NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat U15AAA SEAC Tigers defenceman Theron Bensler moves to his right on the rush in the third period of their 5-1 win Friday morning against OHA Edmonton Varsity.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat U15AAA SEAC Tigers have put themselves in a strong position to start the 49th annual Hockey Hounds tournament.
The local club has started their tournament 2-0 after beating OHA Edmonton Varsity 5-1 Friday morning at the Kinplex and edging out the West Central Wheat Kings 4-3 Thursday night.
Head coach Mike Muller says they established their forecheck early Friday morning against Edmonton, leading to the win.
“The first five minutes were a little bit sluggish, the 11 a.m. start we’re probably not used to that a whole bunch,” Mueller said. “But establishing that forecheck and starting to cycle in the zone and do some good things offensively. That created momentum and we built off that.”
Theron Bensler had two goals in the win for SEAC with Ethan Hall, Carson Ward and Illya Khazov rounding out the scoring with a goal each. Hudson Corbett made 15 saves in the win.
“Our gap control was good with our defence and all five guys were connected in all three zones,” Mueller said. “We managed to establish momentum and keep it, and that was pretty big.”
Through the first two games of their tournament they have outscored their opponents 9-4. Friday night SEAC finished off their round robin against the St. George’s Hockey Academy in a battle for first place in the blue division. That game was not complete by time of press, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full game story.
St. George’s also won their first two games, outscoring their opponents 30-1 in their wins.
SEAC came into the tournament with a regular season record of 1-11-1 in Alberta Elite Hockey League action. Mueller says the difference from that record to their performance in the tournament is a commitment to their structure.
“We’ve got guys from a variety of background and the Alberta Elite Hockey League is a very good league,” Mueller said. “We’re understanding how we need to play and we’re cognizant of our structure and playing within that structure. That’s giving us opportunities to have some success.”
The last time a Medicine Hat team won the tournament was 1999 and their highest finish since 2008 was last year when they finished in fourth place. The Tigers have a few games ahead of them and a chance to change that history.
“It would be great (to win), the fans would be going wild,” Bensler said.
The Hockey Hounds tournament continues this weekend with early Saturday games at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m. at the Kinplex, Hockey Hounds and Family Leisure Centre, followed by the semifinals at 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. in the Kinplex.
Tournament awards will also be presented at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The final is slated for 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Kinplex.
Stay tuned into the News’ social medias for updates on the SEAC Tigers tournament games.
