The Medicine Hat Tigers have gone from teh WHL playoffs to making an impact on the grandest stage in North American junior hockey, as they take an electric first game against the host Rimouski Oceanic.
As usual, Gavin McKenna was all over the ice. The 17-year-old got an assist on the opening goal, and finished off a slick breakaway shot early in the third period. Bryce Pickford buried two more goals, extending his scoring streak to nine games; In those games, the Tigers' offensive force has recorded 12 goals.
Hunter St. Martin closed things out with a nifty deflection at the side of the Rimouski net, capping an eventful night for the Florida Panthers prospect. While making just 20 saves in the opening contest of the tournament, goaltender Harrison Meneghin made a handful of clutch stops en route to the victory.
The one dark cloud above this game for Medicine Hat, however, is the penalty kill. The Oceanic capitalized on tree of four opportinities on Friday night, one of them with 20 seconds remaining in the first period. Head coach Willie Desjardins has a litle work to do, but it's to be expected that it'll be tidied up before Medicine Hat's next game.
The Tigers will face off against the Moncton Wildcats on Tuesday night, puck drop is set for 5 p.m. ET.
Scoring Summary
1st Period:
13:50- MH: Ryder Ritchie (1) from Gavin McKenna and Oasiz Wiesblatt
19:40- RIM: Maël Lavigne (1) from Alexandre Blais and Maxime Coursol (PP)
2nd Period:
10:43- RIM: Maël St-Denis (1) from Alexandre Blais
16:18- MH: Bryce Pickford (1) from Tanner Molendyk and Oasiz Wiesblatt (PP)
18:26- RIM: Jacob Mathieu (1) from Mathieu Cataford and Pier-Olivier Roy
3rd Period:
1:08- MH: Bryce Pickford (2) from Jonas Woo and Hunter St. Martin
5:16- MH: Gavin McKenna (1) from Oasiz Wiesblatt
13:04- RIM: Jonathan Fauchon (1) from Mathieu Cataford and Pier-Olivier Roy
9:13- SPO: Assanali Sarkenov (9) from Sam Oremba and Rasmus Ekstrom
17:19- MH: Hunter St.Martin (1) from Tanner Molendyk and Veeti Vaisanen
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