Tigers goaltender Harrison Meneghin kicks out a pad to stop Wheat Kings forward Nolan Flamand during the third period at Westoba Place in Brandon on Saturday. Despite Meneghin's 37 saves, the Tigers were shut out 3-0, snapping a three-game win streak.--Photo courtesy Perry Bergson, Brandon Sun
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers had a tale of two tapes on the road this weekend.
The Tigers beat up on the Regina Pats 10-5 Friday before getting shut out 3-0 Saturday at Brandon by the Wheat Kings.
The loss Saturday snapped a three-game win streak for the Tigers who had climbed themselves into first place in the Central division entering play Monday.
Associate coach Joe Frazer spoke with the News from Brandon about the weekend series.
“It’s nice to get the two points against Regina, had a big win on Wednesday,” Frazer said. “We liked our efforts (Saturday) but couldn’t get the two points.”
Friday’s win was highlighted by the vast amount of offence from the Medicine Hat lineup, with six players totalling three or more points on the night. Gavin McKenna extended his season total to 29 with two goals and four assists. Hunter St. Martin was originally only credited with four goals and one assist, but was eventually given the Tigers’ sixth goal for the six-point night.
The sixth goal was originally credited to defenceman Bryce Pickford who, following the correction, finished his night with with two goals, an assist and a fight for the infamous Gordie Howe hat trick. Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt had four assists, the second being his 200th career WHL point.
On Saturday, goaltender Harrison Meneghin nearly stole the show for the Tigers. While the offence poured 33 shots on Brandon’s Carson Bjarnason, who stopped all attempts for his sixth career WHL shutout, Meneghin kept Medicine Hat in the game.
The 20-year-old net minder made 37 stops, allowing just a lone goal in his 100th career WHL game – his ninth with the Tigers since being acquired from Lethbridge.
Brandon forward Caleb Hadland scored 3:14 into the contest and Quinn Mantei and Dominik Petr of the the Wheat Kings scored two empty netters late for the 3-0 win.
“Harry is unbelievable,” Bjarnason told the Brandon Sun of Meneghin. “I’ve been watching him since I was 16 or 17 and came into the league. We’re the same age, so it’s nice to battle it out every time, even when he was in Leth. It’s been a lot of fun to get to know him and play against him.”
Medicine Hat remains perfect against Regina with the win Friday, beating them 5-1 on Oct. 26 at Co-op Place. They’re now 1-1 versus the Wheat Kings, beating them 6-1 on Oct. 11 in Medicine Hat. Wheat Kings head coach Marty Murray, speaking with the Brandon Sun, compared the two games against the Tigers.
“The (first) game was over in the first 10 minutes, it was over before it started,” Murray said. “We were on our heels. They have an outstanding team obviously, but when you stand around and watch them, they can do what they want. Tonight we did a much better job right from the drop of the puck. We won puck battles and got them on their heels a little bit.”
The Tigers (9-7) are off until Wednesday when they head to Lethbridge to wrap up the four-game road streak with the first Highway 3 matchup of the season with the Hurricanes.
Lethbridge dropped both their weekend games, falling 5-3 at home to the Calgary Hitmen on Friday and 5-4 to the Red Deer Rebels on the road. Wednesday will be the first meeting of the clubs since Medicine Hat acquired Meneghin in the Oct. 5 trade that sent 19-year-old forward Shane Smith to the Hurricanes. Smith did not play in either weekend games for the Hurricanes, out day to day with an upper-body injury according to the WHL weekly report.
“It’ll be nice to have a rest here the next couple days,” Frazer said. “Get home, get rested, because I know Wednesday is going to be another tough one. They’ve been great at home all year, so it’ll be fun to finally get to play them.”
