TIGERS BEAT REBELS
Medicine Hat, AB — The Medicine Hat Tigers travelled north up the QEII to Red Deer to take on the Rebels at Westerner Park Centurium. The Tigers scored four unanswered goals after trailing 2-0 in last night’s affair to complete the 4-2 come from behind victory. Garin Bjorklund got tapped for the start again tonight, while Byron Fancy was between the pipes for the Rebs.
Byron Fancy had to be sharp out of the gate as Brayden Boehm and Lukas Svejkovsky got chances but the pride of Claresholm, Ab Byron Fancy stood his ground to keep it knotted up at zeros. Garin Bjorklund was tested a couple times as well but it remained scoreless until the 9:49 mark when Arshdeep Bains got his 6th of the season taking advantage of a Nick McCarry turnover to take the 1-0 lead. Corson Hopwo got called for tripping and Ben King made the Tigers pay ripping home a powerplay marker to make it 2-0.
The second period got off to a slow start, but tempers would flare as Oasiz Wiesblatt and Carter Anderson got into a fight right off the draw. Both players would receive 5 minute majors and game misconducts. Kamloops, BC native Ryan Chyzowski was the late man in on an odd man rush and drilled a loose puck passed Byron Fancy to bring the Tabbies to within 1. Noah Danielson and Joel Sexsmith squared off against each other only a 1:26 later in a spirited tilt. That would do it for scoring until there was 100 seconds left in the second period, when Tigers 2020 first round bantam pick Reid Andresen scored his first career WHL goal, beating the Red Deer tender, bringing the Tigers level.
Tigers get a early third period powerplay after Dallon Melin got called for tripping. Lukas Svejkovsky beat Fancy but couldn’t beat the post. Tigers would get the go ahead goal moments after the Red Deer penalty expired when Corson Hopwo scored his team leading 13th goal of the season. Cole Clayton finds the loose puck on an odd-man rush for the Tigers and nets his 7th goal of the season, Clayton leads all WHL defencemen in scoring. Another skirmish broke out after a big Daniel Baker hit. Red Deer took the extra penalty for instigating. Tigers make the Rebels pay again as Brett Kemp makes no mistake putting home the backhand to add some extra insurance.
With the win tonight, Tigers Head Coach and General Manager Willie Desjardins earns his 375th career win behind the bench with the Orange and Black, which brings him into a tie for 1st all time in franchise history. Desjardins will look to capture the record on Monday evening when the Tigers play host the Rebels for their 5th meeting of the season. Puck drop is 7:00pm.
