Playoff positioning at the fore as Tigers host Hitmen tonight
By RYAN MCCRACKEN on March 6, 2020.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com
There likely won’t be any tiebreakers for final playoff spots this season, but the race for placement has reached a boiling point in the Western Hockey League’s Central Division.
Although the Edmonton Oil Kings have all but cemented their place as Central champions, the Medicine Hat Tigers, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Calgary Hitmen remain in a tightly-knit battle for the following three spots in the division – and with Calgary in town to face the Tabbies tonight, it’s safe to say playoff mentalities have already taken hold.
“I think you can feel the energy in the room. The excitement is building,” said assistant coach Joe Frazer, whose Tigers have eight games left in the regular season. “Half the battle is just managing that. The energy is great but we’ve got to make sure it’s focused in the right direction.”
With just two points separating the Tigers from Lethbridge, and Calgary sitting four points back of Medicine Hat, it’s sure to be a wild dash to the finish. Falling to fourth would put the Tigers into a wild card spot – and with it a probable first-round date with the East Division champions – making tonight’s final meeting of the regular season between Medicine Hat and Calgary nothing short of crucial.
“We need to clinch that third spot, hopefully we can catch Lethbridge and get the second spot,” said Tigers defenceman Cole Clayton. “We just don’t want to be in the wild card spot like Calgary is right now. It’s a four-point game, so hopefully we can get the win. They’ve been playing well but so have we, so we need to get that win.”
After hosting Calgary and Edmonton on Friday and Saturday, respectively, the Tigers face both the Red Deer Rebels and Swift Current Broncos two more times before closing out the season with a Highway 3 home-and-home against Lethbridge.
“They’re four-point nights every night,” said Tigers captain James Hamblin. “Each game is huge. Even just getting ready for the playoffs, we want to really find our game in these last eight.”
The Hurricanes face a different push to the finish. They’ll be in B.C. this weekend to take on the Kamloops Blazers and Kelowna Rockets before battling the Oil Kings twice and the Broncos once, then closing out the campaign with two against the Tabbies.
As for the Hitmen, after facing Medicine Hat Friday and hosting the Spokane Chiefs Saturday, they’ll finish off the schedule with home-and-homes against the Rebels and Broncos. Calgary snapped a three-game slide Wednesday with a 4-3 win over the Saskatoon Blades and have won seven of their past 11 games to challenge Medicine Hat for a top-three spot in the division – though the Tigers still hold a four-point lead with two games in hand.
“The Central Division is always tough. You’ve got some real well-run organizations so you know you’re in for a dogfight every year and this year is no different,” said Frazer. “I think the key is just making sure we’re mentally focused for these last (eight), to keep improving and just make some tweaks here and there to get the details ready for when playoffs come, and it’s coming up quick.”
A little further down in the standings the playoff picture is all but determined. The Red Deer Rebels can theoretically catch the Blades for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and out both the Prince George Cougars and Tri-City Americans are still technically in the mix against the Western wild card-holding Rockets and Seattle Thunderbirds, but all three would need to make up more points than they have games remaining in the season.
The Tigers and Hitmen hit the Canalta Centre tonight for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
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