NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers prospect Liam Ruck fires off his first WHL goal in his WHL debut Wednesday night, an 8-0 Medicine Hat win at Co-op Place over the Regina Pats.
The Medicine Hat Tigers put on quite a show Wednesday night at Co-op Place.
The Tigers beat up on the visiting Regina Pats, topping the East division opponent 8-0.
There was lots to be excited about for the 2,305 in attendance, Evan May turned aside all 23 shots he faced, Bogdans Hodass had a goal and three assists for a four-point night, Liam Ruck had a goal and an assist in his WHL debut and the victory marked 1,900 wins since 1970 for the franchise.
Assistant coach Josh Maser described the victory as a showcase of maturity for the Tigers.
“We stuck to the game plan, got pucks deep and I thought our third period was really good with the lead,” Maser said. “Our leaders did a really good job of reinforcing what we want to do and what our game plan is with the lead. We gave up much in the third, Evan May was huge keeping us in it when it was 2-0. All around, it was good team effort.”
Wednesday night was the second career shutout for May, who brings his season record to 9-5-2. The 19-year-old says the shutout brings confidence but he was more happy with the result.
“It’s a really big game, last game we played them they beat us so it was really big for us to to get this win,” May said. “It just builds up momentum for the weekend.”
The Tigers lost to the Pats 4-2 on Oct. 4, that was the contest where the Tigers’ bus did not arrive at the rink until 20 minutes before warmups due to a breakdown. They came into tonight’s win off a 3-2 victory Saturday at Brandon against the Wheat Kings.
The first tally of the night came off a Tigers’ power play, as they finally cracked the stalemate between the clubs.
Oasiz Wiesblatt lightly knocked in a loose puck that bounced off Ewan Huet before making its way into the net.Cayden Lindstrom and Andrew Basha had the assists on Wiesblatt’s power play marker.
The Tigers blew open the scoring in the second period. Medicine Hat capitalized on a power play that carried over from the first frame, with a hot hand getting it done.Wiesblatt one timed a shot from the circles 49 seconds into the period, making the most of the power play. Gavin McKenna and Tomas Mrsic had the assists on his seventh goal of the season.
Just over the halfway point of the game, Ruck’s WHL debut was made even sweeter. The 15-year-old loaded up and fires a wrist shot past Huet for the first of his career. Kadon McCann had the lone assist. Liam, with brother and fellow Tiger Markus in the stands, was all smiles after the win and credited his line mates for his first goal.
“It was really exciting, Ruck said. “It obviously took a little bit to get used to but as the as the night went on, I got more comfortable out there and it was obviously nice to get that big win too.
“It was a bouncing puck from McCann coming over and I saw I could make a move to the outside, and then I just put it upstairs.”
The Tigers kept pouring on. Just 1:29 later, Shane Smith, while laying on his side, popped a puck up and over Huet’s pad to put Medicine Hat ahead 4-0. Matt Paranych and Hunter St Martin had the helpers on Smith’s 12th on the year.
Lindstrom made it a 5-0 lead through 40 minutes with his 17th of the season. The 17-year-old skated across the Regina blue line and with an absolute laser for his first of the night.
The offence didn’t let up in the third period as the Tigers tallied on three more for the 8-0 final.
McCann knocked in a loose puck 5:13 into the final frame for his fourth goal of the season, with Hodass and Ruck getting the assists. Just over two minutes later, Hodass fired off a shot on a break away that found twine for his third goal of the season. Smith and Paranych recorded the helpers.
The final tally came from Lindstrom, who wheeled around with a spot-o-rama in the slot and backhanded the puck home for his team leading 18th goal of the season and second of the game. Hodass had the lone assist as Medicine Hat put the final stamp on the blowout victory.
Wednesday’s win puts the Tigers atop the Eastern conference and tied for first place in the WHL with 32 points on a record of 15-6-2. Their next action is Saturday when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings at Co-op Place.
