NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs forward Kyle Woolridge carries the puck up ice in the first period of the Cubs 3-2 overtime win Friday over the Cochrane Generals in Game 2 of their semifinal series.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs have found heroes in the depth of their lineup in their first two playoff wins.
Kyle Woolridge has five of the Cubs’ last six goals in their two semifinals wins against the Cochrane Generals, scoring all four goals in their 4-3 double overtime win on Saturday and notching the tying goal on Friday in their 3-2 overtime win.
The local product has enjoyed contributing for his hometown team.
“You win overtime games in the regular season and you feel good, but playoffs is different hockey, you have to bear down and it’s just a great feeling,” Woolridge said. “But it’s not over yet, you have to keep going, we have a lot of series ahead of us and we’re not done yet.”
Vaughn Strutt has that other goal for the Cubs, scoring the Game 2 winner Friday. Head coach Randy Wong says getting the offence in the key moments from players not on their top line is important for playoff success.
“We’ve always said it’s a matter of who’s going to be the guy and from our team standpoint, we don’t care who the guy is,” Wong said. “Someone, somehow was going to find a way and it’s been different guys each game so pretty neat to see that it’s not your go-to guys that you would think. Whether that’s (Cooper) Hilworth or (Colby) Friedrich), those guys you maybe expect to be the guys, but it’s such a different breed when the scoring does come from your depth guys.”
Both Woolridge and Strutt were put in the position to be the guy because of their success in the previous games played. After Game 2, Wong said Strutt received a higher role and more playing time in that contest because of how well he played two days earlier in a 6-5 Game 1 loss.
Woolridge received the same bump, more time on ice and a higher role in the Game 3 lineup after standing out in Game 2. He’s looking forward to them continue their pace in the series and working to come back to the Kinplex for Game 5 on Friday with the 3-1 lead.
“We have to come out even harder because even though we have momentum right now, that’s not going to change anything, they’re going to come out hard,” Woolridge said. “We have to not be afraid to get in the corners, wear them down even more because they’re only running three lines, they’re already hurting. We just have to go hard, play our game and we should be able to come back with a Game 4 win.
As the series shifts to Game 4 tonight in Cochrane and a chance for the Cubs to take that 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven, Wong’s looking at the line of Jacob Milne, Cooper Hilworth and Connor Miller to step up and be the heroes for a game.
“I thought Saturday was Connor Miller’s best game in probably three weeks and that line I hope collectively comes into Game 4 and they may be our difference makers,” Wong said. “They’re older guys, I don’t think it’s too much pressure to put on them, they understand the roles, they haven’t played as well to finish the season but they had some intensity to their game and they had some jump.
“They had a real physical presence, they had a lot of offensive time. They didn’t score, they’re not visible on the score sheet, but territorial wise I think that line was very dominant for us.”
