NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Bryce Pickford dances the blue line with the puck in front of Lethbridge Hurricanes' forward Brayden Edwards in the first period of a 7-2 Game 2 win Saturday at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers find themselves in familiar territory from these playoffs with a new challenge ahead.
The Tigers head down the Highway 3 with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship series, beating the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-2 on Friday and 7-2 on Saturday for the advantage.
“These things don’t really happen if we don’t play four lines,” captain Oasiz Wiesblatt said following his two-goal effort Saturday. “We had all four lines and they have been really buzzing and creating energy, that’s a huge key point in the series where we can utilize all our players.”
The Tigers were able to take advantage of a busy playoff schedule the Hurricanes found themselves in with their Game 7 win over the Calgary Hitmen on April 23. They had one day off before Game 1 and all total, played three games in four nights. It was an advantage head coach Willie Desjardins says they knew they had to capitalize on.
“We knew coming in they were going to be tired and it’s something that it’s just the way it works,” Desjardins said. “If you can win in four, it helps you, so we talked about that (against Prince Albert). It was important for us and they had a tough series. They have a lot of character in that room, a lot of good guys and they’ll play well at home.
It’s the third series in a row the Tigers are up 2-0, carrying the same leads in the first and second rounds. They lost Game 3 in the first-round series with the Swift Current Broncos before winning in five games. They swept the Prince Albert Raiders after winning both their home games, and look to do the same as they head to Lethbridge. The Tigers also remain perfect on home ice these playoffs, running at 7-0.
They’ll look to carry momentum from the wins onto the road as they enter what is expected to be a hostile VistLethbridge.com Arena. The push for success will come down to quick starts, something they executed in Games 1 and 2.
“Especially going into their barn with their crowd, a quick start to take the crowd out of it early, it’ll be huge for us,” forward Gavin McKenna said. “When we’ve had good starts since, we’ve won games, so that’s key for us.”
McKenna knows a thing or two about carrying momentum; he extended his point streak to 51 games, the longest streak in the CHL in the 2000s, passing Alexander Radulov’s 50-game tally set in 2005-06.
“It’s super cool, I couldn’t have done it without so many of these guys,” McKenna said. “It’s not every year you get a group like this and get the opportunity to play with so many special players. So I have to thank the boys.”
The 17-year-old finished with five assists in the win Saturday. Bryce Pickford had two goals and two assists and Misha Volotovski had a goal and an assist. Harrison Meneghin picked up both wins, efforts that earned him his second-straight WHL goalie of the week nod.
He recorded a 1.69 goals against average and a .909 save percentage in the two wins against his former club. He was lifted in the middle of the third Saturday in a move Desjardins says was to give Jordan Switzer some looks and also give Meneghin the break before heading on the road.
They found success on special teams in Game 2 after going scoreless on four Game 1 power plays and also allowing a Hurricanes’ power play goal. The Tigers’ man advantage was 3-,5 featuring a half masked, half-caged Liam Ruck who missed the first shifts of the game after taking a puck to the mouth in warmups.
The Tigers are two wins away from their first trip to the WHL finals since capturing the franchise’s fifth title in 2007. A long road ahead beyond the curves of the single-lane Highway 3. Pickford says they’ll have to be calm and bring an ‘A’ game as they look to close things out on the road.
“It’s going to be pretty loud and the fans are going to be pretty loud, so we just have to go in there with a calm attitude and just be ready at the start of the game, because they’re going to come really hard,” Pickford said.
