NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Markus Ruck is met by Medicine Hat Tigers teammates Bryce Pickford, Liam Ruck, Jonas Woo and Oasiz Wiesblatt after scoring his first of two goals in a 6-4 win Tuesday at Co-op Place over the Saskatoon Blades.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Tuesday night was the first time in half a decade the Medicine Hat Tigers could celebrate a win over the Saskatoon Blades.
The Tigers beat Saskatoon 6-4 at Co-op Place, marking exactly five years since they last beat the Blades. Saskatoon won the previous 15 matchups, with Medicine hat’s last win against the Eastern conference leader coming Dec. 10, 2019, an 11-3 win at Saskatoon.
James Hamblin led the Tigers’ offence that night in 2019 with five assists. Cyle McNabb had a hat trick and an assist, and a rookie Cole Sillinger and 19-year-old Cole Clayton had three assists each.
In that span of five years, Medicine Hat lost seven one-goal games to Saskatoon, another three losses were by two goals (twice coming on empty netters).
A streak of losses that long provided motivation to snap the slump at the five-year mark, a statistic they were made aware of pre-game in a speech from head coach Willie Desjardins.
Sixty minutes after that speech, Desjardins was happy to see the streak end and for his team to finally come out on top after a close battle with the Blades.
“We’ve had lots of games where it was closer,” Desjardins said. “The Blades have won, and you have a certain quality when you win that you find because we had lots of close games, but winning teams find ways to win. And teams that aren’t winning, they find ways to let them go. So tonight, it was big because we let that go and then we took it back again, which was huge for us.”
The last time the Tigers beat Saskatoon before Tuesday, their two leading scorers from this long-awaited win were 11 years old, living it up in Osoyoos, B.C.
Markus and Liam Ruck led the Tigers’ scoring Tuesday, each tallying a pair of goals, with Markus adding two assists to Liam’s one. The elder twin Markus scored the game winning goal with 2:09 left in the contest. It was a night for the twins to share, leading offensively, Markus tabbed first star, Liam the second, all attention on the dynamic duo.
“Playing with Liam, it’s so much fun out there,” Markus said. “With Oasiz on the power play, he’s also fun to play with. It was great getting the opportunity to go out there with him. It was a fun night and we just have to keep going into this weekend.”
Ryder Ritchie opened the scoring with 1:48 left in the first, Markus scored on a power play in the second and Liam scored on a pair of man advantages in the second and early third as the Tigers led 4-2 after 41 minutes.
Saskatoon tied the game up with a penalty shot goal and a rush chance in a span of 2:07 to make it 4-4 at 15:23. That’s when the final Ruck stamp was placed on the game, with Markus scoring his second of the night as a power play expired to cap off the game.
Liam comes out of the contest as the Ruck household leader in points this season, with 10 goals and 16 points in 24 games. Markus isn’t far behind, six goals and 14 points in 25 games.
“This is a hard league and for us to get our chances and bury on them, it feels good, and we’re just happy we could do it,” Liam said.
Tuesday’s contest saw a shakeup in the lineup, with CHL leading score Gavin McKenna away at Canada’s World Junior selection camp. Medicine Hat was also missing Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll, who will be out until after the Holiday break with a lower-body injury.
Before McKenna departed, Desjardins called for players to step up to replace the lost offence. He had two very-similar looking rookies step up and take the reins for a night, not to the surprise of the bench boss.
“That’s so good for our future when you see that, those two, they’re going to be great players,” Desjardins said. “They’re going to be really, really good players down the road, so that’s exciting for us. They’ve come a long, long ways this year.
“They’ve come this far, because of how hard they work in the weight room. Obviously they have unbelievable skill, but the weight room gives them a chance to play.”
Andrew Basha scored on the empty net, adding to an assist on his night. Oasiz Wiesblatt had three assists, as did Bryce Pickford, making his return to the lineup after missing three games with injury.
“It’s nice to be back with my boys in the room,” Pickford said. “It definitely feels good, it’s hard watching up in the stands, so it felt good to get back.”
Tuesday night was also the WHL debut of the freshly signed Tyson Moss. The 17-year-old defenceman from the BCHL was slotted at forward alongside the Rucks to start the game.
He officially put pen to paper with the Tigers on Wednesday.
The Tigers are off until Friday, when they head to Moose Jaw to face the Warriors in the first of a three-in-three weekend to set up the holiday break. They’ll host Lethbridge on Saturday before heading down Highway 3 to face the Hurricanes on Sunday.
