Tigers remain kings of the tiebreaking shootout

Raiders fall in fast-paced heartbreaker

The Tigers mob Brett Kemp (#21) after his shootout winning goal.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – It was a game where both sides deserved to win.
    On Saturday night, 2,577 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre saw the WHL at its best as the defending WHL champion and host Raiders went toe-to-toe with the Medicine Hat Tigers in a high paced back-and-fourth affair, where both teams transitioned quickly up and down the ice.

    The two sides exited regulation and a five minute three-versus-three overtime session locked in a 3-3 tie, which forced them to go to a tiebreaking shootout.

    In the shootout, captain James Hamblin and star right-winger Brett Kemp scored for the Tigers to give them a 2-1 victory in the tiebreaking session and a 4-3 overall victory in the game.

Brett Kemp scored the shootout winning goal for the Tigers.

    Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt, who had two assists in regulation, scored the Raiders goal in the shootout.

    The Tigers improved to a WHL best 5-1 in shootouts this season and upped their regular season record to 30-14-1-1. The Raiders fell to 1-4 in shootouts and saw their regular season record move to 24-14-5-4.

    Kemp was the final player to take shot in the shootout, and Tigers offensive defenceman Daniel Baker said his club was thankful Kemp’s shot found the back of the net.

    “It was just relief,” said Baker. “You don’t like it to come down to one shot.

    “Mads (Sogaard) has made some big saves for us and Jimmy (James Hamblin) and Kemper netted some big goals, so it was good.”

Ozzy Wiesblatt had a pair of assists for the Raiders on Saturday.

    With Prince Albert having downed the WHL Eastern Conference leading Edmonton Oil Kings 3-2 at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday night, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was fine with how things played out for his club.

    “It was a good weekend,” said Habscheid. “We accomplished a lot of things.

    “We got our identity back. We got our foundation in place. They beat us in the skills contest tonight, so it is all good.”

    The Tigers opened the scoring 52 seconds into Saturday’s tilt as right-winger Corson Hopwo zipped down the right side of the Raiders zone and slipped in a close in shot past Raiders netminder Max Paddock. Hopwo scored on the Tigers first shot of the game.

Daniel Baker had a goal and an assist for the Tigers on Saturday.

    Just over two minutes later, the Raiders returned the favour scoring on their first shot of the game with left-winger Matthew Culling netting his sixth of the season.

    Culling had an assist to go along with his goal in a real spirited effort on Saturday.

    “He does a lot of the hard work,” said Habscheid. “He goes to the net.

    “He forechecks. He can kill penalties and play power play. He just plays the right way.”

    Before the opening frame ended, the Raiders jumped ahead 2-1 when defenceman Landon Kosior fired home a point shot through a screen on the power play.

    Kosior scored on the second part of a power play that was created when Kemp was given a double minor penalty for high sticking. 

Matthew Culling had a goal and an assist for the Raiders on Saturday.

    Kemp’s penalty will automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    The two clubs continued to blitz up and down the ice in the second, but the only goal came when Baker fired home a point shot through a screen to even the score at 2-2 with 2:37 remaining in the frame.

    Baker, who had an assist to go with his goal on Saturday, is having a breakout season as an 18-year-old sophomore. In 45 regular season games with the Tigers, the Edmonton, Alta., product has 11 goals, 22 assists and a plus-32 rating in the plus-minus department.

    As a rookie last season, Baker had two goals and 15 assists appearing in all of the Tigers 68 regular season games.

    “He (Baker) has been big,” said Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins. “He has certainly put up bigger numbers than last year.

Kyle McNabb had two assists for the Tigers on Saturday.

    “I think he is a guy that he always seems to find his spot to jump in the rush or do whatever. Our whole defence is good. I thought all the guys played hard.”

    Baker said he has found a higher comfort level on the ice playing through his second full season in the major junior ranks.

    “It has been really good so far,” said Baker. “The puck is going in the back of the net.

    “Our forwards do a good job of getting to the net, so it has been good.”

