Photo courtesy of Medicine Hat Cubs

By Scott Roblin

HJHL Hockey

Late Airdrie flurry sinks Cubs in 2019-20 season opener

Sep 21, 2019 | 2:20 PM

AIRDRIE, AB – For 58 minutes the Medicine Hat Cubs hung with the defending provincial champions, however a late push Friday from the Airdrie Thunder was just too much.

The Cubs lost their 2019-20 season opener to the defending HJHL champion Thunder, losing their first game of the season by a 3-1 count.

Second-year goalie Brett Vanderveer stood on his head for Medicine Hat with 13 saves in the first period, however he was beaten by Airdrie’s Kirkland Spencer with 90 seconds remaining before the intermission to open the scoring.

Medicine Hat and Airdrie traded chances in the middle stanza with 21 combined shots, however Vanderveer and Jackson Little stopped everything they faced to keep it a 1-0 game after 40 minutes.

The Cubs were dealt a blow early in the third period as Desmond Crawford was given five and a game misconduct for a cross checking play, putting the visitors down a man.

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That didn’t seem to faze the Cubs veterans however, as assistant captain Mackenzie Fritzler tied up the score at 1-1 with a power play goal for Medicine Hat’s first tally of the season.

With overtime looming, it was Thunder forward Tristan Paquette scoring the go-ahead goal for Airdrie with just 2:03 left in regulation to break the deadlock.

Kyle Bracko added an empty-netter for Airdrie in the final minute of play to put a ribbon on both teams’ first game of the 2019-20 campaign.

Vanderveer was solid in the loss with 37 saves on 39 Thunder shots, while Little made 27 saves in the victory.

The Cubs will head to High River next Friday for their second game of the HJHL season, before holding their home opener at a renovated Kinplex on September 29 at 2:45 pm against Lomond.