NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Andrew Basha celebrates his goal 54 seconds into Game 1 of the WHL Championship series on Friday at Co-op Place. The Tigers beat the Spokane Chiefs 4-1 for an early 1-0 series lead.
The Medicine Hat Tigers threw quite the welcome back Bash-a to kick off the WHL Championship series.
ForwardAndrew Basha scored in his first game since Dec. 28, 2024 as the Tigers beat the Spokane Chiefs 4-1 for an early 1-0 in the best-of-seven WHL finals.
Cayden Lindstrom, also made his return to the lineup for the first time since April 5, 2024, had an assist on Basha’s goal. Head coach Willie Desjardins liked his team’s early presence and what he saw from Basha and Lindstrom in the Tigers’ 11th straight win.
“It was really exciting scoring the first shift, that was about as they could start for sure,” Desjardins said. ” It’s going to be exciting have them in the lineup. They’re two real quality players, great skill. So it’ll be exciting. It’s really hard for them to come in having sat out as long as they have, so it’s pretty amazing they did as well as they did. It just shows how hard they did to get back and be in some kind of condition to come in and play.”
The Tigers kicked got things started early with Basha showing his presence.
Just 54 seconds into the game Hunter St. Martin picked off an exit pass from the Chiefs and setup Basha for a shot from the middle. The Calgary Flames prospect did not miss, scoring his first of the playoffs Lindstrom had the second assist, coming on his first shift. Basha was enamoured with the atmosphere inside Co-op Place, having electrified the 6,244 in attendance early in the night.
“The boys were talking about how loud it’s been but when we came out and saw the lights, I was just revving for that first shift,” Basha said. “That’s pretty lucky how that play happened, Lindy and Marty make great plays and I was able to find them back of the net, just a really fun night.”
The Tigers struck later in the frame. Gavin McKenna had the puck at the circles and he set up Bryce Pickford in the slot. He fired a laser past Dawson Cowan for the two-goal lead at 6:27. Jonas Woo had the second assist on Pickford’s eighth of the playoffs. McKenna’s assist extends his point streak to 54 games.
“Gav made an unbelievable play entering the zone, I didn’t think he was gonna find me, but he always does,” Pickford said. “It let me come down hill as the fourth guy, he found me and I scored.”
Spokane led the frame in shots 13-7. Chiefs’ head coach Brad Lauer didn’t like how his team played with the puck through the first 40 minutes.
“They’re a team that you got to make sure you’re managing, doing those little things to prevent their transition,” Lauer said. “In the second period, we turned the puck over too many times, but we were still in the game, we still hung around. In the third period, we came back, and I thought again, we got that power play goal which got us within one. They got an unfortunate bounce to get that third one, but played a much better third period. I think we understand what it’s about now. But overall it was just one game.”
Medicine Hat held the Chiefs at bay in the middle frame, with both Harrison Meneghin and Cowan making big saves. The Tigers led the frame in shots 12-9.
Spokane got on the board in the first five minutes of the third period, capitalizing on a power play.
The Chiefs broke in on Meneghin on a two-on-one and captain Berkly Catton finished the play off, beating the Tiger net minder to make it 2-1 4:44 into the period. Shea Van Olm and Brayden Crampton had the assists. It was the lone goal Meneghin allowed, making 36 saves in the busiest game he’s faced these playoffs.
“The bigger the game, the more he gets dialled in, so he’s been great for us,” Desjardins said about his netminder. “He’s gone through a lot and for him to be able to stay focused. All our guys are really excited for him when he makes saves and gets a win. So it’s a good feeling for us.”
Medicine Hat responded just 1:12 later off a face-off.
Ethan Neutens spun and fired a shot from the high circles that fooled Cowan, bouncing off his glove and stick and into the net for the 3-1 lead. Misha Volotovski and Kadon McCann had the assists.
Spokane pushed late, calling a time out with less than three minutes left with Cowan on the bench for the extra attacker. After a few attempts at the open net, the Tigers iced the game with 2:17 left on the clock as Tanner Molendyk scored an empty net goal from the red line for the 4-1 final and the 1-0 lead in the WHL Finals. McKenna had the lone assist for his second helper of the night.
Cowan finished with 18 save, Spokane outshot the Tigers 37-22. Medicine Hat went 0-2 on the power play, Spokane was 1-4. Both teams won 31 face-offs.
Game 2 goes Sunday at Co-op Place with a 7 p.m. puck drop. Lauer says their adjustments will start right away.
“When we go through the video as a staff and go through what we think we need to look at and break it down from there,” Lauer said. “We’ll meet with our guys tomorrow and show them the video and show them the things that we need to do going into Game 2.”
