By Taylor Chartrand

Rockets get an early Christmas present knocking off the Tigers 2-1

Dec 15, 2018 | 10:32 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – It’s been awhile since the Medicine Hat Tigers lost a game. More specifically, their last loss came on December 4th on the road against the Brandon Wheat Kings (4-1).

Since then, the Tigers put together a four game win streak.

However, Medicine Hat fell just shy of stretching it to five in a row Saturday night against the visiting Kelowna Rockets.

The first period was a back and forth battle, but that wasn’t what it would be remembered for.

Just over eight minutes into the opening frame, the referee signalled for a delayed penalty to the Rockets Nolan Foote.

HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW

Summer pool hours extended and discounts applied as Big Marble Go Centre upgrades start

Apr 18, 2024

Medicine Hat company drawing in clients with witty signage

Apr 16, 2024

Medicine Hat College holding event for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness day

Apr 16, 2024

Tigers goaltender Jordan Hollett vacated the net for an extra attacker. Bryan Lockner attempted a pass towards Dylan MacPherson, but instead, the puck slid past the overager and into the empty cage.

Rockets forward Leif Mattson was creditted with potentially the easiest goal of his WHL career, and gave the road team a 1-0 lead.

Midway through the second period, Kelowna took advantage of a powerplay opportunity with MacPherson in the box for interference.

Mattson finished off a beautiful passing play by deflecting his second goal of the night past Hollett. That gave Kelowna a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.

With 5:52 remaining in the third period, Tigers captain James Hamblin gave fans something to cheer about.

The 5’9″ forward picked up a loose puck in the slot and slid it past Rockets rookie goaltender Roman Basran, getting the home side on the board 2-1.

That was as close as the Tigers would get to muscling out a third period comeback, snapping their four game winning streak.

It was certainly a goaltenders duel in this one, as Hollett turned away 18 of a possible 19 shots. His counterpart, Bazran, proved influencial for the Rockets, stopping 31 of 32 shots and earning the game’s first star.

“We just weren’t able to score tonight,” explained Clouston. ” I just didn’t think we had quite enough energy from start to finish from enough guys. It was a bit of a struggle, but we did push and play hard, we just found tonight to be tough.”

After notching his 17th goal of the season, Hamblin echoed Clouston’s comments.

“It was tough,” said Hamblin “I didn’t think our effort was fully there, which is really disappointing being the last game before the break. Tough break on the first goal, but we had a chance, just needed a little more effort.”

Following Saturday night’s loss, the Tabbies have now fallen to 17-15-1-2 on the season, good for 37 points and the first Eastern Conference Wild Card spot.

Next action for the Orange and Black is slated for Friday, December 28 when they welcome the Kootenay ICE to the Canalta Centre. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.