The Tigers take a bite out of Whalers

VANCOUVER, Monday, May 21, 2007 – The Medicine Hat Tigers secured a spot in at least the Tie-Braker game after defeating the Plymouth Whalers 4-1 in game four of the 2007 MasterCard Memorial Cup Tournament in front of 12,601 fans assembled at Pacific Coliseum.

The Tigers drew first blood as forward Brennan Bosch opened the scoring with less than two minutes gone by in the opening period with his first marker of the tournament. Shortly thereafter, Tyler Ennis doubled the Tigers’ lead by beating Whalers’ backstop Michal Neuvirth with a soft wrist shot. After yielding two goals on four shots, head coach Mike Vellucci had seen enough and pulled his starting goaltender in favor of Jeremy Smith.

“We weren’t ready to play, and I take full responsibility,” said Vellucci. “I though Jeremy played well for us when he came in for Michal. Although he gave up a few soft goals, our team really didn’t support him. Every game is an elimination game from here on out.”

Tom Sestito had a great opportunity to cut the lead to one, but he missed a wide-open net with eight minutes remaining in the first period.

Tyler Ennis scored his second goal of the evening on the powerplay shortly after the first whistle announcing the start of second-period action to put the Tigers up by three goals and essentially put the game out of reach. He would later be named the game’s first star.

Daine Todd registered Medicine Hat’s fourth and final goal in the third period.

James Neal took away Matt Keetley’s shutout bid with his third marker of the tournament.

Medicine Hat Tigers head coach, Willie Desjardins, was quick to praise his team’s play. “The guys showed a lot of skill out there. Every game is tough, but we battled throughout,” he said.

On Tuesday, the Lewiston MAINEiacs will face the Plymouth Whalers at 5:00 PT / 8:00 ET on Rogers Sportsnet, RDS and INSINC.