Tigers face former teammates this weekend

By JAMES TUBB on February 18, 2022.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

Logan Barlage has had this Saturday circled on his calendar since he became a Medicine Hat Tiger.

Barlage and the Tigers are taking on his former club, the Lethbridge Hurricanes, for the first time since he was traded to Medicine Hat on Jan. 17. It’s a matchup with former teammates he said he’s excited for.

“I think playing with those guys for so long, there’s going to be lots of battles on the ice,” Barlage said. “It’s going to be exciting and I am really looking forward to it.”

He said he will acknowledge his former teammates in warmup before focusing on his game once the puck drops. Barlage said he wants to beat his former team and take those points away from them.

“Winning is something I would be happy about and I just think we need to play hard and play our game and we can beat them,” Barlage said.

Saturday’s game also marks the homecoming for Hurricanes forward Corson Hopwo, who went the other way in the Barlage trade and played 170 games over five seasons for the Tigers before the trade.

Tigers rookie Andrew Basha said it should be fun playing against his former teammate and now rival.

“Hops when I came in was a great guy, great leader to me and I learned a bit from him in my short time with him,” Basha said. “Lethbridge is obviously a rival and it’s aways fun to play against them. Should be a fun couple games coming up.”

Before the Tigers reunite with Hopwo they take on another former teammate, Eric Van Impe, tonight in Swift Current. Van Impe was traded on Oct. 7 to the Seattle Thunderbirds as the Tigers had one too many overage players. He was then sent to the Broncos on Dec. 27, hours before Lukas Svejkovsky was sent from the Hat to the Thunderbirds.

Medicine Hat captain Daniel Baker said a lot of the Tigers are pretty excited to see both Van Impe and Hopwo again.

“Those guys are good friends to a lot of us,” Baker said. “It’s going to be nice to play them and I think these are two games we can win.”

Noah Danielson was Hopwo’s linemate this season before the move and said he does not want to lose to either former Tabby.

“I definably don’t want to lose to Imper or Hops, so it’ll be three really good games and I am excited to see those two for sure,” Danielson said.

Danielson likely will not be in the lineup against his former teammates as the Red Deer product suffered a lower-body injury early in the Tigers 4-1 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings Wednesday night and did not return. Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins said Danielson is probably going to be out for a little bit.

Desjardins said he’s looking at the teams the Tigers are facing this weekend but complimented both of his former players.

“Both of those guys were great Tigers when they were here, they played hard and I’ve got lots of respect for them,” Desjardins said.

Tonight’s game in Swift Current gets underway at 6 p.m. and Saturday’s contest at Co-op Place against the Hurricanes starts at 7 p.m.

Tigers schedule changes

Two Tigers home games that were to be played in January and three road games postponed earlier this month have been added to the end of the season.

The Tigers will host the Saskatoon Blades on Apr. 5 before hitting the road for three contests in Manitoba. They’ll face the Brandon Wheat Kings on Apr. 8 before taking on the Winnipeg Ice on Apr 9 and 10.

They will return to the Hat to finish the regular season against the Edmonton Oil Kings on Apr 15. Those games were postponed due to COVID-19 public health concerns and capacity measures.

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