Medicine Hat Cubs forward Jesse Klimosko dekes around a Ponoka Stampeders defenceman in the first period of a 16-1 win Sunday afternoon at the Kinplex.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs put an exclamation point on a winning weekend Sunday.
The Cubs swept the two-game weekend in high fashion, with a 7-1 win Friday at High River over the Flyers that was outshined by a 16-1 drubbing of the Ponoka Stampeders on Sunday at the Kinplex.
Medicine Hat had a flurry of scorers pick up points in Sunday’s win, with Nolen Sutherland leading the way with five goals. Caleb Garrecht had a goal and five assists and Keynan Cairns tallied five assists.
Jesse Klimosko had a quiet hat trick, Kyle Woolridge and Callen Prosofsky each tallied two goals and an assist, Mason Olinski had a goal and two assists, and both Denyn Smith and Tash Armstrong scored solo markers. Makhi Carriere had four assists, Adam Ranger made 24 saves.
Head coach Randy Wong liked how his team played in the win beyond the score.
“You have to play it the right way, that’s the biggest focus we had, don’t think that it’s going to be a point night and although that may happen, don’t go into thinking you’re going to be the guy,” Wong said.
“The game was important in the sense of generating awareness for men’s mental health and prostate cancer, so that was on their minds to put on a good show but play the right way was the key.”
The Cubs donned special blue and black jerseys in recognition of Movember, raising awareness of men’s mental health and prostate cancer. They raised $575 with a gift basket of items donated from local businesses, to be donated to Prostate Cancer Support Medicine Hat & Area Society.
“We’d like to give back where we can, if we can fans in the stands and we can put on a game like this, then it helps a good cause,” Wong said.
In Friday’s win, Woolridge led the way with two goals and an assist. Garrett had a goal and two assists, Prosofsky tallied a goal and an assist and all three of Armstrong, Klimosko and Smith found twine. Austin Derzaph had three helpers, Tyler Wakelam stopped 30 shots.
Looking back on the weekend, where the Cubs’ outscored opposition 23-2, Wong says they built off the confidence of last weekend’s sweep.
“Putting together four games now that we’re scoring some goals, we had gone a stretch where we hadn’t scored a lot of goals, so it’s nice the puck is finally going in the net,” Wong said. “We stick to the process, we’ve talked about playing our game that we can control.
“We’re seeing the benefit of not worrying so much about your opposition but just worrying about what you can do on your team and to help with your team. That’s really been our focus the last couple weeks.”
The Cubs (15-5) remain in second place in the South division, sitting one point back of the Okotoks Bisons who have a game in hand. Medicine Hat will end the month on the road, facing the Airdrie Thunder on Friday and the Cochrane Generals on Saturday.
