Cubs win Saturday thriller, lose Sunday
Fans got their money’s worth Saturday evening when the Medicine Hat Cubs played host to the High River Flyers.
After falling down 53 after two periods, the Cubs were able to score four goals to start the third, giving them a 7-5 lead. With two goals late in the period, High River was able to tie the game and force a shoot-out.
After both teams had their first shooter miss, Noah Irvine was able to score in the shoot-out for the Cubs in the second round, giving the Cubs the 8-7 win over the Flyers.
“That was an amazing game,” said Cubs head coach JD Gaetan. “It showed a lot of character to come back from being down there going into the third. We have a great group of young guys here that work hard. We showed last night that we’re never out of a game and we’ll always come out to battle.”
Though the team was trailing for much of the game, Gaetan says he knew the team had plenty of fight left in them heading into the final frame.
“This is a motivated team that likes to win,” he said. I think we had a good game overall, but we had some bad bounces go against us, so I think the guys knew if they kept coming, good things were going to happen for them.”
Gaetan says a comeback win like Saturday’s is big for his team’s confidence.
“To do something like that is huge for any team,” he said. “Coming into today’s (Sunday) game against Red Deer, we feel good. We know they’re a good team, they’re the defending champs from last year, so it’s a big confidence booster coming into this game. We want to build off of it.”
Kaidin Hodgson, Tavin Straub, Kian Simonson, Chasen McKenna, Matt Clement, Bailey Taylor and Tristan Stensrud all scored for the Cubs, while goalie Josh Breznik made 24 saves on 31 shots in the win.
Sunday saw the Cubs play host to Red Deer, and after starting out with an early 1-0 lead, the Cubs were defeated 5-1.
The Cubs next game is Saturday in Coaldale.