NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers top prospect Gavin McKenna celebrates scoring his first Western Hockey League goal in a 7-0 win over the Regina Pats at a sold-out Co-op Place on Saturday.
The Medicine Hat Tigers put on quite the show Saturday night.
The Tigers strung together a night of firsts, with a four-goal contest from Andrew Basha, Gavin McKenna scoring his first Western Hockey League goal and Beckett Langkow registering his first career shutout all coming in a 7-0 victory over the Regina Pats in-front of a sold-out crowd at Co-op Place.
McKenna was all smiles after the game talking about his goal and the win in front of the 6,405 Tigers faithful in attendance.
“It was an unreal feeling, the crowd was unbelievable,” McKenna said. “My line mates all played a great game, I had a couple chances and finally buried that first one.”
The 15-year-old prospect had the goal and an assist in the win, giving him 10 points in 12 WHL games this season.
Medicine Hat came into the contest off two straight losses in Manitoba against the Winnipeg Ice and Brandon Wheat Kings. Head coach Willie Desjardins says the win was a big effort coming off that road trip.
“We played good on the road, those are tough buildings. So to come back, Bedard obviously is an unbelievable player and he’s not alone, they have three really good lines. That’s a big effort by our team tonight, that was a huge, huge effort.”
The Tigers opened the scoring with 2:11 left in the first period on Rhett Parsons’ fifth goal of the season. McKenna and Brendan Lee had the helpers on the lone offence in the first period, Medicine Hat led in shots 10-9.
The offence kicked up in the second period with Basha, who had a goal overturned in the first period, scored 21 seconds into the middle frame to get his name back on the scoresheet. Bogdans Hodass had the assist. The 17-year-old celebrated by signalling a goal as a reaction to his overturned marker.
“All the boys were telling me that I had to do it if I scored,” Basha said. “I fell a little bit but nothing would stop me from doing it there.”
Basha struck again 12:01 later, with Hunter St. Martin and Cayden Lindstrom registering the assists on that goal. Medicine Hat outshot the Pats 18-1 in the second period.
The floodgates opened in the third period with Basha completing the hat trick 5:59 into the period. Oasiz Wiesblatt and Hodass had the helpers.
Just 27 seconds later, an inverse of his No. 72, McKenna picked up a loose puck in the slot and finally potted his first in the WHL. Lee and Dru Krebs had the assist on the first of likely many for the Whitehorse, Yuk. product.
As the clock wound down on the game the Tigers continued their pressure with Tomas Mrsic capitalizing on a mini break and scoring his ninth of the year with 1:36 left in the game. Owen MacNeil had an assist and Hodass registered his third helper on the night.
With 55 seconds remaining Basha added one more goal for good measure, giving him 19 on the season. Wiesblatt and Van Mulligen had the helpers what would be the last goal, giving the Tigers their final 7-0 lead. They outshot Regina 40-17.
Langkow turned aside all 17 he faced in a game he says he will remember for multiple reasons.
“It’s pretty special,” Langkow said. “Not only that (shutout), we got to win and it was a big win in front of a big crowd. And Gav got his first goal, Basha had four goals so it was a great overall night.”
The Tigers (27-26-8-1) are off until Friday when they head to Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings and open up a three game weekend. Medicine Hat hosts Calgary on Saturday before hitting the road to face the Hitmen on Sunday.
