Sunday 27 September 2015

Tigers Down Canes 5-3 in Re-Match

The Medicine Hat Tigers returned the favour Saturday night, beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes is the first-ever Western Hockey League game in the new Canalta Centre.

After the Canes took it to the Tigers on Friday, Medicine Hat was fired up for this game, especially in front of a crowd of nearly 6000 people. The Tigers got the scoring started 6:14 into the game when Max Gerlach scored on a power play to make it 1-0 for the home side. The Tigers added to their lead less than 40 seconds later when Mark Rassell scored to quickly make it 2-0.  The Tigers weren't done there. They'd make it 3-0 with another power play goal when David Quenneville snapped one home. That was it for Stuart Skinner who allowed those three quick goals. Jayden Sittler came in after that, but the Tigers got to him early too. Less than 90 seconds later another power play goal, this one from Cole Sanford. That put the Tigers up 4-0 through 20 minutes of play.

In the second, the Hurricanes got one of those back. Tyler Wong scored his 3rd goal of the season at the 14:41 mark to cut the Tigers lead to 5-1 through 40 minutes.

In the third, Medicine Hat regained its four goal lead when Trevor Cox scored late into an empty net. Just prior to that the Hurricanes had a goal called back. Lethbridge did get two late goals in this game as well. Brayden Burke scored his first of the year to cut the lead to 5-2 and then with 16 second left Russian Egor Babenko notched his first-ever WHL goal to make it a 5-3 game that it the way things would end.

The shots in this game were even at 30-30 for each team. The loss drops their early season record to 1-1. The Hurricanes went 0 for 4 on the power play while the Tigers finished the night 3 for 6. The Canes I don't think were ready for the Tigers in this game, especially with all the hype surrounding the opening of the Tigers new arena.

The Hurricanes are off now until Saturday (Oct. 3) when they travel to Cranbrook to take on the Kootenay ICE. They'll be back home Sunday (Oct. 4) to host the WHL Champions from last season, the Kelowna Rockets.

Thanks,
Pat

9 comments:

  1. I guess if you spent all that dough on a new arena, you have to take steps to make sure that the home team wins the first one.

    Maybe the Tigers maybe could have won this one fairly, but guess we will never know, and really, why take the chance?

    When you just have to win in your new arena, what do you do?

    You make sure that one of the two refs is from the home town, then you bring in the "always monitoring" commissioner to make sure that the home grown Shlenker calls the first 4 penalties in a row against the opposition so the home team can generate some underserved momentum and play 5 on 4 for 9 out of the first 10 minutes of the hockey game. The Tigers were fired up already, they really didn't need the charity man advantage for half the first, did they?

    You couldn't get a fair game in the old smelly rink, and the officiating in this one looks like it will stink just as bad.

    To prematurely end the first Canes powerplay, the roughing call on Nielsen was laughable, even by the low standards of officiating I have come to expect from the WHL.

    Come on Robison, don't you enjoy a fair hockey game?

    Noel Fairgamther

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  2. Totally agree with you. Couldn't have said it better Myself. I was thinking the Same thing Watching the Game.

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  3. All four officials were from Medicine Hat.

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  4. What was the league thinking by giving permission (I'm assuming they did) to allow the Medicine Hat Tigers to hold a 40 minute .....yes 40 minute delay to the game with their opening ceremony? Video entry was too long, player introductions were too long, the special tribute to Bob Ridley was fine and deserved, but the kicker was that corny excuse for a marriage proposal that went on far too long. Did the league really give the Tigers permission? No wonder the Canes were flatter than a IHOP pancake.

    RJS

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  5. I agree with all of you. The reffing was very suspect. The opening ceremonies were way too long. Sittler should have got the start.

    Even given all that, once things settled down the Canes proved that Friday's 5-1 win was not a fluke. This team is miles ahead of any team we have had the last 4 or 5 years. The structure and positional discipline on Friday was a thing of beauty. We saw some of that on Saturday, but by the time the Refs ruined the game, 4-0 was too much to overcome.

    This years team should be in the mix for a playoff spot, and next years team will be a force in the playoffs.

    canesrock

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  6. A quick correction to the end of your article Pat. The Hurricanes play in Kootenay on Saturday, October 3 and then host Kelowna on Sunday, October 4. We don't want anyone showing up Saturday to find no game is on.

    -cc

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  7. Thanks cc. All fixed. Typo on my part.

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  8. Yikes F Calen Addison of the midget AAA Brandon Wheat Kings underwent successful surgery on Sunday to repair a broken fibula and a ligament tear near the bottom of the leg. The Lethbridge Hurricanes selected the 5-foot-9, 160-pound Addison second overall in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. He was injured on Friday. . . . Peter Anholt, the Hurricanes’ general manager, told Taking Note via Twitter that “the growth plate at the knee shows Calen will grow five more inches. LOL!”

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    1. Did this happen after he was sent back or in Hurricanes training camp? Wow, that sounds painful and with a looooong recovery time.

      LaRon

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