By Scott Roblin

Cubs allow 14 goals in Red Deer, handed first loss of season

Oct 8, 2017 | 12:41 PM

RED DEER, AB – The Medicine Hat Travelodge Cubs are undefeated no more, as they were blown out by the Red Deer Vipers in HJHL action on Saturday night.

Visiting Collicutt Arena, the Cubs were off to their best start in years with an undefeated 3-0 record.

Red Deer opened up the scoring courtesy of Mack Differenz just 1:29 into the contest, giving the home fans something to cheer about early.

The Cubs were able to get the equalizer at the 8:24 mark of the first, with forward Noah Irvine continuing his strong rookie campaign with his third goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1.

Things turned south for Medicine Hat shortly afterwards however, as the Vipers rattled off three consecutive goals in less than four minutes to boost their lead to 4-1 midway through the period.

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Cubs forward Matt Clement was able to cut Red Deer’s lead to 4-2 with 13 seconds left in the first, scoring on the power play to keep Medicine Hat in the game at the intermission.

Another power play for the Cubs in the early stages of the second, with Irvine scoring his second of the game from Clement and Quinten Karg to make it 4-3 with 16:45 left in the second.

That would be as close as the Cubs would come to tying the game, with Red Deer scoring four more goals over a span of just four minutes.

Medicine Hat head coach J.D. Gaetan made the call to pull starter T.J. Goldie, who left the game with eight goals allowed on 20 shots.

Brendan Patterson came into the game for the Cubs, but allowed two more goals before the end of the frame to Declan Johnston and Differenz to make it a 10-3 lead for Red Deer.

Within the first four minutes of the third period, Red Deer boosted their lead to 12-3 thanks to goals from Logan Linnell and Curtis Hallman.

Differenz scoring his fourth goal of the night midway through the frame, with Johnston completing the hat-trick to finish the onslaught at 14-3 for Red Deer.

Linnell led the way with a six-point evening, while Johnston, Differenz, and Dalton Angeltvedt all had four points or more.

Picking up their first loss of the season, the Cubs record has dropped to 3-1 and are tied for second place in the HJHL’s South Division with Red Deer and Okotoks.

Medicine Hat hits the road for Coaldale on Monday, as they face the Copperheads for the first time this season at 2:30 pm.