Rebels’ win streak ends in 7-1 loss to Tigers
The Red Deer Rebels became the latest team to fall to the red-hot Medicine Hat Tigers in a 7-1 loss Friday at the Centrium.
Medicine Hat jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and didn’t look back on their way to ending Red Deer’s three-game winning streak.
STATS STORY
Ryder Ritchie (MH) – 3 goals, 2 assists
Gavin McKenna (MH) – 1 goal, 2 assists
Harrison Meneghin (MH) – 29 saves
Peyton Shore (RD) – 22 saves
HOW IT HAPPENED
Medicine Hat scored 1:26 into the game as Ritchie banked one in off of Shore for a 1-0 lead.
Josh Van Mulligen made it 2-0 when he scored on a pass in the slot from Ritchie. Liam Ruck made it 3-0 when he tipped home a pass from Gavin McKenna on a 5-on-3 Tigers power play.
Ritchie scored again on an early second period breakaway for a 4-0 Tigers lead.
Red Deer’s lone goal came a few minutes later when rookie Nolan Schmidt banked one in off Meneghin for his third goal of the season.
But Medicine Hat struck again when Hunter St. Martin scored a breakaway goal for a 5-1 Tigers lead through 40 minutes.
It wasn’t until the late stages of the third period when the Tigers would add two more goals. McKenna scored on a power play and Ritchie completed his hat trick on a delayed penalty situation for a 7-1 final score.
Red Deer outshot Medicine Hat 30-29 on the night but were 0-for-7 on the power play while Medicine Hat was 2-for-5.
THREE STARS
1. Ritchie (MH)
2. Meneghin (MH)
3. St. Martin (MH)
WHAT THEY SAID
Rebels head coach Dave Struch…
NOTES
Not dressed for the Rebels in this game were Chase Wutzke (upper), Parker MacDougall, Nishaan Parmar, Dmitri Toporowski and Jack Bousquet … Jaxon Fuder returned after missing 14 games with a hand injury … Jace Weir played his 271st regular season game – second most in Rebels team history among defencemen … Gleb Semenov now has three assists in his last four games for the Rebels … McKenna extended his modern day record WHL point streak to 36 games (80 points) … Ritchie’s hat trick was the first of his WHL career … The Rebels wore “Spongebob Squarepants” jerseys that were auctioned during the game as part of RE/MAX Presents: Nickelodeon Nights for Children’s Miracle Network … attendance for the game was 4,223.
NEXT UP
The Rebels finish their eight-game homestand tomorrow (Saturday) versus the Swift Current Broncos at 7 p.m.
