Tiger Trauma
12-13-2007, 03:33 AM
One-sided cat fight goes to Tigers
TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
As defending champions of the Western Hockey League, the Medicine Hat Tiger know there won’t be many sneak attacks this season.
Their reputation as winners is well-established.
The Tigers have a long way to fall and it will take a lot more than what the Prince George Cougars threw at them Wednesday night to knock them off their perch. The Cougars tried, but without their two best players, it was all in vain as the Tigers took off with a 3-1 win at CN Centre.
The Tigers have lost half the lineup that won it all last season, but the half that remains learned enough during those spring playoff days to stuff a Santa-sized bag of tools they’re now using to find the win column this year.
“This year we have guys who work just as hard and we have to work just as hard to make sure we’re getting better all year if we want to ultimately get there, but I think we’re going in the right direction here,” said Tigers forward Brennan Bosch, who opened the scoring Wednesday.
Two goals early in the first period set the tone for the Tigers (19-12-3-1), who were coming off successive wins in Kamloops and Chilliwack. With the Tigers on the power play, Bosch batted in a rebound of a short-range shot from Daine Todd that was partially blocked. Less than a minute later, at 7:17, Linden Vey was the trailer on a 3-on-2 and had a perfect view of the net behind Cougars goaltender Tommy Tartaglione as he took the pass from Jordan Bendfeld on the fly.
“We knew it was going to be a tough road game and we just wanted to keep it simple,” said Bosch. “Getting a couple early was real big for us. The second period wasn’t our best but I thought we really took it away in the third. Tartaglione really stood on his head.”
Tartaglione was magnificent in making 38 saves. Most of his work came in a 21-shot third period and he was perfect, stopping all 21. But the three that beat him proved an insurmountable hurdle for the Cougars, now winless in their last five games.
“Medicine Hat is an organization that knows how to win,” said Tartaglione. “They got on us early and we got into penalty trouble. We tried to fight back but they’re a strong team and they really play well defensively.”
The Cougars (11-22-1-0) had two great scoring chances midway through the opening frame on a 5-on-3 power play when Jesse Dudas was given time to fire from his point position, with Dale Hunt in the right place each time to deflect them. Unfortunately for Prince George, both pucks clanged off the goalposts.
Other than that brief offensive flurry there wasn’t much for the Tigers to worry about defensively.
Former Kamloops Blazers winger Travis Dunstall ran the score to 3-0 with 3:19 gone in the second period, sliding a loose puck through the legs of a screened Tartaglione, who was unable to smother the rebound when Yashar Farmanara jammed the net. The Cougars finally solved Czech goalie Tomas Vosvrda at 8:29 as Morgan MacLean’s spinerama slapshot from just inside the blueline found the target through a partial screen.
With the Tigers nursing their 3-1 lead three minutes into the third period Cats defenceman Garrett Thiessen proved Tartaglione’s best friend when he batted what looked to be a sure-goal out of the air.
The Tigers kept coming with their attacks in the third period and it was up to Tartaglione to do the rest. That didn't hide the fact the Tigers are looking like a team that's starting to make some noise again in the Central Division. The win allowed them to leapfrog the Kootenay Ice into third place, two points behind the second-place Cakgary Hitmen, who lost 5-1 Wednesday to Lethbridge.
The Cougars were without the services of defenceman Ty Wishart and winger Dana Tyrell, both of whom are in Calgary trying out for the world junior team. That freed up a couple of lineup position for major midget callups Brett Connolly (Cariboo Cougars) and Nick Buonassisi (Vancouver Northeast Chiefs). Buonassissi, who has 27 points in 21 games in the B.C.Major Midget Hockey League, jumped the boards first playing left wing on a line with Marcus Watson and Colin Haas.
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TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
As defending champions of the Western Hockey League, the Medicine Hat Tiger know there won’t be many sneak attacks this season.
Their reputation as winners is well-established.
The Tigers have a long way to fall and it will take a lot more than what the Prince George Cougars threw at them Wednesday night to knock them off their perch. The Cougars tried, but without their two best players, it was all in vain as the Tigers took off with a 3-1 win at CN Centre.
The Tigers have lost half the lineup that won it all last season, but the half that remains learned enough during those spring playoff days to stuff a Santa-sized bag of tools they’re now using to find the win column this year.
“This year we have guys who work just as hard and we have to work just as hard to make sure we’re getting better all year if we want to ultimately get there, but I think we’re going in the right direction here,” said Tigers forward Brennan Bosch, who opened the scoring Wednesday.
Two goals early in the first period set the tone for the Tigers (19-12-3-1), who were coming off successive wins in Kamloops and Chilliwack. With the Tigers on the power play, Bosch batted in a rebound of a short-range shot from Daine Todd that was partially blocked. Less than a minute later, at 7:17, Linden Vey was the trailer on a 3-on-2 and had a perfect view of the net behind Cougars goaltender Tommy Tartaglione as he took the pass from Jordan Bendfeld on the fly.
“We knew it was going to be a tough road game and we just wanted to keep it simple,” said Bosch. “Getting a couple early was real big for us. The second period wasn’t our best but I thought we really took it away in the third. Tartaglione really stood on his head.”
Tartaglione was magnificent in making 38 saves. Most of his work came in a 21-shot third period and he was perfect, stopping all 21. But the three that beat him proved an insurmountable hurdle for the Cougars, now winless in their last five games.
“Medicine Hat is an organization that knows how to win,” said Tartaglione. “They got on us early and we got into penalty trouble. We tried to fight back but they’re a strong team and they really play well defensively.”
The Cougars (11-22-1-0) had two great scoring chances midway through the opening frame on a 5-on-3 power play when Jesse Dudas was given time to fire from his point position, with Dale Hunt in the right place each time to deflect them. Unfortunately for Prince George, both pucks clanged off the goalposts.
Other than that brief offensive flurry there wasn’t much for the Tigers to worry about defensively.
Former Kamloops Blazers winger Travis Dunstall ran the score to 3-0 with 3:19 gone in the second period, sliding a loose puck through the legs of a screened Tartaglione, who was unable to smother the rebound when Yashar Farmanara jammed the net. The Cougars finally solved Czech goalie Tomas Vosvrda at 8:29 as Morgan MacLean’s spinerama slapshot from just inside the blueline found the target through a partial screen.
With the Tigers nursing their 3-1 lead three minutes into the third period Cats defenceman Garrett Thiessen proved Tartaglione’s best friend when he batted what looked to be a sure-goal out of the air.
The Tigers kept coming with their attacks in the third period and it was up to Tartaglione to do the rest. That didn't hide the fact the Tigers are looking like a team that's starting to make some noise again in the Central Division. The win allowed them to leapfrog the Kootenay Ice into third place, two points behind the second-place Cakgary Hitmen, who lost 5-1 Wednesday to Lethbridge.
The Cougars were without the services of defenceman Ty Wishart and winger Dana Tyrell, both of whom are in Calgary trying out for the world junior team. That freed up a couple of lineup position for major midget callups Brett Connolly (Cariboo Cougars) and Nick Buonassisi (Vancouver Northeast Chiefs). Buonassissi, who has 27 points in 21 games in the B.C.Major Midget Hockey League, jumped the boards first playing left wing on a line with Marcus Watson and Colin Haas.
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