NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Marcus Pacheco points to the crowd just before hats start to fly after recording his first career WHL hat trick, propelling the Tigers in an 8-1 win Friday at Co-op Place over the Red Deer Rebels.
The Medicine Hat Tigers had a lot of reasons to celebrate Friday night.
The Tigers topped the visiting Red Deer Rebels 8-1, recording a third-straight win and the 500th career win for head coach Willie Desjardins.
With the win, he becomes the 12th member of the WHL’s 500-win club. The WHL franchise’s winningest coach was modest after the game, just happy his team picked up the victory.
“I’ve had lots of fun here, and it’s been a great place,” Desjardins said. “I can’t say enough about the city and I really do thank the fans for everything, and I thanks the Masers.”
See Tuesday’s News for a feature on the milestone win for Desjardins.
The Tigers were propelled to the historic win by Marcus Pacheco’s first career WHL hat trick and Harrison Meneghin’s 12 saves in his first game since Nov. 20. Medicine Hat came into the game off a 7-4 win Wednesday at home over the Prince Albert Raiders.
“This is huge for the team,” Pacheco said. “The mentality going into the late second half. The boys are really pumped and going into Edmonton tomorrow, it’ll be awesome.”
Pacheco scored twice in the span of 1:23 in the second period before potting the hat trick with 58 seconds left in the game, bringing him up to six goals on the season. Desjardins was just as happy to see the 19-year-old get his milestone.
” It’s really great to see him score, he’s come in and we’re going to need him in a role like that so it’s good to see him produce,” Desjardins said. “He’s never complained, right from the start of the year, he’s taking whatever role we give him and he just gives us his best.”
Meneghin had been out of the lineup since Nov. 20 with a lower body injury, leaving Jordan Switzer to handle the starters load between the pipes. In his first game back, the 20-year-old Meneghin wasn’t tested much but felt like he started to shake the rust off.
“I was felt good in the net and got some confidence back,” Meneghin said. “I’m just excited for the rest of the season, my body is feeling good.”
The Tigers opened the scoring with a pair of goals in a span of 50 seconds in the first period.
They got on the board at 13:29 with a wrist shot from the top of the circles, on the bench side, from Bryce Pickford. Ryder Ritchie and Gavin McKenna had the assists on Pickford’s 18th, keeping him atop the WHL defencemen scoring list. McKenna’s assist extends his point streak to 16 games.
They struck 50 seconds later with another defenceman finding twine. Tanner Molendyk blasted a laser from the top of the circles on the opposite side from Pickford, scoring his first as a Tiger. Kadon McCann and Markus Ruck had the assists on his fifth of the season.
A skirmish broke out late in the frame after a hit from defence man Niilopekka Muhonen on Rebels’ forward Karan Lind along the boards in the Medicine Hat end.
While all 10 skaters pushed and shoved, Tigers’ net minder Harrison Meneghin skated to centre ice to meet Rebels’ Chase Wutzke for a fight. Both goaltenders dropped their gloves and helmets but were stopped by the officials. Meneghin says he’s never spoken to Wutzke before and he says the moment took over.
“Sometimes you have respect for other good goalies in the league, he wanted it, I saw him at the red line, so I had to respect that,” Meneghin said. “Obviously I don’t really want to do that again. But it’s something that will be a good memory that I’ll look back on now I think I got that got that out of the way.”
Medicine Hat led the game in shots 10-6 after 20 minutes.
Red Deer cut the Tiger’s lead in half to start the second period. Nolan Schmidt had a tap-in at the side of the net that snuck past the toe of Meneghin and into the net for his first career WHL goal. Jaxon Fuder and Talon Brigley had the assists.
Medicine Hat rattled off a pair of goals in a span of 1:23.
On a penalty kill, the Rebels fired the puck down into the Tigers’ end. Meneghin left his net and sent the puck to McCann at the blue line. The 17-year-old forward skated on a two-on-one with Marcus Pacheco, feeding the 19-year-old for the short-handed goal at 8:35.
It was Pacheco who struck next, scoring a one-timer in front of the crease off a pass from McKenna to make it 4-1 Medicine Hat. Muhonen had the second assist on Pacheco’s second of the night.
The Tigers struck last in the period, with a flurry of chances. With a loose puck around Wutzke, Jonas Woo fired a shot that Hunter St. Martin knocked out of the air before it found the back of the net with 55 seconds left in the period. Mat Ward had the second assist on St. Martin’s team-leading 26th of the season.
Medicine Hat kept the momentum flowing in the third. Red Deer had a new goaltender in net, with Matthew Kondro taking over for Wutzke who finished with 19 saves. Kondro finished with 15 saves.
Just 2:21 into the final frame Ethan Neutens fired a shot from the high slot that found the back of the net. Carter Cunningham and Veto Väisänen had the assists on his third of the season.
Just over four minutes later, after sustained pressure in the Red Deer end, a failed lacrosse-style goal from Ritchie turned into a tap-in goal for Wiesblatt at 6:52. McKenna had the second assist on Wiesblatt’s 18th.
The Tigers rounded out the game with hats flying from the 3,712 in attendance. With less than 52 seconds left in the game, Pacheco was sent on a breakaway and scored his first career WHL hat trick. Ward and Meneghin had the assists on Pacheco’s sixth.
“It was great,” Pacheco said on the hat trick. “It felt awesome with the help of the three guys, all separate assists, so that was nice. I wouldn’t have done it without them.”
Both teams were 0-4 on the power play, Medicine Hat finished with the two shorthanded goals from Pacheco, they also won the face-off battle 29-25. The The Tigers finished with six multi-point nights, with Pacheco’s hat trick and a trio of assists from Gavin McKenna leading the way. Ritchie, Meneghin, Ward and McCann all had two assists.
The Tigers (23-15-2) are on the road to Edmonton on Saturday to face the Oil Kings, looking for their first four-game winning streak of the season. It’s be a home game for the Edmonton kid Pacheco, one he says will be a battle for the Tigers.
“It will be a hard game for sure,” Pacheco said. “Every game against them is a good one and they’re not going to be taken lightly.”
