NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs forward Caleb Garrecht carries the puck into the Cochrane end in Sunday's 4-2 win over the Generals at the Kinplex.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
After a slow start to the season, the Medicine Hat Cubs hit the winter break looking like a different team – and one that’s ready to make a run.
The Cubs won the final game of 2022, beating the Cochrane Generals 4-2 on Sunday at the Kinplex for a 17-4-3 record. With that record they sit in third place of the Southern division with 37 points, only two points behind the Generals, with three games in hand.
The Okotoks Bisons hold first place in the division and entire HJHL with 48 points. Head coach and general manager Randy Wong says Sunday’s win is big as they make a push for second in the division, which would give them a first-round bye come playoff time.
“(Cochrane) got us the first two times early in the year at their barn and we’ve played them twice here and won both,” Wong said. “We have the rubber match for our first game back in the new year, we’ll go back there for the fifth game but it was certainly great getting this win.”
Cooper Hilworth had a goal and two assists against Cochrane, with Kyle Woolridge adding a goal and an assist and Callan Prosofsky and Connor Miller rounding out the scoring with a goal each. Kaiden Morin made 24 saves. The Cubs were supposed to travel to High River to face the Flyers on Saturday but the game was postponed until Jan. 29 due to weather.
The Cubs started their season with four losses, one in overtime and another in the shootout, but still only picked up two of their first possible eight points. Since then however, they’ve only had two regulation losses and one OT/SO loss behind 17 wins. Wong says the slow start was part of the process that came with 12-14 new players in the lineup.
“We weren’t sure how they were going to gel together, how they were going to react to the new systems, and so the structure was a little bit different. It took some time and it wasn’t the start we were looking for,” Wong said. “But they’ve gotten the picture, they understand what we’re looking for now and we can see our play the last month has been pretty consistent. We don’t get out shot, most games we score a lot of goals and the defence now is improving. We’re starting to see now as a better defensive game.”
The Cubs are second in the HJHL in goals for (141) behind the Generals (145) and have allowed the third fewest (80), with Sylvan Lake (75) and the Bisons (59) being the only teams to allow fewer. Wong says a takeaway from Sunday’s win and something they’ll need to work on in the second half is limiting the number of goals they give other teams off mistakes.
“Let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot, let’s make them earn their goals because we have to earn ours, so let’s do the same,” Wong said. “As the guys focus and understand that we can’t be selfish, we can’t think we’ll make that one play that’s going to break the game open, you have to take what they give you. We have to react and make the right play.
“That’s kind of the focus that we go into the second half with. Let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot by just giving them plays that we don’t practice with.”
Last year’s Cubs had second in the South nailed down from the first month of the season, an obvious contrast to this year’s club. Wong says while they didn’t have the early success this year, they’ve been beating more of the stronger teams than they did last year, something he hopes will give them momentum in the playoff push.
“We only played Cochrane once last year and we lost. We played Okotoks well six times and never won any games in the regular season. We’ve gotten three wins against the top two teams (this year) and so now we have confidence against those top teams,” Wong said. “That’s the difference is we know we can beat those teams and I think they’re looking at us like we don’t want to play Medicine Hat. That’s what we want instil for those last 15 games that we have – no team wants to play the Cubs.”
