NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs goaltender Tyler Wakelam squares up to make a save in the second period of his 20-save shutout, in a 3-0 win over the Okotoks Bisons on Jan. 19 at the Kinplex.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs are starting their HJHL playoffs with a new-look compared to the last three seasons.
The Cubs, who earned a first-round bye for the fourth year in a row, will start their push for the 14th title in franchise history, not at the friendly confines of the Kinplex, but instead on the road.
They will head to Strathmore on Saturday to face the Wheatland Kings for Game 1 of their best-of-five second-round series. For head coach and general manager Randy Wong, it’s a change he says doesn’t affect them, they always want to win the first game but now have the chance for a different kind of advantage.
“We’ve got to win a game there, that’s the mindset, I don’t care if it’s Game 1 or Game 3, you have to win a game,” Wong said. “So we go with the mindset that we’re going to try and get that first one, then look after our home ice accordingly and move on from there.”
The Cubs will host Game 2 on Sunday, a 3 p.m. contest at the Kinplex, before Game 3 heads back to Strathmore on Feb. 26. If needed, Game 4 would Feb. 28 at the Kinplex with a deciding Game 5 March 2 in Strathmore.
The two teams faced off five times in the regular season, with both teams winning on home ice. Strathmore won the first two matchups (4-2 on Oct. 26, 5-4 in OT on Dec. 7) before the Cubs rattled off two wins (3-1 on Dec. 13, 8-5 on Jan. 17). The Wheatland Kings won the final matchup of the season, beating Medicine Hat 7-3 on Feb. 7 to earn the home ice for the playoff series.
Wong says he likes the matchup between the clubs, seeing the losses resulting from mistakes as opposed to getting beat by Strathmore.
“We don’t feel like we gave up goals that were the wow factor from them, we felt that we made some errors and we can correct all that,” Wong said. “So we’ll look after our bit of it and we’ll be fine. We’re a confident group going into the series knowing that we just have to look after our type of play.”
With the series starting in a Strathmore rink that features Olympic-sized ice, larger than the Kinplex, the Cubs took their final two pre-series practices to the Big Marble Go Centre to get used to the larger surface.
“It’s a nice size and you have to use your speed,” forward Kyle Woolridge said. “It’s definitely a little bit harder on defence, you’re in your zone a little bit longer and it takes a little bit more energy. But when it’s the playoffs, you have to bear down and everyone here knows that.”
The Cubs enter the series with numbers behind them, sitting one point back of Strathmore in the standings but boasting the league’s top two scorers in Woolridge and forward Caleb Garrecht.
Woolridge tallied 49 goals and 79 points and Garrecht had 22 goals with 71 points, both playing in all 38 of the Cubs’ games. Both forwards had a shot at winning league awards, with the next closest goalscorer to Woolridge being 17 behind, and closest point total beyond Garrecht at 64.
Garrecht’s offensive numbers, impressive in their own light, were only magnified by the measly four penalty minutes he accumulated on the season.
Both fell just short in HJHL award voting, decided by the 13 GMs in the league. Garrecht finished in a tie for second for the most sportsmanlike award and Woolridge came second in league MVP. Both award winners came from the seven-team Northern division and the HJHL-leading Sylvan Lake Wranglers.
A pair of snubs in the eyes of the Cubs, but extra fuel on the fire as playoffs approach, Woolridge says.
“It doesn’t really matter to my seasons, it would have been really nice but I still had a great season,” Woolridge said. “And we have more to do here.”
The Cubs will lean on experience as the playoffs get underway, from four-year overage captain Callen Prosofsky to second-year net minder Tyler Wakelam. Wong is looking for his leaders, beyond Prosofsky and Wakelam, to lead by example as games tighten.
“They have to be the guys who want it more, they have to show the young guys that you know what playoff hockey is all about, because it is different,” Wong said. “We’ve talked about it where the energy level goes up, the intensity level is up and the stakes are higher.
“You don’t get a chance to redo if you falter too many times in playoffs. Sooner than later, it’s the last kick of the can when you’re done. So you have to make sure you look after what you need to early to give yourself the best chance.”
It’s a challenge that Prosofsky, who holds the Cubs’ all-time games played record, says he’s looking forward to in his last season of junior hockey.
“We’re looking forward to it, we just have to keep it simple, go back to our basics and just out-work the other team.”
