By Les Lazaruk
MEDICINE HAT – Maybe it was just the final score that made it seem this way, but all the good to come out of three straight wins appeared to be negated by 41 bad minutes by the Saskatoon Blades Friday in a 7-2 loss to the Tigers.
Josh Paterson opened the game scoring and Cam Hebig closed it out. In between, it was all Bengals as Medicine Hat used the Bridge City Bunch as a tonic to cure their issues from the previous two games…both losses by a combined score of 13-1.
“It’s just a matter of us cheating,” explained assistant coach Jerome Engele when it came to the Blue and Gold playing as they had in the first few games. “You’ve got to play a disciplined game, play the same way every shift and things will fall in place for you. If guys think that they’re going to get points, or whatever they’re thinking…I’m not sure…it doesn’t work that way.”
Tyler Preziuso’s goal at 19:16 of the first period put Medicine Hat ahead for the first time…and for good…at 2-1. It was a goal that seemed to deflate the Blades.
“We played a good road game for the first period,” said Engele. “I thought we were playing fairly strong. We had possession in their end a fair amount of time. And, we were getting good scoring opportunities. But, for some reason, our guys were refusing to shoot from the middle of the slot. Instead, we’re going over into the corner and try to take a shot from a bad angle.”
“Then, we go to the second period and we decide we’re going to take some dumb penalties,” continued Engele. “And, the end result is they’re scoring on us. Basically, after that, we just didn’t perform the way we should. We had a bunch of guys that were along just for the ride, not there to do their jobs.”
Saskatoon took three consecutive penalties in the first half of the second period. When David Quenneville made the score 3-1 in favour of the Tigers on the third power play chance of that series, the life was sucked out of the Bridge City Bunch.
Quenneville ended up with two goals, Preziuso added two assists to his goal and Swedish defenceman Linus Nassen added three helpers. Gary Haden, Ryan Chyzowski, James Hamblin and Dylan MacPherson also tallied for Medicine Hat, now 9-6-0 on the season as they out-shot the Blue and Gold 40-22…28-9 over the final two periods.
The 6-8-1 Blades return to action Saturday in Edmonton against the Oil Kings.
Pacman Points – Hebig also assisted on Paterson’s goal, giving the 20-year-old Saskatoon product his seventh multi-point game in 13 games.
The Bridge City Bunch were involved in a trade following Wednesday night’s 2-1 overtime victory in Lethbridge. It wasn’t long after Chase Wouters’ overtime tally that the trigger was pulled on the deal as Lukus MacKenzie was sent to the Red Deer Rebels for a fourth round pick in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft. In the wake of the trade, the Bridge City Bunch recalled recently listed player Alec Zawatsky from Notre Dame of the SJHL. MacKenzie was scratched just before Wednesday night’s contest. The 18-year-old Calgarian was a third round pick in the 2014 W-H-L Bantam Draft. He had four assists and 22 penalty minutes in 13 games in his third season with the Blue and Gold. In 121 career games, MacKenzie posted eight goals amongst 24 points plus 143 penalty minutes. Zawatsky’s call-up was made necessary by the trade and the fact that Bradly Goethals suffered an Upper Body injury in Lethbridge. Zawatsky is a Yorkton product, who turns 18 on December 15, and had nine goals amongst 19 points in 13 games with the SJHL Hounds.
Back on Monday, the Blades dealt 18-year-old defenceman Jantzen Leslie to Edmonton for a conditional eighth round pick in the 2018 W-H-L Bantam Draft. The Lloydminster product was acquired from Everett in November, 2015…after the Silvertips selected him in the first round of the 2014 Bantam Draft. He had no points in four games this season with the Bridge City Bunch. Meantime, 16-year-old forward Logan Doust was recalled from Midget Triple-A in B-C.
Following the two road games this week, 995 different players have suited up for the Blades in their franchise history as Logan Doust (on Wednesday in Lethbridge) and Zawatsky (on Friday in Medicine Hat) made their Saskatoon and WHL debuts. Of the 995 players to pull on a Blades jersey, 878 are skaters with 118 being goaltenders.
The end of the Blue and Gold’s three-game winning streak coincided with the conclusion of goaltender Ryan Kubic’s three-game winning run. He was given the third period off Friday after stopping 23 of 28 shots. Joel Grzybowski made his fourth appearance of the season and third in relief. The Hafford, Sk., product stopped 10 of 12 shots.
The Tigers connected on two-of-five power play chances Friday, giving them a 9-for-16 mark with the man-advantage in three head-to-head meetings this season with the Blades. Saskatoon was one-for-three on the power play.
Medicine Hat also held the advantage in the faceoff circle, winning 31 of 57 draws. Hamblin led the way, winning 13 of 19 trips to the dot. Brandon Machado was best for the Bridge City Bunch, winning four of seven faceoffs.
Hebig led all skaters with six shots on goal for the Blue and Gold with Gage Ramsay adding five shots. The Tigers got five shots on goal from Hamblin.
Centre-right winger Bradly Goethals was forced to miss Friday’s contest with an Upper Body injury. Caleb Fantillo and centre Logan Christensen, both with Upper Body ailments, were sidelined again. Plus, centre Kirby Dach has joined Team Canada-Black for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
Medicine Hat continues to be without centre Mason Shaw. He has yet to play this season following off-season knee surgery. Like Dach for the Blades, Josh Williams of the Tigers is taking part in the World Under-17 Challenge and wasn’t in the Bengals lineup while defenceman Joel Craven plus forwards Baxter Anderson and Jaxon Steele were healthy scratches as Medicine Hat dressed seven defencemen and 11 forwards Friday.
