Medicine Hat Cubs split home-opening weekend, beat Flyers 5-3 then fall to Colts 5-4
The Heritage Junior Hockey League club raised its championship banner before the season opener, then saw a bench-clearing incident mar Saturday's loss.
The Medicine Hat Cubs opened their regular season with a split over the weekend at the Kinplex, unveiling their 2025-26 Heritage Junior Hockey League championship banner before Friday's game against the Brooks Flyers. Colby Gulliver opened the scoring just 59 seconds in, and the Cubs went on to win 5-3 behind two goals from Brodie Heimebecker and one each from Randen Collier and Cole Fisher. The Cubs outshot Brooks 49-23, with Kayden Van Ham making 20 saves.
On Saturday, the Cubs fell 5-4 to the Mountain View Colts despite an early Gulliver goal and a late tying effort. Jaxon Bohrn, Brennan Finke and Jesse Klimosko also scored for Medicine Hat, but Sawyer Campbell's third-period goal proved to be the winner for Mountain View.
The game turned physical late in the third period when Colts player Joseph Krukowski slashed Cubs goaltender Van Ham, who responded with a flurry of punches. Van Ham was assessed 27 penalty minutes including a game misconduct, while Krukowski received a minor and a misconduct. In total, 101 penalty minutes were handed out. Hudson Corbett relieved Van Ham in net and stopped six shots.
The Cubs return home Friday to host the Rocky Rams at 7:30 p.m.
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