Tigers drop Game 1 in Winnipeg
By James Tubb on March 31, 2023.
The Medicine Hat Tigers fell in Game 1 Friday in a night of special teams. The Tigers took six trips to the penalty box and Winnipeg took full advantage, scoring three times with the man advantage enroute to a 5-3 Game 1 win for the Ice. The Western Hockey League regular season champion take a 1-0 series lead with the win. The Ice capitalized on the first man advantage they recieved, with Zack Ostapchuk scoring 1:50 into the game. Connor McClennon and Ben Zloty had the helpers on what was the first goal scored in the entire WHL playoffs. Winnipeg added another goal less than seven minutes later on the first of three off Matthew Savoie’s stick. Zloty and Karter Prosofsky had the helpers on that goal. The Tigers got on the scoreboard less than three minutes later with Andre Basha scoring his first postseason goal. Oasiz Wiesblatt and Reid Andresen wiht the assists, cutting Winnipeg’s lead to 2-1 after 20 minutes. The Ice scored the lone goal in the second period on a man advantage marker from Evan Friesen 10:28 into the middle stanza, Savoie and Zloty with the assists. Medicine Hat pushed in the second period to no avail, before the Ice scored early in the third. Savoie knocked in his second of the game, another power play goal. Zloty picked up an assist for his fourth on the night and McClennon had the secondary helper. Basha scored his second of the game at the 10-minute mark, giving the Tigers their first power play goal on four man advantages. Wiesblatt and Brendan Lee had the assists. With 1:07 left in the game after a four-minute Tigers power play, Savoie scored on the empty net to complete the hat trick. Just as the clock was winding down, Rhett Parsons scored for the Tigers with 11 seconds left to set the final score at 5-3, Dallon Melin with the assist. The Tigers look to even the series up at 1-1 in Game 2 Saturday. Puck drop at 5:05 p.m. MST. 13-12
