NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers net minder Evan May stares up an eventual penalty shot goal from Sean Tschigerl in the first period of a 7-3 loss Friday night at Co-op Place against the Calgary Hitmen.
A promising start for the Medicine Hat Tigers turned into disappointment Friday night.
The Tigers scored two goals in the first two minutes before allowing seven against in the remaining 58 minutes in a 7-3 loss to the Calgary Hitmen at Co-op Place. Friday’s loss marks the second straight for the Tigers, coming off a 5-3 defeat Wednesday at Swift Current against the Broncos.
Associate coach Joe Frazer gave credit to the Hitmen in their comeback and says the Tigers didn’t push enough when falling behind. He also says they didn’t test Calgary net minder Ethan Buenaventura, who made 23 saves in the win.
“We had some some decent looks, I just don’t think we had enough with the zone time we had,” Frazer said. “There wasn’t enough traffic, he made some saves but I don’t think we created enough on him. They did a good job keeping us to that side and they defended hard.”
Medicine Hat’s first goal came from Andrew Basha who worked his way out front for a power play marker 1:15 int0 the game. Oasiz Wiesblatt and Tomas Mrsic had the assists. Just 20 seconds later, Shane Smith was left alone with the puck at the top of the circles in the Calgary end and wired it home for his 13th goal of the season. Tyler MacKenzie and Hayden Harsanyi had the helpers.
Calgary answered back in a big way in the first period, scoring three times unanswered go to lead after 20 minutes. Sean Tschigerl scored his first of the night off a pass from Oliver Tulk at the 2:58 mark. They tied the game up at 13:33 with a laser of a backhand from 2024 NHL draft eligible defenceman Carter Yakemchuk who scored on the rush. Only 1:03 later, after he was hooked on a breakaway, Tschigerl scored on a penalty shot to put the Hitmen ahead after the first period.
The Tigers struck early in the second to tie the game at 3-3. A scramble of opportunities around Buenaventura had the puck find Basha alone in front who punched it in for his second of the game and 13th of the season. Frazer says Basha has been playing well as of late and demonstrated how they need to play as a team.
“He’s always competing, he was taking the puck to the house, both of his goals were in the slot, so it’s no secret where you have to get to if you want score,” Frazer said. “You get inside the house and we have to do away better job of that tomorrow.”
After that, Calgary strung together four unanswered goals for the 7-3 final.
Tulk potted the game winner at the 8:40 mark for his 15th of the season. Calgary also led the game in shots through 40 minutes, 31-19.
Keets Fawcett scored an insurance marker 7:48 into the third period, and to make matters worse, Medicine Hat net minder Evan May made a misplay with the puck that found Tschigerl who scored his third of the night. May allowed six goals with 32 saves before he was relieved by backup Ethan McCallum, who finished his night with two saves.
The Hitmen notched one more in the final five minutes on a harmless shot from Carson Wetsch that knocked off McCallum’s stick and into the net.
There was no love lost in the third period between either side, with six 10-minute misconducts between the clubs and a combined 88 penalty minutes. Frazer says those misconducts and the frustration arises when they stop playing Tigers hockey.
“That’s what happens when you don’t play your best, you get frustrated,” Frazer said. “If we’re playing Tigers hockey, we don’t get frustrated and we don’t take those. It’s just an accumulation of frustration over the game when it’s not going your way.”
The Tigers look to bounce back Saturday when they host the Prince Albert Raiders for the Medicine Hat News Teddy Bear Toss game. Puck drops at 7 p.m. and the bears fly after Medicine Hat’s first goal of the night.
