NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Carter Chorney takes a quick sip of water before the opening face-off of the Tigers 6-2 loss to the Red Deer Rebels on Mar. 12.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Carter Chorney wasn’t a Tiger for long but the 20-year-old won’t forget his time in Medicine Hat.
“I have nothing bad to say, it’s been awesome this whole time – coaches, players, I’ve learned here, I’ve made friends (for) probably the rest of my life,” Chorney said. “It’s awesome, and I’m obviously looking forward to what’s ahead but looking back, everything was awesome.”
The Sherwood Park product was drafted in 2016 by the Spokane Chiefs and suited up for 219 WHL games and had 31 goals and 64 points over five seasons with the Chiefs, Swift Current Broncos, Regina Pats and Tigers. Chorney joined Medicine in December while he was playing for his hometown Crusaders of the AJHL.
When Chorney joined the Tigers, it came after a discussion with a good friend, Medicine Hat captain Daniel Baker. The duo played summer hockey together and were reunited in both of their final years of junior hockey.
Since donning the orange and black, Chorney has provided a veteran presence to the young lineup and imparted some of the lessons he learned over his career.
One of those lessons is the pre-game puck toss some teams partake in, where before warmups players will try to toss pucks onto the ice and have them rest on certain face off dots or ads on the ice. Chorney said it’s something he was introduced to as a young player in the league and was happy to incorporate the young Tigers into it.
“I’ve kind of done it for the past couple of years, when I was young the older guys I’d watch do it and learn from them, but me and Baks kind of threw them,” Chorney said. “The young guys kind of just watched a little bit and we worked it into the game a bit so we’ll leave that for them next year.”
He hopes he also leaves behind with his teammates that he took pride in working hard and was a good person.
“Just pushing myself day to day and like, being a good guy is something I pride myself on,” Chorney said. “To show up every day, no matter if it’s just helping a guy out or giving him a pat on the back, I’d like to be remembered that I was a solid guy.”
Playing for multiple teams in the WHL, Chorney is thankful to the all of his coaches and his family for following and supporting him wherever his hockey dream took him next.
“My family’s biggest, my brother, just the support they’re giving me these past five years travelling to Spokane, Swift, Med Hat, everywhere they’ve been around and never not supported me the whole way,” Chorney said. “My grandparents, too, and everyone at every organization I’ve been with, everyone’s been so good.”
As for what’s next, Chorney said he’s playing it by year. He said he’ll miss going to the rink and knowing that whether he had a hard practice or wasn’t good mentally on a certain day, his teammates would be there and would make everything better.
“There’s not a better place,” Chorney said.
When asked what a 14-year-old Carter Chorney would think about his WHL career, he said he’d be happy.
“(I’d) definitely look back and maybe give him a few tips and stuff but I’m sure he’d be happy,” Chorney said. “Happy looking at where I am right now.”
