NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Cru Hanas starts his line of fist bumps at the bench after scoring his first goal in the Western Hockey League in the second period of a 6-4 win over the Winnipeg Ice on Wednesday at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Cru Hanas expected his first Western Hockey League goal to be a little nicer, but he was just happy it came in a win.
The 17-year-old scored his first goal in the league in the Tigers’ 6-4 win over the CHL’s No. 1 ranked Winnipeg Ice on Wednesday at Co-op Place.
“It was a surreal feeling,” Hanas said. “Just the relief it gave me was unbelievable.”
The Highland Village, Tex. native has appeared in 36 games this season, notching three assists and now four points total. He started the season in the 13th forward role and has drawn in and out of the lineup all season.
Head coach Willie Desjardins says it was great for him to get rewarded Wednesday.
“He’s had a really tough year here, it hasn’t gone the way he wanted but he never complains, he never does,” Desjardins said. “He tries and that was a big, big goal for us and it was great for him. He’s a skilled player.”
He says he’ll keep the puck in Medicine Hat and will bring it back to Texas in the offseason. As happy as he was to get the monkey off his back in the win, Hanas was impressed with Evan May’s 40 saves and a collection of blocked shots in front of him.
“We’re so happy for him and it’s great that they did that and would put their body on the line for our team,” Hanas said.
The last minute of play was all Winnipeg, who had their goalie pulled, holding possession in the Tigers’ zone and unleashing shot after shot. But all were blocked by defenders or stopped by May until the puck trickled beyond the blue line and the clock hit zero.
“It’s a team effort,” May said. “I don’t expect them to block shots but that helps out a lot, it helps me out. It’s a good reason why we could get this one.”
Associate coach Joe Frazer had a laundry list of players who had multiple shot blocks, a team commitment he says is needed if they want to make the playoffs and have success.
“We have a great group and a great leadership group, and we’ve said all year, guys really want to win and they want to do it for each other,” Frazer said. “That makes it special.
“(Blocking shots) is what you have to do when you want to beat those top teams and when you want to win in March and April. Those are the little things you have to do.”
Oasiz Wiesblatt had a four-point night in the win, scoring two goals to bring him to 24 on the season. Hunter St. Martin, Andrew Basha and Reid Andresen also found the back of the net.
The Tigers entered Wednesday’s game off a 6-4 loss against the Swift Current Broncos. And after falling behind 2-0 in the first 10 minutes against Winnipeg, there was potential for the game to get away from.
However, unlike some of their games earlier in the year, the Tigers held on, clawed their way back and pulled out the win.
“We talked a lot about the learning experiences in the first half, and at the time those weren’t always the most fun to go through, but they’re necessary. You have to learn how to win in this league,” Frazer said. “It keeps coming back to just how well our leadership has handled the young guys and have been there for them, allowed them to grow.
“We made some mistakes in the first half and we still continue to, but we’re learning from and growing from them and that’s all we can do. Make sure you’re better the next day, and that speaks a lot to the leadership group.”
The Tigers (25-24-8-1) are back in action tonight as they host the Edmonton Oil Kings at Co-op Place. Edmonton is last in the WHL with a record of 8-46-3-0. Having been in the same position Edmonton is in, sitting bottom of the league last year, Frazer says they know how hungry the Oil Kings will be.
“We had a good game against Red Deer and then we came out a little flat against Regina, then we had a really good win against Kamloops and came out flat against Swift. So we had a big win against Winnipeg,” Frazer said. “We have to make sure we have a great practice today and, it’s playoffs, all these games are important for us. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we have to make sure we’re building and playing the right way down the stretch.”
