McGovern hoping to step up in the crease for Tigers

By Ryan McCracken on September 9, 2017.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Duncan McGovern learned a number of things after being sent from the Medicine Hat Tigers to the Dauphin Kings to fill a development role last season — namely, how much better it is in the WHL.

The 17-year-old netminder took in seven games with the Tigers before the trade that secured Michael Bullion resulted in his departure to Dauphin. With a full-time spot open on this year’s roster, McGovern says he plans on leaving it all on the line in pre-season.

“It was definitely a different experience playing in Dauphin. We were the worst or second-worst team in the (Manitoba Junior Hockey League) when I got there so I faced a lot more shots and a lot more scoring opportunities,” said McGovern, adding being with the Tigers for all 72 games is the only thing on his mind this month. “It’s a great franchise here and that’s all I want right now. It’s all I focused on all summer. I’ve trained really hard for this and I’m ready to compete really hard for that spot and hopefully push for No. 1 this year too.”

McGovern impressed the Tigers’ brass at last year’s camp as well, earning the backup role behind Nick Schneider to start the season. But the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Winnipeg product says the entire team has taken things up a notch this pre-season, and it seems to be paying off across the board.

“The compete level has been really good at camp,” said McGovern, who finished last season’s seven-game stint with a 4.28 goals against average, an. 854 save percentage and a 3-4-0-0 record. “There’s certainly more competition that last year and it’s good to see guys like (Garin) Bjorklund and (Kaeden) Lane doing well for themselves.”

McGovern will share goaltending duties with Lane when the Tigers hit the ice in Moose Jaw Saturday against the Warriors, while Bjorklund has been released to further develop his game before reaching full-time eligibility next fall. With Bullion entering overage status and prospective starter Jordan Hollett suffering from a case of mono, Clouston says McGovern and Lane have a window to showcase their abilities and stake their claim to the dressing room.

“There are lots of moving pieces right now. There are overage implications and now we’ve got a guy that’s not healthy. We’ll have to get a read on how long Jordan is out and just evaluate the play of the players, our depth and a whole bunch of different situations,” said Clouston, adding he’s been impressed with the development he’s seen from McGovern and Lane through their first two pre-season wins. “Both of them had a great start to their exhibition season last weekend.”

The Tigers haven’t seen much out of Hollett since he was shipped to the Gas City in exchange for Matt Bradley back in May. While he showed up for training camp and skated in the team’s first scrimmage, Clouston says Hollett quickly fell ill and even ended up in the hospital.

“He was really struggling for a few days. He spent three or four days in the hospital. When he was cleared to get out and cleared to travel everybody felt it was in his best interest to go home and rest,” said Clouston. “It knocked him out. He lost like 20 pounds, so it’s going to take a while for him to get back and healthy enough to compete at this level.”

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