TIGERS BLOWOUT HURRICANES 7-2
The Tigers finished off the regular season with a bang. After dropping the previous night’s game in the third period, the Tigers came out with purpose and finished off the home and home series against the Lethbridge Hurricanes with an exciting 7-2 win in front of the home town fans. The win will give the Tigers a little extra confidence heading into their first round series against the Memorial Cup host Saskatoon Blades.
Boston Leier started the Tigers’ scoring at the midway point of the first period with a great move to beat the Hurricanes’ netminder. Logan McVeigh and Zach Hodder picked up the assists on Leier’s 18th of the season. The goal gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Matt Staples scored his second goal in two nights after being shutout of the goal column the previous 70 games. Chad Labelle picked up the helper on the goal. Curtis Valk made it a 3-0 game with his team leading 45th of the season. Hunter Shinkaruk and Dylan Bredo picked up the assists on the power play marker. Logan McVeigh increased the lead to four with a solo effort for his 19th of the year. The Hurricanes would get one back before the break though. Jamal Watson netted his 20th of the year to cut the deficit to 4-1. The Tigers would quickly reinstate the four goal lead as just over a minute later Hunter Shinkaruk potted his 37th of the season. It was another power play goal for the Tigers’ special teams. Curtis Valk and Dylan Bredo added to their game totals with the assists.
Lethbridge kept battling hard and scored their second of the night early in the third period. Reid Duke made it a 5-2 game with his eighth of the season. That would be as close as the Hurricanes would get though. Curtis Valk scored his second goal on the night on the power play to give him a three point night. Dylan Bredo and Hunter Shinkaruk would also pick up their third points with the assists. Gavin Broadhead would put the final nail in the coffin with his third of the season and the Tigers’ fourth of the night with the man advantage to give the Tigers a big 7-2 victory before heading into the postseason.
Cam Lanigan got the start in the regular season finale. He picked up his 23rd win of the season making 28 saves. Christopher Tai picked up the loss in the Hurricanes’ net. He allowed seven goals against on 44 shots.
On the power play the Tigers went 4 for 8, while killing off all five Hurricanes’ power play opportunities.
Earls Three Stars of the Night:
1) Curtis Valk – Medicine Hat Tigers
2) Hunter Shinkaruk – Medicine Hat Tigers
3) Jacob Doty – Medicine Hat Tigers
Insurance Brokers Association of Western Canada Insurance Goal of the Game – Logan McVeigh
The Tigers’ next game is Thursday, March 21st against the Saskatoon Blades at the Credit Union Centre. Game time is 7:05 PM (MST) and can be heard live on CHAT 94.5 FM at tigershockey.com or watched via webcast at livestream.whl.ca.
