The Medicine Hat Tigers beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5:2 in their WHL opener on September 19th. The match took place at the Hurricanes' home rink, though the visitors made it look like a training session. Things came to a head quickly for the hosts, who had nothing to do all evening after the first goal.
We had called the away win before the game, and it was the right call. Confidence sat at 63 per cent, and the Tigers showed why. They didn't need to turn to the kids or make any tactical shifts — just played their game and saw it out.
The Hurricanes arrived with a worrying run of results. A 3:7 loss to Calgary, then 1:4 against Red Deer, followed by that 3:7 defeat to this same Tigers side back on September 6th. By then the pattern was clear: they fell apart after the opener and couldn't recover.
Medicine Hat had been less convincing recently. They dropped a 3:2 win and then a 3:4 loss to Swift Current on consecutive days, but the 7:3 victory over Lethbridge earlier in the month showed their ceiling. They switched off at a set piece in those losses, but against the Hurricanes they had nothing to prove.
The final tally of 5:2 tells you everything about the evening. The Tigers scored at will while the Hurricanes managed two goals, one against the run of play. The visitors made the difference with their forward line, which stayed sharp when it mattered.
Both sides now sit at zero points with zero games officially recorded in the standings, so this opener changes nothing on paper. What it does is set the tone. The Hurricanes will need to work the channels better, and the Tigers will want to avoid the complacency that cost them against Swift Current.