    Just 1:58 into the third, the Tigers jumped back out in front 3-2. Entering the Raiders zone with speed on a rush, Tigers right-winger Kyle McNabb fed a pass across the front of the Prince Albert goal to linemate Nick McCarry, who knocked home his eighth goal of the season to give the visitors the lead.
    The assist was McNabb’s second helper of the contest.

Kaiden Guhle scored the third period equalizer for the Raiders.

    The Raiders didn’t goal away. With 7:34 remaining in the third period, Raiders offensive defenceman Kaiden Guhle wired home his eighth goal of the season to force a 3-3 tie and overtime.

    Guhle potted the equalizer about four minutes after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Tigers right-winger Lukas Svejkovsky. Svejkovsky received a minor penalty for that hit.

    Habscheid thought Svejkovsky’s hit could have resulted in a stiffer penalty but noted the officials only get to see a play once in making a judgment call.

    “That was a dirty hit,” said Habscheid. “I hope the league looks at that.

    “That was just a bad hit. We don’t want that type of hit in this game. I think that if they looked at it on replay they might have called it differently.

    “They don’t get that opportunity.”

    Guhle’s equalizer ultimately set the stage for the Tigers to take the contest in the tiebreaking shootout.

Mads Sogaard makes a third period stop in goal for the Tigers.

    Mads Sogaard made 19 saves over 65 minutes in goal for the Tigers and turned away two of three shooters in the shootout. Paddock turned away 30 shots over 65 minutes in goal for the Raiders and one of three shooters in the shootout.

    Desjardins said Saturday’s contest was a tossup, where his side just happened to come out on the better end of the scoreboard.

    “I thought it was a good game,” said Desjardins. “I thought it was a playoff type game.

    “I thought both teams played hard. Obviously if you go into a shootout, the game could have gone either way.”

    While the Tigers are known for their fast-paced style of going up and down the ice, Desjardins said the Raiders are strong at playing that way too.

The Tigers celebrate their win on Saturday night.

    “They are a good team,” said Desjardins. “They can play that way as well.

    “They have some high end guys that like to skate and like to play a transition game. I think whenever you look at their game you think of them as a transition team, a speed team. I think it was probably equally suited for both teams.”

    The Tigers are back in action on Tuesday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m. Alberta time, Canalta Centre).

    The Raiders return to play on Wednesday when they host the Victoria Royals (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------                                     

    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Blades best Tigers 6-5 in 1980s style rivalry tilt

The Blades and Tigers scrum it up at the end of Friday’s game.

    It felt like old times at the Saskatoon Arena in the late 1980s.

    Back in that era of the WHL, the Saskatoon Blades and Medicine Hat Tigers had quite the heated rivalry. A lot of the heated tensions were due to the fact the two sides met in league semifinal playoff series in 1987 and 1988.

    Those series were ultimately won by the Tigers, who advanced on to win the WHL title and the Memorial Cup title as CHL champions in both of those years.
    Medicine Hat claimed the 1987 series in seven games, when the Blades still played in the Saskatoon Arena, and the Tigers swept the 1988 series, when “the Bridge City Bunch” made their first post-season run playing out of the SaskTel Centre.

    On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Saskatoon Blades and Medicine Hat Tigers engaged in a WHL regular season clash that would have been worthy of the battles from that era.

    There were huge momentum swings, lots of goals, timely saves by goalies, one spirited fight and huge scrum at the end of the contest. It was a game that was all over the map.

Tigers C Ryan Chyzowski, left, fights Blades C Jayden Wiens.

    When the dust settled, the Blades skated away with a 6-5 victory before 3,156 spectators. The fans got their money’s worth and gave the Blades a fairly loud salute at night’s end.

    The unpredictability of the night started in the first period. The Blades carried the play in the opening frame outshooting the Tigers 17-7, but the Tigers came away holding a 1-0 lead.

    Tigers captain James Hamblin tucked home the game’s opening goal on a breakaway in the first.

