Tigers thump Hurricanes in season opener

By James Tubb

Southern Alberta Newspapers

The Medicine Hat Tigers opened their 53rd Western Hockey League season with a statement win Saturday night.

The Tigers scored nine unanswered goals to beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 9-1 at Co-op Place and start their season on a high note. Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins said it was a positive to start the year like they did and to do so in front of their fans.

“Those fans were so good to us last year, we didn’t score any, so it’s kind of nice to see them going in,” Desjardins said. “Everything went, last year nothing would go, this year lots went.  We’re going to have to keep working, they’re not all going to be like that. We got some breaks tonight but for tonight let’s enjoy it. The guys played hard, lots of good individual efforts and it’s exciting to get a win.”

The Tigers biggest individual performance came from top prospect Gavin McKenna, who had four assists in the win, his Western Hockey League debut. He said it was better than he had imagined.

“It wasn’t quite what I expected but it was nice,” McKenna said. “A big confidence booster for sure.”

Saturday’s win marked the first Tigers victory against their Highway 3 rival since May 2, 2021. The Hurricanes swept all eight games of the rivalry series last season.

It was the Hurricanes who got on the board first Saturday, with Brayden Edwards scoring on his first shot of the game. Medicine Hat took control after that and rattled off nine unanswered. That response was a changeup from their 11-win campaign last year as the Tigers fell behind early and lost a lot of their games. Desjardins said the early bounce back was a product of the Tigers efforts in practices.

“We’ve practiced way harder, way more intensity. If we don’t do a drill right guys go again and they do it hard,” Desjardins said. “There’s no complaining and it just carried over to the game. It’s good to see but it’s one game, lots of hockey left, lots of tough hockey left. We’ve got a young team so there’s going to be some trying games for us this year too.”

The Tigers answered back 2:05 after Edwards goal when a falling Oasiz Wiesblatt knocked in a pass from Andrew Basha for the Tigers first offence. Rhett Parsons had the second assist. On the power play 10 minutes later the Tigers struck again.

Defenceman Reid Andresen finished off a cross seam pass in-front of the net from McKenna to put the Tigers ahead and register the Whitehorse, Yuk. product’s first WHL point with the assist.

The Tigers added two more goals in the first with a top shelf goal from Basha, assisted by MacNeil and a goal from MacNeil which was assisted by Basha.

The 17-year-old Basha finished the night with a goal and two assists. He said the win says a lot about how the Tigers worked over the off-season to get better.

“It was huge for us, obviously after everything that happened last year, just for us to come out in front of all the fans and do it how we did it, I think that speaks a lot to how hard we’ve been working,” Basha said.

Much to the delight of the 2,629 Tigers faithful in attendance, the Tabbies kept the offence flowing in the second period. Bogdans Hodass scored 3:48 into the period with Oren Shtrom and Parsons picking up the assists. A mere 3:08 later Parsons added his own goal to bring his points total to a goal and two assists. McKenna had the lone assist on Parsons marker. Hodass’ goal chased Lethbridge starter Jared Picklyk from the game and he was replaced by rookie net minder Harrison Meneghin.

The Tigers scored two more times in the second period with both goals coming within a minute of each other. Wiesblatt picked up his second of the game with McKenna and Andresen notching the assists before Brendan Lee scored on a powerplay. Shtrom and Hodass had the assists on his goal.

The third period was quieter offensively as the Tigers only notched one goal. Tyler MacKenzie picked up a rebound from a McKenna shot and fired it home to cap off the Tigers 9-1 lead. Alex Drover, who joined the Tigers this season from the QMJHL, had the second assists on MacKenzie’s goal giving the 20-year-old his first WHL point.

After allowing the first goal of the game, Tigers net minder Beckett Langkow held his own in net and picked up the 25 save victory. The 19-year-old said the early victory is a good way to start the season and said he just mentally reset himself after the first goal.

“It feels really good, a great game by everybody in our lineup tonight, it was really good to see,” Langkow said. “I just try to reset after any goal, no matter what time of the game, it happens. So you just reset and just play my game for the rest.”