Late penalty sinks Cubs Saturday in Coaldale

The Medicine Hat Cubs were unable to repeat their comeback magic from last weekend, falling behind early in their game against the Coledale Copperheads Saturday and falling short of the comeback.

The team traveled to Coledale for a late-night tilt with the Copperheads, and found themselves down 2-0 after the opening frame. The team surrendered a short-handed goal and an even strength goal two minutes apart in the first.

Noah Irvine got the Cubs on the board early in the second with a power-play tally assisted by Matt Clement.

The two teams then exchanged goals, and the Copperheads added one late in the second frame to take a 4-2 lead.

The Cubs had tied the game with six minutes left in the final frame, but then took a fiveminute boarding major, where Coledale scored two goals to seal the game. “I thought we played a good game, but it’s a tough one to lose,” said Cubs head coach JD Gaetan. “We had good chances, and they did too. It was good to see the guys comeback and not give up, but that penalty at the end really hurt us — it really decided the game.”

With one successful, and one unsuccessful comeback in their books in just under a week, Gaetan says he wants to see the team grabbing an early lead, and not playing from behind.

“Obviously these are great games to watch, but we can’t always be playing from behind,” he said. “They’re fun to watch, but you want to see your team have the lead a little more. Coledale is a really good team, and they were last year.

“We showed that we can skate with really good teams every night. We’ve had some really close games with some really good teams, and we’ve shown great character in those games.”

The Cubs now sit at 6-8-0 in their 14 games on the year.

The team will travel to Stettler Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. tilt with the Stettler Lighting.