Kemp returns from hit, tallies four points in wild Tigers win over Seattle

Kemp, along with James Hamblin and Dylan Plouffe, all recorded multi-goal nights for Medicine Hat to help the Tigers sweep their weekend home stand for four points.

Kicking off a wild first period with his 17th goal of the campaign, Kemp picked up the puck on the wing and executed a perfect wraparound 1:07 into the night for the early Tigers lead.

Kemp chipped in on another Tigers goal later in the period by taking advantage of a blown tire from Seattle defender Cade McNelly, before finding Nick McCarry to make it a 2-0 game.

That would kick off a wild 3:23 of action that would feature four more goals lighting the lamp before the first intermission buzzer.

Less than a minute after McCarry’s late period marker, Seattle import Andrej Kukuca was able to steal the puck of Medicine Hat’s Nick Perna and walk in alone for his team’s first goal of the evening.

Kukuca wasn’t done there, taking advantage of another Tigers defensive miscue to net his second goal in 23 seconds past Garin Bjorklund to knot up the score at 2-2.

Off the ensuing face-off it was the Tigers responding, as Hamblin took the puck on the right side and needed just seven seconds to put his team back into the lead with career goal 101.

“We’ve just made it a goal of ours to come out flying at the beginning of a period,” said Hamblin. “We’ve been doing a great job of that and hopefully we can keep doing that.”

Just when it looked as though Medicine Hat would head to the intermission with the lead, Seattle was able to answer with a Conner Roulette 3-3 tying goal following a fire drill at the side of the Tigers net.

“It was definitely hard on the bench but we were lucky enough that it was at the end of the period there,” said Kemp. “We just wanted to get back to our game in the intermission and we definitely did that.”

In his first game back at the Canalta Centre since last January’s trade to Seattle, Henrik Rybinski made his former team pay 2:21 into the second period by finishing off a cross-ice pass from Keltie Jeri-Leon to give the Thunderbirds their first lead of the game.

“It was a good experience, it was great to be back,” said Rybinski. “I loved my time here and it was good to be back playing at the Canalta Centre. Obviously, you want to score against your old team. I got a nice play from Keltie, just closed my eyes and hoped it went in.”

Attention would quickly turn to Kemp a few minutes later as he was pushed from behind into the corner boards by Seattle’s Luke Bateman, leaving the Tigers veteran on the ice in a considerable amount of pain.

“Kind of just got shoved and kind of went into the boards face first,” said Kemp. “My face hit against the boards and I went down after that. I was just tingling all over, but I was definitely lucky enough to come back.”

Kemp would be able to skate off the ice on his own power and returned to the game later in the second, while Bateman was not penalized on the play to a chorus of boos from the Canalta Centre crowd.

A subsequent tripping penalty against Thunderbirds blueliner Owen Williams gave Medicine Hat their first power play of the night, which was capped off with a Plouffe bomb from the point to tie the game at 4-4.

If there was any doubt Kemp wasn’t feeling up to snuff returning to the ice, that was erased with 7:18 left in the second period after second his second of the game off a perfectly placed backhand feed from Ryan Chyzowski.

“He was great all night,” said assistant coach Joe Frazer. “You never want to see him get injured like he did. But, for him to battle, come back and play the way he did, it says a lot about his toughness.”

Hamblin’s stellar weekend continued just 12 seconds into the third frame, netting his fourth goal in a little over five periods of hockey to give Medicine Hat a bit of insurance.

With 6:03 remaining, Cole Sillinger got in on the offensive explosion for the Tigers by picking up a loose puck in the slot and sniping his 13th of the season past Blake Lyda for his team’s eighth goal.

Kemp was able to pick up an assist on Sillinger’s marker, bringing himself up to four points against the Thunderbirds.

Kukuca was able to complete the hat-trick just a few minutes later for Seattle, but Medicine Hat ran out the clock to earn their third victory in four games.

Along with Kemp, Hamblin and Plouffe recording two-goal nights, it was Daniel Baker, Corson Hopwo, and Chyzowski joining them with multi-point efforts.

In a game that featured little to no defence, Bjorklund picked up the win with 24 saves on 29 shots while Seattle’s Lyda allowed eight goals on 46 shots against.

Earning their 25th victory of the season, the 25-11-1-1 Tigers remain in third place in the Central Division standings with 52 points and sit just one point back of Lethbridge for second.

Two mid-week games in Manitoba await the Tigers this week with a date in Brandon against the Wheat Kings on Tuesday night before paying their first visit to Winnipeg and the newly relocated ICE on Wednesday.

by Scott Roblin

Kemp returns from hit, tallies four points in wild Tigers win over Seattle

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