Better late than never.
Due to weather delays in the Crowsnest Pass, the tilt between the Kootenay Ice and the Medicine Hat Tigers was delayed by an hour on Friday evening at Western Financial Place.
However, bus legs didn’t seem to affect the Tabbies too much, who ended up skating away with a 3-2 win.
The night also featured a goaltending duel, as Kootenay’s Duncan McGovern turned away 33 shots, while Michael Bullion made 32 saves for Medicine Hat.
Goals came from Gary Haden, Cole Clayton and David Quenneville, while the Ice responded with efforts from Brad Ginnell and Alec Baer.
It was another backbreaker late in the game, as Quenneville scored the go-ahead goal on a Tigers’ power play to earn the game-winner. The two teams had played each other to a draw up till then, with sold performances from both McGovern and Bullion.
“I just think at times we made crucial mistakes at the wrong times of the game,” said Ice bench boss James Patrick. “Again, everyone worked hard, every player tried his hardest, but at the end of the night, they turned over less pucks than us and blocked more shots than us. Their penalty kill, they blocked every shot possible and we didn’t get into shot lanes and they score a winning goal.”
Patrick said the difference was Medicine Hat’s line changes and taking advantage of turnovers.
“They’d get on for 30 [seconds], get a change and we would turn over pucks, then they would come back at us, Patrick said. “They got a couple guys change and they would change a whole line, so then we got stuck in our zone.
“It happened at crucial times in the game; it didn’t happen the whole game because I thought there was times where we had good possession in their zone, but I felt when that happened, we overstayed our shifts.”
The Ice have had a run of a few games that were decided in the dying minutes of the night.
“We’re all working hard, that’s not the issue, but I think it’s frustrating, that’s for sure,” said Baer. “There’s been a few games like that, I think almost a span of 10 games where we find we can get some points in games and we just fall one short.”
The two teams swapped goals in the first period; Haden drew first blood, slamming a hard cross-ice pass into the net during a rush into Kootenay territory. However, Baer answered by 10 minutes later, shovelling away during a scramble in front of Bullion to knot up the score.
In the second period, the Ice had a few chances on the power play and Brad Ginnell was rewarded after taking advantage of some chaos inside the crease to sneak a shot home.
However, a minute later, Clayton managed to get a shot from the faceoff circle past a screened McGovern to bring the score back to evens at 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Quenneville scored the game-winner halfway through the final period on a power play with a bullet from the blue line.
Throughout the game Bullion made a few 10-bell saves on Baer and Cameron Hausinger, who were both robbed on quality rush chances. The final few minutes also featured some intense pressure from the Ice but the Tigers were able to fend off the Kootenay’s offensive push and hold out for the win.
With nine games left in the season, the playoff implications are looming as Kootenay is currently on the outside looking in, however, the gap is only two points from tying back up with the Red Deer Rebels.
