Tigers look to build off Saturday’s character win; tonight’s game postponed

By JAMES TUBB on January 25, 2022.

The Medicine Hat Tigers came out on top 6-4 Saturday night in a back and forth with the Prince Albert Raiders.

Oasiz Wiesblatt led the Tigers offence with his first career hat trick and Garin Bjorklund shut the door in the third period for his sixth win of the season.

The win came 24 hours after the Tigers were handily defeated 9-2 by the Saskatoon Blades, a game Medicine Hat led 2-0 early. Associate coach Joe Frazer said it was huge seeing the Tigers bouncing back from that big loss on Friday to get the win on Saturday.

“I think any time you lose you want to bounce back, but I think the way we lost Friday, obviously it wasn’t a great feeling in the room afterwards,” Frazer said. “So just to see the character of the guys, I think our leadership’s been great with Baker all year. I think Carter Chorney has come in and been a huge addition to the leadership – Logan Barlage, lots of guys are stepping up leading and I think Saturday’s win was a huge character win to bounce back.”

Bjorklund started Friday’s loss and was pulled for his second consecutive game after giving up six goals on 16 shots. He was back between the pipes against the Raiders and stopped 31 shots, including all 10 in the third period, to pick up the win.

The Grande Prairie product said he was happy both to get back in a game right away and to get the start from Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins.

“Bounces haven’t been going my way these past few games and we go to the rink to pack our gear and Willie pulls me to the side, asks if I had a good sleep, I said yea and he said, ‘Good because you’re going in today, so let’s get a win tonight.’ Happy now that that’s what happened,” Bjorklund said.

The win on Saturday was Medicine Hat’s first in regulation time since they beat the Raiders 6-2 on Oct. 22.

Wiesblatt said it was pretty surreal to get his first career hat trick and added he’s getting more confident with every game. He has eight goals and 10 points in 37 games this season. His brother Ozzy is the Raiders’ leading scorer but missed the game due to injury. Wiesblatt said it was still calming to see him there and he enjoyed playing in front of him.

“I was just excited, I saw him in the warm ups and it calmed me the whole game,” said Wiesblatt. “After the second goal I yelled at him, just had fun with it and few of their teammates were chirping me so it was good.”

The Calgary product picked up more ice time in the game due to his play but also because Tigers leading scorer Tyler MacKenzie went down with an upper-body injury. Frazer said MacKenzie wasn’t going to be in the lineup when the Tigers were set to host the Saskatoon Blades at Co-op Place tonight, but that game was since postponed.

The Western Hockey League announced Monday afternoon that the Saskatoon Blades are unable to field a complete team, as they currently have nine players on the COVID-19 protocol list. No makeup date was announced for the game.

Medicine Hat’s next game comes Saturday when they host the Calgary Hitmen.

Frazer said MacKenzie is still being evaluated and could not give an update on how long he will be out of the Tigers lineup. He did say it will take players like Wiesblatt and rookie Steven Arp to step up with the opportunity for added ice time.

“(Wiesblatt)is going to be huge, I think a lot of guys are going to have to step up. Mac has been one of our most consistent players all year. His compete level, his energy, really drives the bus for us,” Frazer said. “I think Steven Arp is going to see a lot more minutes and he’s earned it, he’s working hard and getting better every day. So it’s exciting for some more guys to get more opportunity.”

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