The Medicine Hat Tigers rolled into the Centrium with a roster full of so-called difference-makers and looked surprisingly flat doing it. On a night when the Ruck twins were just back from Pittsburgh and Yaroslav Bryzgalov made his season debut after being reassigned by Vancouver, the Tigers never really imposed themselves. They spent 11 minutes of the second period killing penalties—including a five-minute checking-to-the-head major and game misconduct to Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll—went 0-for-2 on the power play, and generated far too little from the talent on the ice.
Red Deer, meanwhile, had every excuse to be the tired team. The Rebels got home at 3 a.m. after Beckett Hamilton’s hat trick in Lethbridge on Friday, then still “looked them in the eyes,” as coach Brent Kisio put it, and outworked a more veteran lineup. Patrick Sopiarz opened the scoring on a backhand off a no-look feed from Hamilton. Liam Ruck answered shorthanded late in the second, sprung by twin brother Markus nine seconds into a penalty kill, to make it 1-1. Then Hamilton used his speed for the 2-1 goal with 5:53 left—his fourth in two nights—and Poul Andersen finished a two-on-one from Cameron Kuzma to make it 3-1. Carter Casey was again the Tigers’ best player with 32 saves, but Medicine Hat’s first loss of the season felt like a night when the names on the roster never showed up
Patrick Sopiarz makes it a 1-0 game at 7:38 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to Beckett Hamilton and Kalder Varga.– The Rebels opened the scoring when the veteran trio of Kalder Varga, Beckett Hamilton and Patrick Sopiarz linked up on the first goal.Varga sent Hamilton in with a long stretch pass, putting him in a race with a Tigers defenseman. Hamilton then flipped a spinning feed to Sopiarz, who sold a fake on Medicine Hat netminder Carter Casey and tucked the puck in on a backhand deke.
Shots on goal in the first period were 14-10 for the Rebels
Liam Ruck scored to the game up for the Tigers with a shorthanded goal at 13:09 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Markus Ruck and Riley Steen.–Medicine Hat answered in the second period. While Red Deer was on the power play, Liam Ruck snuck in alone and finished cleanly, beating Matthew Kondro on a breakaway to tie the game 1-1.
Shots on goal in the second period were 13-8 for the Rebels
Beckett Hamilton gave the Rebels the lead at 14:07 of the third period. The assist on the goal went to Graeme Pickering.– Late in the third, Red Deer pushed into the Medicine Hat zone after Hamilton took a stretch pass from Graeme Pickering, then slipped between a pair of Tigers defenders and Casey to score the eventual winner.
Poul Andersen gave the Rebels a 3-1 lead at 17:23 of the third period with the assist on the goal going to Cameron Kuzma.–Cameron Kuzma entered the Tigers zone and found Poul Andersen wide open in the high slot. Andersen unleashed a laser past Casey to put the game away.
Shots on goal in the third period were 11-8 for the Tigers. The Rebels outshot the Tigers 35-29 in the game.
For the Rebels Matthew Kondro stopped 28 of the 29 shots that he faced for the win. For the Tigers Carter Casey stopped 32 of the 35 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Beckett Hamilton 2) Liam Ruck 3) Patrick Sopiarz
Attendance in Red Deer was 3313
Rebels next game is Wednesday September 30th in Prince Albert against the Raiders
