NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Cubs goaltender Kayne Wright makes a breakaway save in the second period of the Jr. B Provincial final Sunday afternoon in Lloydminster against the La Crete Lumber Barons. The Barons won 7-2, capturing the provincial title.
Medicine Hat News
The Medicine Hat Cubs finished just one win short of provincial glory.
The Cubs fell 7-2 to the La Crete Lumber Barons Sunday afternoon in the Jr. B Provincial Championship hosted in Lloydminster. Medicine Hat was the first team to punch their ticket to Sunday’s final, winning their first three games of the tournament before losing 10-1 Saturday to the Vermilion Tigers in the final round robin game.
Head coach Trent Derzaph
“The boys battled hard, maybe we didn’t have the bounces that we needed, there was some opportunities there that we just couldn’t strike on,” Derzaph said. “They had a great team too.”
La Crete opened the scoring with a trio of goals in the last seven minutes of the first period.
At the end of a Cubs penalty kill, Dwayne Wieler capitalized on a turnover and scored for the 1-0 Barons lead.
Grayson Lapp scored on a shot from the slot with 5:41 left in the period and less than three minutes later, Drew Friesen scored for a 3-0 La Crete lead with 2:51 left in the period.
The Cubs responded with a pair from the captain.
Kyle Woolridge got the Cubs on the board just 11 seconds after the Barons made it a 3-0 game, Ethan Burgeson had the cross-ice pass and Hayden King had the second assist.
They made it a one-goal game on a late power play. Austin Derzaph fired a shot from the point that Burgeson got a stick on before it was stopped by La Crete’s Ethan Fetcher. The puck laid in the slot for Woolridge who knocked home his second of the game, making it a one-goal difference after 20 minutes.
The Cubs made a goalie change to start the second, Kayne Wright taking over for Marlo DeRosa who had seven saves in the opening frame. La Crete restored their three goal lead with a pair of early markers in the period.
Jonah Cardinal scored 1:28 into the period to make it a two-goal lead for the Barons and Friesen scored his second of the game for the 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.
The Cubs couldn’t find the back of the net in the third period, turned aside by Fetcher who finished with 30 saves. The Barons added a pair of goals with Jonah and Nolan Cardinal scoring for the 7-2 final.
Wright finished with 26 saves in the Cubs net.
Sunday’s provincial final loss is the final junior game for the Cubs’ overagers, Woolridge, Keynan Cairns, Austin Derzaph and Burgeson.
General manager Randy Wong is proud of how those over agers finished their time with the program.
”I’m proud of those overage guys for leaving the program in a pretty good position for the guys that return next year, Wong said. “There’s a good culture in that room and that’s something that we’re going to carry forward and that’s something the alumni and the older guys, the graduating guys, they all should be proud of that.”
The Cubs earned their spot in provincials after capturing their first Heritage Junior Hockey League title, sweeping the Red Deer Vipers after making their first appearance in the league finals.
(This story has been updated with postgame comments from head coach Trent Derzaph and general manager Randy Wong).
