NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Harrison Meneghin points to the sky before being mauled by teammates after making 21 saves in a 4-0 shut-out win to take Game 1 of the first-round series over the Swift Current Broncos. Meneghin's win, his first ever in the playoffs, comes five days after the unexpected passing of his father Derek.
On a night full of many bright lights for the Medicine Hat Tigers, none shined brighter than the one over Harrison Meneghin.
The 20-year-old net minder stopped all 21 shots he faced for his first WHL playoff win, picking up the 4-0 win over the Swift Current Broncos. It was Meneghin’s first start since the unexpected passing of his father, Derek, last weekend.
Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins was emotional postgame following the “surreal” game from his net minder. He wasn’t going to play Meneghin until the net minder asked to get between the pipes.
“His dad’s watching, it’s pretty special,” Desjardins said. “He’s had two huge games, it takes a lot. He asked to play, I wasn’t really going to play him, but he asked and I thought we owed it to him. I’m thinking of his mom and his family a lot, it was great to see him have a game like that. It’s a really, really tough situation.”
The Surrey, B.C. product backstopped the Tigers to a 5-2 win Sunday at Calgary over the Saddledome, clinching the Eastern conference and Central division title. It was postgame he learned of his father’s passing.
Meneghin held Swift Current at bay throughout Friday night, as the Broncos had a flurry of chances in the second period and a breakaway chance from a streaking Peyton Kettles out of the penalty box. As the clock wound down and the puck remained in the Swift Current end, Meneghin stood tall and when the buzzer sounded, marked the sign of the cross on his chest before he was mobbed by teammates.
Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt, who recorded a hat trick in the win, says players were crying as they embraced the start and the 5,458 in attendance serenaded Meneghin following the win.
“I’m super proud of him,” Wiesblatt said. “I know every guy in there is super proud of him.
“It shows a lot of really resiliency from him, it’s pretty incredible. There’s not a lot of words to put towards it, guys were crying after seeing him get that win. That was probably the most special thing I’ve ever been part of.”
The Tigers opened the scoring 2:11 into the game, sending the Medicine Hat faithful into a frenzy. Gavin McKenna intercepted a pass heading out of the Swift Current end and fed Wiesblatt at the side of the net for the easy tap-in goal. McKenna had the lone assist, giving him points in 41 straight games dating back to the regular season.
The Broncos had three power plays in the opening frame, both teams fired seven shots as Medicine Hat led 1-0. Desjardins says Game 1 showed it’s going to be a long series.
“That game could have gone either way,” Desjardins said. “Swift Current is a good team, one thing I take away from tonight is that this is going to be a hard, long series against a very good hockey team.”
Swift Current had more high-danger chances in the second period, but it was Meneghin who stood tall. The 20-year-old net minder moved side-to-side to keep his team ahead. Before the frame could expire, the Tigers’ capitalized on a turnover in the Broncos end.
A failed exit pass found the stick of McKenna who one-touched it to Wiesblatt. The Tiger captain deked around Bronco net minder Reid Dyck, falling as he scored on the open net for his second of the night. His goal gave the Tigers the 2-0 lead with 4:50 left in the middle stanza.
The Tigers made it a 3-0 lead just over the halfway point of the third period.
On a power play, Liam Ruck spun a pass to Wiesblatt who had the tap-in at the side of the net for the second time, scoring his third of the night. All hell broke loose after the goal as all 10 skaters on the ice broke off into a skirmish with the Tigers ahead 3-0 with 9:29 left in the frame. Desjardins says Swift Current is going to play physically and he says they need to respond with discipline.
“They’re going to come out of that way, that’s what they think they can do so that’s going to be part of their game plan,” Desjardins said. “We have to play hard, we have to be smart. But that’s part of the game.”
The Tigers iced the game late with an empty net goal from Bryce Pickford with 1:31 left in the game. McKenna was credited with an assist postgame.
Medicine Hat outshot the Broncos 27-21, winning the face-off battle 28-25. Swift Current had four scoreless power plays, Tigers went 1-4 with the man advantage. Swift Current head coach Taras McEwen was happy with his team’s efforts in the loss and looks for them to find more success with the man advantage.
“Some of the adjustments that we made in the intermissions I think created a few chances,” McEwen said. “We’re gonna be opportunistic, so you have to bear down and score on some of the chance that we had. The power play is an area we obviously have to be better, we just didn’t create enough or get enough possession. It’s going to be important in the series though, we’re gonna have to get some production from our power play.”
The Broncos will look to even up the series and Medicine Hat will look to take a 2-0 series lead as Game 2 returns to Co-op Place on Saturday night.
Meneghin was not available to speak post-game.
Game notes
Three starsFirst star: MH Harrison Meneghin (21-save shutout)
Second star: MH Oasiz Wiesblatt (three goals, game winning goal)
Third star: MH Gavin Mckenna (four assists)
