NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat U15AAA SEAC Tigers' forward Logan Neuls follows through on a shot that ramped into the net for a goal in the first period of the Tigers 6-1 win Friday morning over the Thompson Blazers in their second game at the 50th annual Hockey Hounds tournament.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat U15AAA SEAC Tigers are off to a strong start at the 50th annual Hockey Hounds tournament.
The South East Athletic Club Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 record, with a 4-2 win Thursday against the Pilot Mound Buffalos and a 6-1 victory Friday morning over the Thompson Blazers from Kamloops.
Head coach Mike Mueller has liked his team’s start to the historic tournament and how they have established pushing their opponents.
“We got off to a good start, we have good pressure to the net with bodies to net, we capitalized early and that gained some momentum for us,” Mueller said.
“Taking away time and space is pretty critical, and taking away the middle of the ice when we don’t have (the puck), that worked for us today.”
SEAC had six different goal scorers in Friday morning’s win, with Curtis Martin, Carter Gilchrist, Ethan Grad, Vann Boiteau, Logan kneels and Arlo Heal each finding the back of the net. Neuls also had three assists.
Both SEAC goalies factored into Medicine Hat’s opening games, with Paxton Smigelski making 25 saves in Thursday’s victory and Sasha Shushkov turning aside 21 shots in the win Friday morning.
Through the first two games of their tournament, they have outscored opponents 10-3. Friday night SEAC finished off their round robin against the Prince Albert Pirates in a battle for first place in the blue division. That game was not complete by time of press.
Prince Albert also won their first two games, outscoring their opponents 14-6 in their wins.
The last time a Medicine Hat team won the tournament was 1999, last year under the same head coach, the Tigers finished in third place. While it would be fitting for a Medicine Hat team to win the tournament in its 50th rendition, the Tigers have a few games ahead of them before they get a chance to change that history.
As they look to further their success from last season, Mueller says it will come down to just playing their own game.
“We just have to stick to the way we want to play,” Mueller said. “We need to be responsible with the puck, eliminate turnovers and understand that when we don’t have the puck, taking away the prime ice and forcing them to be outside.”
The Hockey Hounds tournament continues this weekend with early Saturday games at 10 and 10:30 a.m., 1 and 1:30 p.m. at the Kinplex, Hockey Hounds and Moose Rec Centre, followed by the semifinals at 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. in the Kinplex. Tournament awards will also be presented at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The final is slated for 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Kinplex.
Stay tuned into the News’s X (Twitter) page for updates on the SEAC Tigers tournament games.
