NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers prospect Shane Smith looks to make a pass with two attacking Hitmen in the first period of the Tigers 2-0 loss to Calgary at Co-op Place on Mar. 26.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The pedigree for the Medicine Hat Tigers prospects continues to grow. On Sunday, four future Tabbies – Shane Smith, Josh Van Mulligen, Zach Zahara and Cole Unger – won the Mac’s Invitational Tournament championship in Calgary while playing for the South Alberta Hockey Academy.
They join Tomas Mrsic, Cayden Lindstrom and Diego Buttazzoni, who each won a CSSHL championship with their respective hockey schools, as Tigers prospects who have won major championships this season.
Tigers associate coach Joe Frazer said it was great to see SAHA win a championship like that and credited the staff of head coach Brayden Desjardins and assistants Gavin Broadhead and Torrin White in the win.
“The coaching staff obviously did an amazing job all year, whenever guys came up to us, they fit right in,” Frazer said. “That’s a credit to Brayden, Gavin and Torrin. Obviously the phenomenal job with that team this year and it’s great to see those guys win championships, it’s really good”
Smith was named the Mac’s Playoff MVP with two goals and an assist in the finals, and Zahara picked up the win in net.
When asked what their’s and the other prospects’ performances mean heading into the off-season, Frazer said it should give them confidence.
“For Shane to be MVP of the championship game, you want players that show up in big games, when the pressure’s on you need players to perform well and obviously he did,” Frazer said. “We heard Zahara was outstanding and also Josh and Cole. But to be able to win championships, it takes a lot. It’s just a great experience for them and hopefully that gives them confidence and pushes them to train even harder this summer to come and make an impact next year.”
Smith said the win was a moment he’ll never forget and thinks it will translate to his game at the next level.
“This was a great moment to hopefully cap off my midget career,” Smith said. “… I think it gives me a lot of confidence and I think it just shows you can truly do anything if you work hard because we we’re definitely underdogs coming in this tournament, and I think just anything can happen when you work your best.”
Van Mulligen said the win will only fuel his work in the summer.
“Once you get a taste of winning, you just want to maintain it,” Van Mulligen said. “Obviously we’re going to put in a lot of work this summer and then come into next year a different team.”
With the Tigers’ season coming to a close Friday with their final game, Frazer said this week will be about getting ready for that contest and setting players up for success in what is an important summer for the franchise.
“We’re going to do your own testing, our exit meetings, so that way we can go through everything with the guys and lay out the game plan of what we need to do this summer. Obviously, we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Frazer said. “That’s exciting. You have to want to keep getting better and you have to look forward to that. So now we need to work this summer, put a lot of work into it, and that’s kind of what’s going to be the message here the last week.”
The Tigers host the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday night at Co-op Place, 7 p.m., for fan appreciation night.