    Medicine Hat escaped the first holding the end on the scoreboard thanks to the play of netminder Garin Bjorklund. He turned away Blades defenceman Nolan Kneen on a partial breakaway and robbed Saskatoon centre Tristen Robins with a glove stop in the opening 20 minutes.

The Blades and Tigers engaged in a few exchanges on Friday.

    Just 35 seconds into the second, Tigers defenceman Daniel Baker jetted in down the right wing and roofed home his 10^th goal of the season to put the visitors up 2-0.

    At the 11:37 mark of the second, centre Baxter Anderson scored to put the Tigers up 3-0, and it seemed that the visitors were going to cruise from there.

    From that moment, it was time to cue the comeback for the Blades thanks mainly from an offensive explosion coming from their forward line of left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, Robins, and right-winger Martin Fasko- Rudas. They combined for four goals and seven assists.

    Crnkovic posted a goal and four assists. Robins had his first career WHL hat trick. Fasko-Rudas had three helpers.

    Just 70 seconds after Anderson’s goal, Robins netted his first of the contest to cut the Tigers lead to 3-1. 

Tristen Robins had a hat trick for the Blades on Friday.

    Crnkovic potted his 12^th of the season just a little over three minutes later to further trim the Tigers advantage to 3-2.

    With 1:22 remaining in the second, the Blades benefited from a positive type bounce you would see in an old building like the now demolished Saskatoon Arena.

    The puck was in the Tigers zone with the Blades working the power play. The Tigers tried to clear the puck around the glass, but the puck hit a stanchion and deflected to the front of the Medicine Hat goal to Blades captain Chase Wouters.

    Wouters promptly fired the gift into the Medicine Hat net to even things up at 3-3. The tally was Wouters 20^th goal of the season marking the first time the 19-year-old hit that mark in his WHL career.

    The Blades kept rolling going up 5-3 at the 1:55 mark of the third with goals coming from feisty left-winger Riley McKay and Robins netting his second of the contest.

Kyle Crnkovic had a goal and four assists for the Blades on Friday.

    Bjorklund was pulled from the Medicine Hat goal at that point turning away 26-of-31 shots he faced. Mads Sogaard turned away four-of-five shots playing the rest of the way in relief.

    Shortly after the Blades went up by two goals, Saskatoon centre Jayden Wiens, who stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 139 pounds, engaged Tigers centre Ryan Chyzowski, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 170 pounds, in a spirited fight.

    Wiens ended getting the take down for the win in front of a huge ovation from the Saskatoon faithful.

    With the crowd still buzzing from the fight, the Tigers scored seven seconds after the resumption of play with left-winger Corson Hopwo getting his 10 goal of the season. That tally cut the Blades advantage to 5-4.

    Robins completed his hat trick a little over two minutes later to give the Blades a 6-4 advantage.

    Shortly after Robins third tally, the Tigers went on a power play, and Blades netminder Koen MacInnes had to turn away seven shots to ensure the hosts got the two-minute kill.

James Hamblin had the Tigers first goal on Friday.

    MacInnes made a huge sprawling kick save on the kill to rob Tigers star left-winger Cole Sillinger of a sure goal.

    Still the Blades weren’t out of the woods. Tigers left-winger Nick McCarry scored with 4:54 remaining in the third to cut the Blades lead to 6-5.

    With about a minute remaining in the third, Tigers defenceman Eric Van Impe wired a shot off the crossbar of the Blades goal.

    The host side held the fort the rest of the way to preserve their third straight victory. After the final seconds of the game expired, both teams engaged in a big scrum around the Saskatoon goal.

MacInnes made 28 saves to allow the Blades to improve to 23-18-1-2.

    The Tigers fell to 29-14-1-1 with a second straight loss.

The Blades enjoy their win on Friday night.

    The Blades are back at it on Saturday, when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

    The Tigers return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Prince Albert to face the defending WHL champion Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

    If anyone forgot how fun the WHL can be, a reminder about how exciting and unpredictable major junior hockey can be was delivered on Friday night when the Blades slipped past the Tigers.

    Hopefully work of the encounter will attract a few more bodies to come sit in the stands.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------                                     

    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.