NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow lays back after being run into while making a save in the first period of their 4-1 win Saturday night against the Kelowna Rockets at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers closed out the first half of the season and got their Holiday break underway Saturday night.
The Tigers beat the Kelowna Rockets 4-1 at Co-op Place to begin a nine-day break. Associate coach Joe Frazer said Saturday’s win was a great bounce-back for the Tigers coming off a 6-3 loss to the Red Deer Rebels on Friday.
With only 11 forwards in the lineup while Hunter St. Martin is out with an upper-body injury, Frazer says they handled the shorthanded lineup well and played the right side of the puck in the win.
“They created some chances early on but once we got into the game we we’re getting above the puck a lot better, shifts were short playing with 11 guys so we rolled them and the guys were taking short shifts but they were going hard,” Frazer said. “That was a key, just making sure we were getting above the puck. They have some skill up front so we were trying to make them come through three or four guys and we did a better job of that.”
Oasiz Wiesblatt, Tyler MacKenzie, Dallon Melin and Cayden Lindstrom each scored in the win for the Tigers with Melin and Lindstrom also assisting on one another’s goals. Frazer complimented that line and how the rest of the lineup contributed offensively in the win.
“That line (Lindstrom, Melin) has been playing really well the last couple of weeks, they’ve taken huge steps and have been together pretty much the whole first half,” Frazer said. “The last 2-3 weeks they’ve been really good and different guys have been with them.
“Mackenzie’s line was great again and Brayden Boehm had a really good night, he’s created a ton for us. It’s nice to see different guys contributing and we need that. We need everybody if we’re going to win games, we need everyone playing well.”
The Tigers hit the Holiday break with a record of 13-17-4-1, which puts them in eighth place of the Eastern conference and in the conference’s final playoff spot. Frazer says they’re glad to be in a playoff spot but are focused on getting ready for a bigger second half.
“We talked about being in a playoff spot at the end of this weekend and we accomplished that, and now it’s just getting some rest,” Frazer said. “We have a lot of guys who are sick or have been sick for a while, so this break comes at a great time. There’s a lot of coughing going on on the bench during the game. This week off is much needed for a big push come the second half.”
The Holiday break also allows the Tigers and staff to catch up with family they have not seen in a long time, or in Frazer’s case, since they arrived in Medicine Hat for training camp in early September.
“It’s going to be great to see my family, with COVID last year I didn’t get to go home for Christmas, so it’s nice to be back home for Christmas,” Frazer said.
After the Christmas break, the Tigers return to action Dec. 27th with a road game to Lethbridge to battle the Hurricanes before making a return to Co-op Place on Dec. 28th for the first meeting of the season against the Swift Current Broncos.
