Hurricanes Drop Lopsided Decision to Tigers in Regular Season Finale
Medicine Hat, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended the regular season on Saturday with a 10-1 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers at Co-op Place.
The ‘Canes, who were locked into the fourth-place position in the Eastern Conference standings, did not dress four regulars as Brayden Yager, Logan Wormald, Miguel Marques and Jackson Unger did not play for the Hurricanes. Medicine Hat had a full compliment and they jumped out to a great start after their annual awards ceremony prior to the game as they struck to open the scoring just 4:29 into the game with a power play goal by Liam Ruck who tapped home his 24th goal of the season to make it 1-0; Gavin McKenna earned an assist to extend his record-setting point streak to 39-straight games while Bryce Pickford had the other helper on the goal. The Tigers doubled their lead less than three-minutes later when McKenna deflected a Veeti Vaisanen point shot through the legs of Koen Cleaver to make it 2-0 with his 38th goal of the season. Before the period was out, the Tigers scored again on a two-on-one when Hunter St. Martin ripped a shot short-side for his 38th goal to make it a 3-0 Medicine Hat lead after one period of play; Oasiz Wiesblatt and McKenna picked up the helpers on the goal. The Tigers outshot the Hurricanes 16-5 in the first period.
The Hurricanes got on the board early in the second period when Jordan Gustafson scored his sixth goal in just eight games with the ‘Canes this season snapping one through the legs of Harrison Meneghin to make it a 3-1 game just 34-seconds into the period; the goal was unassisted while four-on-four. At the 4:03 mark, Mathew Ward scored to restore the three-goal Tigers lead with his 18th of the season – and first of two in the period – to make it 4-1. Medicine Hat struck again just 1:42 later when Vaisanen snapped home his third goal of the year to make it a 5-1 game before Ward potted his second of the game to make it 6-1. Late in the period, Liam Ruck netted his second goal of the game to hit the 25-goal mark with a floater over the blocker of a screened Cleaver to open a 7-1 lead after forty minutes of play. Medicine Hat outshot Lethbridge 15-7 in the second period.
In the third period, the Tigers added three more goals. Medicine Hat made it an 8-1 game with a shorthanded goal by McKenna who wired a shot over the glove of Cleaver for his 39th of the season – and second of the night; Hunter St. Martin earned the lone assist on the goal. Ryder Ritchie scored at the 12:54 mark potting his 29th goal of the season as McKenna and Jonas Woo picked up the helpers on that goal to make it 9-1 before another shorthanded goal by St. Martin to round out the scoring to make it a 10-1 final.
Medicine Hat outshot Lethbridge 43-19 in the game. The Hurricanes went 0/7 on the power play while the Tigers were 1/4 on the man advantage.
Three stars of the game were the Tigers three overagers:
1) Tigers – #7 Oasiz Wiesblatt
2) Tigers – #10 Mathew Ward
3) Tigers – #35 Harrison Meneghin
The loss for the Hurricanes ended their regular season schedule with a record of 42-21-3-2 on the season. Lethbridge ended the season with a 25-7-2-0 record at home and a 17-14-1-2 record on the road as they finished the season with a 12-3-1-1 record in their final 17 road games. The ‘Canes finished the season with a 3-4-1-0 record against Medicine Hat this season.
Lethbridge will open the first-round of the WHL Playoffs on Friday, March 28th at 7:00pm with Game 1 and Saturday, March 29th at 6:00pm with Game 2 at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Yates Memorial Theatre or VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
