NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers captain Oasiz Wiesblatt celebrates his hat trick goal and 100th point of the season, capping off a 7-3 win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Red Deer Rebels.
The Medicine Hat Tigers were flying on the jersey and the ice Saturday night.
Donning retro jerseys throwing back to the early 2000’s, the Tigers’ beat the Red Deer Rebels 7-3 at Co-op Place for their eighth win in a row.
They were led by a career night for Gavin McKenna, who had his third hat trick of the season, adding four assists for a seven-point night. Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt also racked up the points with a hat trick and two assists, with an assist to be added from Friday’s win, gives him 100 points on the season.
They become the Tigers’ first 100-point duo in a single season since 1990-91.
“Oasiz and Gavin have a lot of chemistry between the two of them, they’re really dangerous,” head coach Willie Desjardins said. “They were really dangerous in the third in Lethbridge, so it’s great to see both those guys do so well, and they both really deserve it.”
Medicine Hat overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period Friday to win 6-5 in OT at Lethbridge over the Hurricanes.
The Tigers kicked off an explosive first period in the first 10 minutes, much to the delight of the 5,645 in attendance.
Defenceman Tanner Molendyk scored at the 8:18 mark for the 1-0 lead. McKenna and Wiesblatt had the first of their assists. McKenna’s helpers extended his point streak to 38 games, surpassing Sidney Crosby’s 37-game streak from 2004-05 as the second-longest in the CHL since 2000-01. Wiesblatt’s assist on Molendyk’s eighth extends his point streak to 10 games.
The Rebels tied the game up 5:18 later with a net-front redirection from Matthew Gard. He knocked in a corner pass from Jake Missura for the tie. Medicine Hat then rattled off three unanswered in the frame for the 4-1 lead after 20 minutes.
McKenna chipped a puck up and over a diving Peyton Shore for his first of the night, Wiesblatt and Ryder Ritchie had the assists, making it 2-1 at 15:19.
Just 2:06 later, Wiesblatt scored off a cross-ice pass from McKenna for his 34th of the season. Josh Van Mulligen had the assist, giving him points in four straight games.
Before the period could end, on a power play, McKenna threw a seeing-eye shot towards the net that found twine, putting Medicine Hat ahead 4-1. Molendyk and Bryce Pickford had the assists on his second of the night. Pickford made his return to the lineup Saturday after missing 14 games with an upper-body injury.
After a four-point first period, McKenna says he felt a big ninth coming.
“Our team played pretty well, for my success, it was pretty good,” McKenna said. “But to see Oasiz get the 100 points, he’s one of those guys that we just love him so much. So when he has a night like that, it’s pretty special.”
Red Deer opened the scoring in the middle frame.
Rebels’ captain Ollie Josephson strolled into the Tigers’ end with the puck and fired it on net, beating starter Harrison Meneghin with a shot that bounced off his glove and into the net. Josephson’s 14th made it a 4-2 game 4:45 into the middle stanza.
McKenna sent hats flying for the third time this season, doing so on shorthanded.
In the dying seconds of a penalty kill, Mat Ward chipped a puck out of the Tigers’ end past defenders for the streaking McKenna who scored his third of the night and 37th of the season. Ward’s assist gives him 250 points in his WHL career.
The Rebels struck last in the frame, with Gard showing off more of his stick skills in front of the net. He tipped in a shot from Jaxon Fuder to make it a 5-3 game with 3:22 left in the frame.
The Tigers led 5-3 after 40 minutes, with Red Deer ahead in shots 19-17. They added a pair of power play goals in the third period to cap off the milestone night.
Wiesblatt scored with 4:33 left in the game on a tic-tac-toe play for his 100th career WHL goal. Liam Ruck and McKenna had the assists. The Tigers’ captain reached the 100-point plateau on the season after re-directing a shot from McKenna on a power play, sending hats flying for the second time. Pickford had the second assist on Wiesblatt’s 36th.
The 20-year-old Wiesblatt entered the weekend nine points away from the milestone. He was looking forward to that moment, reaching the century mark, since training camp.
“At the start of the year, I had a goal in mind to to showcase myself and what I can do and it’s been great,” Wiesblatt said. “I couldn’t thank my teammates enough and my coaches, they’ve honestly done everything for me.”
Meneghin finished with 28 saves for his 21st win of the season, Shore recorded 19 stops. The Tigers were outshot 31-26 but won the face-off battle 38-22. They went 3-5 on the power play, holding Red Deer scoreless on two man advantages.
Saturday night also saw head coach Willie Desjardins get honoured pre-game by WHL commissioner Dan Near, receiving a commemorative plaque for his 500th career win as head coach.
“It was really great of the league to come down and it was pretty special in front of these fans,” Desjardins said. “I do always want to thank people, like the Masers have been so good to me to give me a chance here and the fans have been unbelievable.”
The Tigers (44-17-3-1) remain in first place of the Eastern conference and are off until Saturday when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
They will again don the retro ‘flying Tiger’ jerseys and also hold their awards ceremony pre-game. McKenna is looking forward to wearing them again and hopes they can keep the retro jerseys moving into next season.
“I would love for them to be our third jersey,” McKenna said.
