TIGERS RUN 8 PAST OIL KINGS IN VICTORY

Medicine Hat, AB – Brenden Lee’s first career hat-trick lead the way in the Medicine Hat Tigers 8-2 home win over the Edmonton Oil Kings Wednesday night.

In from of 2642 at Co-op Place, the Tigers got to work half way through the opening period as Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, YT) opened the scoring at 13:38 with his third goal in as many games to make it 1-0 Tigers thanks to his line-mates Tyler MacKenzie (Red Deer, AB) & Lee (Seattle, WA), but just under three minutes later the McKenna, Mackenzie & Lee line were at it again, this time Brenden Lee would pot his 30th of the season from an oncoming Pasha Bocharov (Escondido, CA) & MacKenzie with his second point of the night giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead heading to the second period.

The Tigers would turn things up quickly in the first five minutes of the second thanks to a re-direct from Andrew Basha (Calgary, AB) from a Josh Van Mulligen (Medicine Hat, AB) shot increasing the lead to three at 4:32. Next the Tiger penalty kill would crash home their team 13th shorthanded goal thanks to Hunter St. Martin (Edmonton, AB) burning his hometown team to add to the Tiger lead of 4-0. Medicine Hat wasn’t done there just 1:05 later Oasiz Wiesblatt (Calgary, AB) would snap home his 25th of the season to make it 5-0 Tigers from Bocharov & Rhett Parsons (Cremona, AB) at 8:54. Edmonton would get on the board shortly after at 10:06 as Mason Finley would fire his 14th of the year past Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow (Vegreville, AB) and the then Oil Kings fired back 1:35 later as Cole Miller would get his 10th on a one time feed from Finley to cut into the Tiger lead even deeper at 5-2. Despite the response from the visitors, the Tigers would carry the lead into the final frame.

It wouldn’t take long to start the 3rd period and the Tigers were back on the board with Lee’s second of the night and 31st of the campaign at 4:43 from McKenna to stretch the lead to 6-2, which would lead to a busy 3:13. Dallon Melin would follow his 20 year old’s suit with his 15th of the season on a net front scramble poking home his 15th of the season from Bogdans Hodass (Jelgava, LAT) & Cayden Lindstrom (Chetwynd, B.C.) at 5:09, which was then followed by Lee’s first career WHL hat-trick at 7:30 for his 32nd of the year from McKenna for his 3rd assist of the night which would be the final goal scored at Co-op Place on this night as the Tigers would sweep the season series with the Oil Kings 6-0 after the 8-2 win.

Medicine Hat outshot Edmonton 40-15 in the contest, while a perfect night on the penalty kill going 2/2 but only had one power play chance going 0/1.

For the time being the Tigers move to 29-28-8-1 sit 8th in the WHL’s Eastern Conference three points clear of Swift Current who sit ninth, while also being one point back of the Calgary Hitmen for 7th.

The Tigers require two points in their final two games to clinch a WHL playoff spot, and the road to give themselves the opportunity starts Friday night to close the season out against the Swift Current Broncos at the i-Plex. You can catch the action live on the home of the Tigers, WILD 94.5 with the voice of the Tigers, Gino De Paoli starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:45 and puck drop is set for 7 PM. The Tigers will close out the Regular Season Saturday at Co-op Place against Swift Current as it will be Fan Appreciation Night where plenty of prizes will be up for grabs for lucky fans that evening. You can get your tickets HERE.