Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin

By Scott Roblin

HJHL Hockey

Cubs net a baker’s dozen in wins over Sylvan Lake, Ponoka

Oct 20, 2019 | 8:48 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Entering his final season of junior hockey, it’s easy to see that Mason Fischer is one motivated member of the Medicine Hat Cubs.

The 21-year-old centre dominated over the weekend for the Cubs, scoring five goals in two games to help Medicine Hat earn back-to-back victories over the Sylvan Lake Wranglers and Ponoka Stampeders.

Fischer recorded a hat-trick and four points against the Wranglers in a 5-3 comeback win for the Cubs at the Kinplex on Saturday night, with Noah Irvine and Levi Schlosser both chipping in goals as well.

That was followed up by an 8-0 beat down of the Stampeders on Sunday afternoon with Medicine Hat recording at least 40 shots for the third game in a row.

Cooper Hilworth opened the scoring for Medicine Hat just 30 seconds into the matinee contest, which was followed up by Schlosser’s second goal in as many games.

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First-year forward Brayden Anderson fired home the first goal of his HJHL career late in the period, putting Medicine Hat ahead 3-0 at the first intermission.

Fischer then took over the second period, adding his fourth and fifth goals of the weekend in the middle stanza to give the Cubs a five-goal lead at the break.

Already with two power play goals under their belt, the Cubs potted two more goals on the man advantage in the third period from Irvine and Mackenzie Fritzler to take a 7-0 lead over Ponoka.

Schlosser scored his second of the afternoon with two minutes remaining in regulation, putting the exclamation mark on a dominant performance for the Cubs.

Dawsen Savage was able to record the first shutout of his junior career on Sunday as well, making 15 saves for the win to lower his save percentage on the season to .929 in three games.

The win also stretches Medicine Hat’s win streak to three with points in their last four, moving into fourth place in the Southern Division with a 5-2-1 record to begin the year.

Two HJHL divisional leaders await the Cubs next weekend, hosting the undefeated Okotoks Bisons on Saturday at 7:45 pm before welcoming the north’s best in the Mountainview Colts on Sunday at 2:15 pm.

Goals for Kids

On Saturday, the Cubs also announced a new partnership between themselves, Home Stay Inn & Suites, and Medicine Hat KidSport.

Beginning with Saturday’s 5-3 win over Sylvan Lake, every goal scored by Cubs at the Kinplex this season will result in a $10 donation made by Home Stay Inn & Suites to KidSport.

A community partner which Cubs general manager and director of hockey operations Dave Kowalchuk said was a no-brainer.

“It’s not just hockey,” said Kowalchuk. “It’s ringette, it’s golf, you name the sport and they’re helping out. For us, we’re a hockey team and we want to just help younger kids out that play the game.”

A big reason for the ongoing fundraiser according to Kowalchuk was giving the Cubs players a chance to contribute and further enticing them to put the puck in the net this season.

“These guys all played minor hockey at one time,” said Kowalchuk. “It goes back to the heart of we all play this game that we love that we started at a young age. For our guys in our dressing room now, it’s more than just winning out there. We’re supporting young families and young hockey players.”

Through two games of the partnership, Home Stay Inn & Suites has donated $130 to the local KidSport chapter.

Kowalchuk added it’s an important initiative for the organization to be involved in, especially with getting players involved in the community.

“They’re seeing what we’re doing as an organization to help out people,” he said. “Maybe those people don’t even come to our game, but we’re still helping them out. So, we want to teach these young guys to be good men and good people in the community to help out wherever they can, whenever they can.”