Medicine Hat Cubs defenceman Parker Kienzle unleashes a shot in the third period of a 4-3 loss Sunday at the Kinplex to the Mountainview Colts.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Cubs had a tune-up weekend with their final regular season contests.
The South division champions beat the Okotoks Bisons 4-3 on Friday before losing on a late goal Sunday, falling 4-3 to the Mountainview Colts.
In Friday’s win, Keynan Cairns had a goal and an assist, and all three of Randen Collier, Ethan Burgeson and Makhi Carriere scored. Marlo DeRosa made 30 saves.
Against Mountainview, Jacob Hazzard and Nolan Sutherland each scored and had an assist, and Carson Kraft added a solo tally. Kayne Wright made 28 saves.
Head coach Trent Derzaph says they were missing parts of their lineup throughout the weekend that will be a game changer come playoffs. He says it was a weekend they needed before the postseason.
“I’m happy we got that momentum going again, and the boys are rolling again,” Derzaph said. “We’re short a couple guys this weekend and I’m proud the way some of the guys that haven’t been in the lineup quite as much this year came out and moved their feet and made things happen. We had a really good – excluding the loss today – really good weekend going into prepping for playoffs here.”
The Cubs finish the regular season with a 24-9-3 record, good for fourth in the league and first in the South, winning the division for the first time since 2001-02. Derzaph is proud of his team and how they played throughout the regular season.
“The things they’ve done this year, we went on that 14-game heater and that was a big thing for us,” Derzaph said. “We did struggle a little bit early in the new year here, maybe some bad habits more than anything. I think a lot of it was the stress of the guys thinking that they needed to keep this heater going. So, time to reset and be ready (for playoffs).”
Captain Kyle Woolridge had an assist in Friday’s win over Okotoks, his 146th game played for the Cubs. That appearance set a new franchise record for careers games played, reaching 147 after Sunday’s game. The 21-year-old finishes his HJHL career with 134 goals and 222 points, holding the team’s goals record and sitting second in total points.
The Cubs have a bye through the first round of the HJHL playoffs and await the winner of the best-of-three series between the Coaldale Copperheads and Okotoks Bisons that starts Wednesday.
Derzaph says they’ll use the extra week to rest up and get ready for the playoff push.
“There’s some bumps and bruises for sure and we’ve got to heal (those) guys up and have them ready,” Derzaph said. “It gives us an opportunity (for) maybe a little bit of team building in the next couple of weeks as well and get the guys together as a group and keep battling hard at every practice and be prepared.”
