TIGERS SHUTOUT HURRICANES

Medicine Hat, AB — The Medicine Hat Tigers dropped the opening game in the windy city by a score of 5-2. Tonight they were looking to even up the series in front of a packed house of over 4600 fans. At the other end of the rink, the Lethbridge Hurricanes were looking to spoil the party. Michael Bullion got the start playing in back to back games as was Canes goaltender Stuart Skinner.

Medicine Hat was looking to ride the energy of a packed Canalta Centre, as they pushed the pace in the first period. James Hamblin found some open ice, making a nice power move towards the front of the net. Stuart Skinner slide across and make an excellent pad save to keep the game scoreless.  That was just the start of a busy opening period for Stuart Skinner. As 14 shots were fired his way. The Tigers stingy defense held the Hurricanes to only 4 shots after 20 minutes.

In the middle frame, the Tigers offense would take over. Ryan Jevne set up Ryan Chyzowski on a 2 on 1 beating Skinner to break the tie just 1:20 into the 2nd.  A few minutes later Josh Williams initial shot was stopped by Skinner, the puck made it’s way back around to Josh as he puts it into the open cage to take a 2-0 lead. Mark Rassell and David Quenneville picked up helpers on the Williams tally.  The Tigers offence continued to surge. Mark Rassell with some nice hand eye coordination batted the puck out of mid-air. Medicine Hat would continued to pile shots towards the opposing teams net outshooting Lethbridge  31-12 after 40 minutes of play, taking a 3-0 lead into the final frame.

Much like in the first, the Tigers great defensive effort continued to frustrate the Hurricanes offense. The defence limited the Hurricanes scoring chances, continued to clog the passing lanes which kept the front of the net clear for Michael Bullion. With time winding down Lethbridge pulled the goalie down by 3 looking to make something happen. Max Gerlach put this game on ice as he would hit the empty net for his 1st of the season. Michael Bullion turned aside all 22 shots he faced, recording his first win of the season and his 4th shutout as a member of the Orange and Black. For the 3rd straight season, these rivals split the opening series.

TIGERS STAT LINES:

Ryan Chyzowski – 1G

Josh Williams – 1G

Mark Rassell – 1G, 2A

Max Gerlach – 1G

Tyler Preziuso – 1A

Ryan Jevne – 1A

David Quenneville – 1A

Linus Nassen – 1A

Medicine Hat will now go on a 2 game mini road trip through the Eastern Divison. First, they will be in be Saskatoon on Friday, September 29th to battle with the Blades, then they will travel north to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders on September 30th.