Golden Hawks spreading the scoring around
the Airdrie Extreme — who have two games in hand on Lethbridge — for first in the Ram South Division.
“The thing about this group is the depth has been fairly unique and a bunch of different players contributed on the scoreboard, which is great,” said Golden Hawks head coach Doug Paisley. “We’re really proud of the group overall. Nice to be the first team in the league to get to 10 (wins) and nice to be in a good position in the standings. They’re a hard-working group of kids and they’ve improved a lot and we see nothing but more potential in them. We’re really happy with them.”
Broderson scored shorthanded 1:17 in before Bruns and Garner chipped in with first period goals. Mason Mowat added Medicine Hat’s first period goal.
“I thought the first period we were pretty distracted and fairly complacent,” said Paisley. “We played a team lower in the standings and maybe read into that too much. So we cleaned that up in the second and third period. I thought the kids played the right way, all things considered.”
Lethbridge paced themselves to a 6-1 lead after 40 minutes on goals from Mabin, Tallman and Roersma.
Price scored 7:28 into the third before Broderson completed his hat trick bid.
Carsyn Good scored the second Tigers goal in the third.
“I thought we played really well,” said Garner, who added two assists in Wednesday’s win. “We found a way to get it done. We were moving pucks well and it was nice to see some guys put the puck in the net.”
That shared scoring has proved key early on.
“That’s really big,” said Garner. “We’ve got good depth on our team and it really shows. We can count on all four lines and it works really well.”
The winning start aside, Paisley felt his team is just hitting their stride.
“For the potential of where this can go when everybody starts contributing on the same night, it could be extremely fun to watch,” he said. “We’ve had two lines going with contributions on the scoreboard. Everybody works hard and everybody contributes in certain ways. But when everything is going to click, that’s encouraging because we haven’t seen that yet.”
“So with a 10-3-3 record and lots to build on. We’re pretty comfortable.”
Teigan Pareneau had four assists Wednesday night and Mabin added an assist for two points.
Golden Hawks goaltender Tyler Palmer kicked out 16 shots in the win.
Wednesday’s win keeps the Golden Hawks in a tight race atop the South standings.
The Red Deer Rebels (9-33) have joined the horse race for first in the Ram South Division, while in the Challenger South division, the Calgary Bisons (11-1-2) and Calgary Royals (10-5-1) have also enjoyed strong starts.
“We’ve had good games with Airdrie, nice to get a tie (4-4 on Sunday),” said Paisley. “There’s a team that’s ranked in the top-10 in Western Canada Prospects and we’re just outside that. The Calgary Bisons have had good games with us and Red Deer has been strong. So for us to be where we are in the standings, we’re really proud of the group.”