Estephan’s hat trick pulls Hurricanes even with Tigers

The Hurricanes celebrate Giorgio Estephan’s first goal.

    MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – Giorgio Estephan was the feature attraction of an impromptu 80s night at the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat.

    The standout centre fired home a hat trick and collected an assist to help his visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes outgun the host Medicine Hat Tigers 7-4 before 4,513 spectators on Saturday night in Game 2 of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. 

    With the win in a high-scoring 1980s style clash, the Hurricanes even the series at 1-1. Game 3 is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. Alberta time at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge.

    The setback was also a first in the 2017 post-season for the Tigers, who swept away the Brandon Wheat Kings in four games in the opening round of the playoffs. The Tigers took Game 1 of the series with the Hurricanes 4-0 on Friday night at the Canalta Centre.

    Estephan was pleased his Hurricanes were able to wrestle away home ice advantage from the Tigers. The Hurricanes have defeated the Tigers in six of the last seven encounters at the Enmax Centre over the past two seasons.

Giorgio Estephan had a hat trick and an assist for the Hurricanes.

    “It (the Canalta Centre) is a tough barn to win in too,” said Estephan. “Anytime that you can split a series (of two games on the road) in the playoffs, especially not having home ice advantage, it is a big thing for us.

    “Coming back into our barn with a lot of fans, I think is definitely exciting for us.”

    For a while on Saturday, it appeared the Tigers and Hurricanes were doing their best to burn out the scoreboard at the Canalta Centre.
    The Tigers stormed out to 2-0 lead, when right-winger Zach Fischer scored 20 seconds into the contest and added a second tally at the 2:23 mark of the opening frame. Overage left-winger Steven Owre picked up assists on both of Fischer’s goals.

    Before the nine-minute mark of the opening frame could roll around, Estephan netted his first goal of the game and right-winger Alec Baer scored 27 seconds after that tally to force a 2-2 tie.

    At the 11:10 mark of the first, Tigers right-winger Ryan Jevne scored on a backdoor setup on a power play to put the hosts up 3-2. Before the opening frame ended, Hurricanes overage captain Tyler Wong capitalized on a Tigers own-zone giveaway to tie things up at 3-3.

Tigers right-winger Zach Fischer takes a high shot from a Hurricanes player.

    “We struggled the first game, so we kind of knew that we had to come back stronger,” said Estephan. “We definitely did that today.

    “We didn’t really start the greatest we wanted to, but to kind of show the resiliency like we did to pull out this win, it is definitely something huge.”

    The Tigers jumped back in front 4-3 at the 6:03 mark of the second, when centre James Hamblin tipped home a shot from linemate Max Gerlach. Just over two-and-a-half minutes later, centre Dylan Cozens, who was selected by the Hurricanes in the first round and 19^th overall in last year’s WHL Bantam Draft, potted his first career WHL playoff goal to force a 4-4 tie.

Captain Tyler Wong had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes.

    With 7:09 to play in the third, the Hurricanes took their first lead of the game, when Estephan scored on a power play to give the visitors a 5-4 lead. The Edmonton product said the key to that goal was staying focused when the play got in close on Tigers netminder Michael Bullion.

    “It was a great play from Tyler Wong in the middle to kind of get it out to me wide,” said Estephan. “I tried to get it upstairs.

    “I didn’t get it high enough, but there was a rebound. It kind of just poked through (Bullion’s) legs, and it was sitting behind him. I just tapped it in.”

    Estephan completed his hat trick scoring into an empty net with 1:25 to play in the third shortly after a Tigers power play expired. Tanner Nagel scored an empty-net short-handed goal with 48.6 seconds to play to round out the scoring for the visitors.

    Bullion turned away 19 of 24 shots to take the loss in goal for the Tigers. Stuart Skinner turned away 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Hurricanes.

Steven Owre picked up two assists for the Tigers.

    Saturday’s game also contained a number of elements that showed the Highway 3 rivalry is alive and well between these two clubs, which operate in cities that are about 170 kilometres apart from each other. Hurricanes defenceman Brennan Menell took a double minor penalty in the first period for spearing Tigers left-winger Matt Bradley, and that infraction will trigger an automatic review by the league for a possible suspension.

    Fischer engaged with Hurricanes right-winger Zane Franklin in a spirited fight late in the second period, and both sides threw a number of hard hits.

    “It is a rivalry,” said Estephan. “We’re only an hour and a half away.

    “There are a lot of fans coming back and forth, and it is definitely exciting to play in front of them. It definitely gets you fired up to play in the next game.”

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

Tigers roar again in the WHL

Medicine Hat returns to elite status after one rebuild year

Zach Fischer celebrates scoring a goal for the Tigers.

    It didn’t take the Medicine Hat Tigers long to start looking like themselves again, which means they alone are worth the price of admission on any of their Western Hockey League game nights.

    Last year, the Tigers saw their run of making the WHL playoffs for 13 consecutive years come to an end. Posting a 30-37-3-2 record in the regular season, the Tigers faced the Edmonton Oil Kings in a standings tiebreaking game for the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and came away on the wrong end of a 6-4 final.

