TIGERS WIN BATTLE OF THE BEST
Prince George, BC — It was a heavy weight fight on Wednesday night as the WHL leading Prince George Cougars welcomed the Tigers to the CN Centre. The Cougars came into the game on a 7 game unbeaten streak and a league high 28 points. The Tigers however were also on their own momentum, having won the first two games of their road trip and 3 days off on the road to bond and build chemistry. Their chemistry showed on the night as the Tigers would battle their way to a 6-4 victory.
Prince George would open the scoring 2 minutes into the game as Jared Bethune found a hole in Nick Schneider and buried his 6th of the season unassisted. The home side would try to intimidate the smaller Tigers with a physical game and attempted to get the Tigers to head to the box. Medicine Hat would be disciplined which would pay off when Max Gerlach potted his 10th of the year to tie the game at 1. Gerlach was in the right place at the right time towards the side of the net as a turnover went tape to tape and Gerlach sniped high glove for the goal. The Tigers did take a penalty towards the end of the period but Steven Owre turned the disadvantage into a shorthanded goal, just his 2nd of the season finishing a nice pass from Chad Butcher. The Tabbies would take a 2-1 lead into the break.
In the Tigers net, Nick Schneider was incredible as he started his 9th straight game. Schneider was busy in the final 40 minutes, especially in the second period making some point blank saves to keep the Tigers in it. Zach Fischer added to the lead on the power play scoring off a tic-tac-toe goal setup by Mason Shaw and Owre. The 3-1 lead would hold until towards the end of the period. A broken play ended up with a wide open Justin Almeida who found Sam Ruopp at the top of the circle, he did not get much wood on the shot but the puck fluttered past a lunging Schneider to cut into the lead. Medicine Hat held the one goal lead into the intermission.
In a high scoring and physical third period the fans in attendance were shown a hard style of hockey by both teams. The pace of play was high as guys were giving everything they had every shift, identical to what 1st place teams should be. The Tigers power play, ranked 1st in the WHL, struck early in the third period. David Quenneville released a low one timer which went through the legs of a Cougars defender and then through the legs of Cougars starter Ty Edmonds to extend the lead to 4-2. Fischer, who had a great second half of the game potted his second of the night at 10th of the season wristing a shot bar down to continue to pull away with a 5-2 lead. Unfortunately for Schneider and the Tigers, Prince George is in first place for a reason and they started to mount a comeback. Import Yan Khomenko scored a beauty of a goal as he seemed to have the puck on a string to net his 6th of the season. Khomenko’s goal was followed by a Jesse Gabrielle power play goal, his 7th of the year, to cut the Tiger lead to 5-4. Play would be frantic as the fans who stayed were on their feet for the final minutes. But an unselfish play by Matt Bradley at the defensive blueline sent John Dahlstrom away with an empty net as the Cougars pulled Edmonds for the extra attacker. Dahlstrom made no mistake and sealed the game for Medicine Hat, winning their 3rd game on the road trip and snapping Prince George’s 7 game unbeaten streak.
TIGERS STAT LINES:
- Matt Bradley – 1A
- Zach Fischer – 2G
- Steven Owre – 1G, 3A
- John Dahlstrom – 1G
- Max Gerlach – 1G
- Mason Shaw – 1A
- David Quenneville – 1G
- Chad Butcher – 2A
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
- Steven Owre – MH – 1G, 3A
- Jared Bethune – PG – 1G, 2A
- Nick Schneider – MH – 36 saves, W
Medicine Hat is off on Thursday as they travel to Kamloops to face off against the Blazers on Friday night before ending their road trip in Kelowna on Saturday night.
