TIGERS DROP 3-1 DECISION TO REBELS IN FIRST LOSS AT HOME IN 2024
Medicine Hat, AB – A tight defensive match-up proved to be costly for the Medicine Hat Tigers as they fall 3-1 to the Red Deer Rebels Friday night.
The Rebels would be the lone goal scorers from the opening period as Kalan Lind would re-direct a Hunter Mayo point shot past Tigers starter Ethan McCallum (Brandon, MB) at 12:46 to give Red Deer the 1-0 lead. Despite three power play opportunities the Tigers could not solve Rebels starter Chase Wutzke and out shot the Rebels 12-10 but would trail by that 1-0 score heading to the 2nd period.
Into the middle frame another tight-knit period would only one goal again by the visiting Rebels as Ollie Joesphson would follow up a rebound beating Ethan McCallum at 9:14. Pushing the Tigers deficit to 2-0 against the Rebels heading to the third.
Both clubs would be in a log jam when it cam to scoring opportunities but the Tigers would make it interesting on their 5th power play of the night Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, YT) would bury his 18th of the season past Chase Wutzke for the Tigers first goal of the contest from Shane Smith (Cessford, AB) at 16:29. Despite the extra effort with the goalie pulled, the Tigers would not draw even as Kai Uchacz would finish things off at 18:46 allowing the Rebels to skate away with their second straight win against the Tigers in the season series.
With the loss the Tigers drop their record to 27-14-2 and just have a narrow three point lead heading into the remainder of their three-in-three stretch against Regina & Brandon.
The Tigers will be back in action Saturday night in Regina to take on the Pats for the third time this season.