    After just over a third into the current campaign, the Tigers are back to their high speed and high skill form.

    On Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre, the orange and black systematically dismantled the host Saskatoon Blades 8-2 before 3,802 stunned spectators. The win was Medicine Hat’s ninth straight victory and has vaulted the Tigers to the top of the overall WHL standings with a 20-5-1 mark.

Max Gerlach snipes his hat trick goal for the Tigers.

    The Everett Silvertips (18-3-4) trail the Tigers by a point for first overall with a game in hand.

Veteran Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston has no complaints about where his team is at.

    “It has been great,” said Clouston. “I think our older guys, our leaders are doing a terrific job of making sure the room is ready every night.

    “We’ve got lots of guys contributing. We’ve had some guys really step up and have breakout years. (Mark) Rassell and (Zach) Fischer are good players and they just really had breakout seasons.

    “James Hamblin who was 16-years-old last year, he has taken big strides. We are getting contributions from our imports. I think those two additions with (Kristians) Rubins and (John) Dahlstrom really helped us.”

    The only big down parts the Tigers faced against Saskatoon came from the fact Blades left-winger Braylon Shmyr opened the game’s scoring at the 1:56 mark of the first period, and he added a second marker with 53.8 seconds to play in the opening frame to ensure both sides entered the first intermission locked in a 2-2 tie.

Chad Butcher circles in the offensive zone for the Tigers.

    The rest of the contest belonged to the Tigers. They transitioned up ice at a lightning pace stringing together various quick passes and were on top of Blades goaltenders Logan Flodell and then Brock Hamm with prime scoring chances. Medicine Hat also kept Saskatoon pinned in its own zone with a fairly aggressive forecheck.

    Fischer and offensive defenceman David Quenneville netted the Tigers first period tallies. The visitors blew the roof off the building in the second frame. Overage centre Chad Butcher scored 17 seconds into the middle stanza and right-winger Max Gerlach netted a hat trick, which included two tallies on impressive snipes, to put the Tigers up 6-2.

    Flodell was chased after the Tigers fourth goal at the 2:27 mark of the second turning away 17-of-21 shots sent his way. Hamm stopped 18-of-22 shots sent his direction as the Blade dropped to 10-16-1.

    In the third, Butcher collected his second goal of the night and Dahlstrom added a single to round out the blowout score. Netminder Nick Schneider turned away 22 shots to pick up the win in Medicine Hat’s goal.

    The Tigers effort was businesslike. After each goal, the players took part in a small celebration and calmly skated into position for the next faceoff.

David Quenneville rushes into the offensive zone for the Tigers.

    “It was pretty close there for a bit,” said Quenneville, who had an assist to go along with his goal. “We just played our game, and the floodgates blew open.

    “They were bound to fly open for a time being there, and they did. Honestly, we could have had five or six more, which is really exciting. It shows that when a game is pretty out of hand like it was tonight, that we don’t stop. That is real important for our group.”

    Clouston said one of the big keys this season was the fact his club stuck with a younger group of inexperienced defencemen last season. The Tigers usually like to keep a core of four to five blue-liners together over a three-year period to create a base and chemistry at that position.

    Medicine Hat’s back end has always been key in helping the Tigers quickly transitioning up ice with a quick first pass on to the tape of the stick of a forward striding at full speed. Clouston didn’t want to waive from his team’s style.

    “We knew that there was a certain way that we like to play,” said Clouston. “We could have changed our style a little bit (last season).

    “It might have helped us for the short term. We kept playing the same way and practicing the same way.

    “When we finally got through all our injuries and got healthy, it was starting to pay dividends towards the end of the season, and I think that is continuing this year.”

Goaltender Nick Schneider passes a puck up the boards for the Tigers.

    While he didn’t have an active night against the Blades, Schneider has been solid in his second full season as the Tigers starting goalie after spending about a season and a half as a backup. In 21 games in the current campaign, he has posted an 18-2-1 record, a 2.70 goals against average and a .905 save percentage. Clouston said Schneider has come a long way.

    “Last year, he struggled at the start of the year,” said Clouston. “It was his first opportunity to be the number one guy. It was a major challenge for him.

    “The way things worked out by the end of the year he was that number one guy again. Austin Lotz was with us for a short time, but had a season ending injury. By the end of the season, Schneids had kind of battled through his adversity and grew a lot from that experience, and that has carried over to this year.”

    Quenneville, who is in his third full season with the Tabbies, said it was important for his side to carry on and duplicate the team’s storied successes of the past. He believes his Tigers are getting back to that spot.

Captain Clayton Kirichenko gets set to drive a shot on goal for the Tigers.

    “Last year wasn’t our year, and we wanted to really get back to being a high caliber team in the Western Hockey League and dominating,” said Quenneville. “I think we have done that so far.

    “We have worked real hard. We’ve developed a lot in the last year, and we’re just continuing to get better, and that is the key for our group.”

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