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WHL Medicine Hat Tigers

Rival Canes Best Tigers 6-3

January 16, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Medicine Hat Tigers News Release


The Tigers hosted the Lethbridge Hurricanes at Co-op Place on Saturday night. It was the fourth of eight meetings between the Highway 3 rivals. The Canes have come away with the victory in the three previous games, but the Tigers were looking to capitalize on home ice advantage to pick up their first win in the season series.

Justin Hall opened the scoring for the Hurricanes midway through the first period. Hall was screening the goaltender as Nolan Bentham put a shot on net from the point. Hall was able to quickly turn around and put home the rebound to put the Canes up 1-0. The Tigers would respond quickly with a pair of goals to flip the momentum. A couple minutes after the Canes' goal, the Tigers were battling hard and cycling the puck between the corners. From the corner, Owen MacNeil found Dru Krebs all alone in the high slot. Krebs let go a laser beam that beat the tender high on the blocker side for his second of the season. Carter Chorney also picked up an assist on the tying goal. The Tigers would strike again only 40 seconds later when Corson Hopwo skated in and let a wrister go from the high slot. His shot found the back of the net on the low glove side for his eighth of the year. Garin Bjorklund picked up the lone assist on the go ahead goal.

Lethbridge tied things up early in the second when Jett Jones put home a loose puck after Garin Bjorklund made a number of impressive saves. The Canes would retake the lead a few minutes later. Chase Wheatcroft found Ty Nash sneaking behind the Tigers defence and broke him out all alone. Nash let a quick shot go that found the top corner glove side for this 10th of the season. The Tigers kept working hard though and tied the game once again at the 15:40 mark of the second. Steven Arp found Andrew Basha at the left faceoff dot where he let a wrister go that found the back of the net for his first career WHL goal. Rhett Parsons also picked up an assist on the goal. Lethbridge would score once more in the final minute to sneak into the intermission up 4-3. Justin Hall raced for the puck and had a slight edge over the Tigers defenceman. They both went down and the puck went off Hall's leg and bounced into the net in all the chaos.

The Hurricanes got a bit of insurance early in the third. Yegor Klavdiev took a feed from Jett Jones behind the goal line. Klavdiev let a wrister go that beat the goaltender on the short side for his seventh of the season. The Tigers continued to pressure hard with hopes of scoring a couple more goals. With a few minutes left in the game they decided to pull the goalie and go with the extra skater. Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned and Justin Hall scored his third of the game on the empty net to give the Hurricanes a 6-3 victory.

Garin Bjorklund (5-15-2-0) got the start in net for the Tigers. He played well making 26 saves on 31 shots.

Three Stars:

Justin Hall - Lethbridge Hurricanes

Jett Jones - Lethbridge Hurricanes

Andrew Basha - Medicine Hat Tigers

Shots Power Play Penalty Kill

Medicine Hat 27 0/2 3/4

Lethbridge 32 1/4 2/2

The Tigers' next game is Sunday, January 16th when the Tigers host the Red Deer Rebels at Co-op Place. Game time is 6:00 (MST) and tickets are available online at tixx.ca.

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 16, 2022


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