NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Misha Volotovskii pumps his arm while leading the celebration train for the first of his two goals in the opening period of a 5-1 win Monday at Co-op Place over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, the Medicine Hat Tigers are on their way to the playoffs.
The Tigers became the first Eastern conference team to clinch a playoff spot, recording a fourth win in a row with a 5-1 win Monday afternoon over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
A matinee affair for the Tigers who blanked the Regina Pats 1-0 on Saturday in a stingy matchup where Jordan Switzer made 22 saves for his second shutout of the season. Niilopekka Muhonen scored 52 seconds into the second period for that win, a far different showing than Monday’s win.
The Tigers scored five straight times on Family Day, with Misha Volotovskii scoring twice in the first period, Ryder Ritchie adding a goal and three assists for his four-point game in his WHL career and both Oasiz Wiesblatt and Gavin McKenna also tickling twine.
“We had a lot of guys who stepped up,” Ritchie said after Monday’s win, his 150th WHL game. “We have injuries, they have injuries, but it was a playoff game. It was a fast game, very tight checking. But it was definitely nice to get that one and clinch that playoff spot.”
The Tigers were the first of three teams to clinch a playoff spot on Monday, with the Spokane Chiefs and Victoria Royals all joining the WHL-leading Everett Silvertips, with advanced tickets to the playoff dance.
“We’ve played more games, so it’s a little different for us,” head coach Willie Desjardins said about clinching the playoff spot. “But saying that, we’ve been getting better and that’s the key is you want to try to get better going into playoffs. I don’t think we gave up very much tonight, which is huge. (Harrison) Meneghin was really sharp in net, we’ve had really good goaltending.”
Meneghin made 20 stops on Monday for his 16th win of the season, first against his former club.
“We don’t give up a lot of shots, but sometimes we do and they are pretty high quality,” Meneghin said. “For me, it’s making those saves our team needs the most. It’s those saves where it could be 2-1 or 3-1 for us but instead it’s 4-0. So it’s just those momentum-saving saves.”
The Tigers have dusted themselves off following a mini three-game slide that followed their 12-game win streak. They’ve outscored opponents 14-4 in this four-game win streak and have put themselves at 14-1-1-1 since the Jan. 9 trade deadline.
“We’re just playing our game,” Volotovskii said. “That’s the biggest thing, and we’re really preaching the good habits. Because we need good habits come the playoffs.”
Desjardins has liked his team’s play since the deadline, beyond the near perfect record. He would love to see what a healthy Tigers team could do, a wish that isn’t going to come true for a while. The Tigers lost defenceman Jonas Woo after a second period fight in Saturday’s loss. He did not return to the game and was seen around Co-op Place with his right hand wrapped up.
He joins Bryce Pickford on the injured list, also suffering from a fight-related injury. Desjardins says the 18-year-old Woo will be out a while.
The Tigers, in front of the 5,018 in attendance on Monday, showcased a new goal song for the first time, with Volotovskii’s goal 1:55 into action letting the 1985 Simple Minds’ hit, ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ blast the airwaves inside Co-op Place.
The tune, made famous by the 1985 film The Breakfast Club, is also used by the Vancouver Canucks as their goal song. Ritchie says he, Meneghin and Mat Ward have all attended Canucks’ games in the past and felt the atmosphere the song can bring, and after a team vote, chose the song to play in Medicine Hat.
They’re hoping as goals pile up in Co-op Place, the Tigers fan base will jump onboard with the goal song and use it as a lightning rod in games.
“That’d be really cool to get the fans involved and chant a little bit,” Ritchie said. “We’d feed off it and the whole arena would feed off it. It’d be a cool experience for everybody, so I think we can make that happen.”
The Tigers, who remain first in the Central division and Eastern conference with a record of 37-16-3-1, are off until Friday when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings for the first of a three-in-three. They’ll also host the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday before heading to Edmonton on Sunday to wrap up the season series against the Oil Kings.
