Coaldale Copperheads 6, Medicine Hat Cubs 5 — Final
The Coaldale Copperheads built an early four-goal cushion and survived a furious third-period comeback attempt to beat the Medicine Hat Cubs 6-5 on Saturday night at Coaldale Sportsplex.
Coaldale controlled the first period, with Madyx Skrypnyk opening the scoring just 15 seconds in (assisted by Riley Preachuk and Kobe Fujita), Chase Stronge making it 2-0 at 12:39, and Fujita adding his first of the night at 16:48. Medicine Hat’s lone answer in the period came from Treyden Kleinknecht on the power play at 9:45, leaving the Cubs down 3-1 after twenty minutes.
The floodgates opened early in the second: Brent Coleman scored twice in the first 26 seconds of the period — the first on the power play — to push the lead to 5-1. Lucas Dulle got one back for Medicine Hat at 12:05, but Ethan Siemens answered 16 seconds later to restore Coaldale’s four-goal cushion, 6-2, heading to the third.
Medicine Hat mounted a serious push in the third, scoring three unanswered: Ethan Hall at 3:31, Kleinknecht’s second of the game on the power play at 7:54, and Dulle’s second at 19:35 with the goalie pulled. But the Cubs ran out of time, falling 6-5. Coaldale out-shot Medicine Hat 41-28 for the game, including a 17-8 edge in the opening period, while Cubs goaltender Hudson Corbett played all 60 minutes and stopped 35 of 41; Coaldale’s Dakota Hurst also went the distance, stopping 23 of 28 for the win. The first period also featured a fighting major and game misconduct apiece for Medicine Hat’s Wryder Soveran-Welte and Coaldale’s Ethan Scott.