NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers rookie forward Andrew Basha carries the puck over the blue line in his team's 6-1 loss to the Winnipeg Ice last Saturday at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
There will be no games this weekend for the Medicine Hat Tigers
The Tigers announced Tuesday morning their two home games this upcoming weekend, Saturday against the Moose Jaw Warriors and Sunday against the Edmonton Oil Kings, were postponed due to the pausing of team activities for the Oil Kings and Warriors after multiple players and staff were added to the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List.
The Red Deer Rebels also had team activities put on pause Tuesday morning.
In a press release Tuesday, the Tigers said any fans with tickets for either of the postponed games are to hold onto them, as more information will be provided as it becomes available.
The club also said, “the health and safety of all WHL participants is the top priority for the Medicine Hat Tigers and for the Western Hockey League. In accordance with WHL policy, the Medicine Hat Tigers and the WHL will not be providing further comment or identifying any of the individuals concerned.”
After Tuesday’s announcement, there are now five teams in the WHL that have had their team activities paused. The Swift Current Broncos were put on pause Dec. 30 and a day later the Lethbridge Hurricanes also had their team activities halted.
Since the start of the WHL season on Oct. 1, there have been 14 games postponed due to COVID-19.
When the WHL returned from its holiday break on Dec. 27, 36 WHL players or hockey operations staff had been added to the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List. Two of those were members of the Tigers organization.
With the postponed games, the Tigers are not in action again until next Wednesday, when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings. After that contest, Medicine Hat’s next three games are against teams who are currently on pause by the WHL: Tigers at Moose Jaw on Jan. 14, Lethbridge at Medicine Hat on Jan. 15, and Red Deer at Medicine Hat on Jan. 16.
