his team get two points as well.
“I’d probably rather win but it feels great and Marty helped out, Marty was good today,” Lindstrom said.
Hunter St. “Marty” Martin assisted on both of Lindstrom’s goals. He says they would have liked to have broke Red Deer’s streak but was happy with the points and the lessons of the game.
“We just have to keep playing hard, they’re clearly one of the best teams in the league,” St. Martin said. “If we just play like we did tonight, we can win a lot of games.”
Red Deer answered back in the first period with a power play goal from Jayden Grubbe. They tied the game up 4:46 into the second period with a goal from Anaheim Ducks prospect Ben King.
The Tigers pushed back in the third period but it was Red Deer who got on the score board, with goals from Matteo Fabrizi and Talon Brigley, to seal the deal.
Kyle Kelsey made 19 saves in the win for Red Deer and across the Ice, Tigers net minder Beckett Langkow turned aside 25 of 29 shots he faced.
Medicine Hat (2-5-1) are back in action Saturday when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings at Co-op Place for a 7 p.m. contest. Desjardins says there’s not a lot they will take from the loss into that game.
“We’re a decent team, we played a really good team that hadn’t lost yet and we we’re right there with them,” Desjardins said. “But all the nights are going to be like this, they are all going to be close and we’re going to have to fight for every victory.”
“It’s a must win game,” St. Martin said about Saturday’s contest. “We just have to play hard and stick to our structure and I think it’ll be good tomorrow.”
