NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB Medicine Hat Tigers top prospect Gavin McKenna celebrates scoring his first Western Hockey League goal in a 7-0 win over the Regina Pats at a sold-out Co-op Place on Saturday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Western Hockey League teams have benefited all season from fans selling out arenas around the league to see projected first overall pick Connor Bedard. The Medicine Hat Tigers believe they’ve played well enough in those games for those new fans to stay.
“I know for a lot of players and especially myself, I’ve never played in front of this many fans and I think it just makes us want to be better and prove to our fans that we’re a team to watch and that we’re getting on a run here,” said Tigers forward Shane Smith ahead of their 7-0 win against the Regina Pats on Saturday.
There were 6,405 fans in attendance at Co-op Place for that win, breaking the previous sell-out record of 6, 178 set on Feb. 5 the last time Regina was in Medicine Hat. The Tigers’ next largest crowd this season was 3,244, set Jan. 7 in a 6-4 loss to the Swift Current Broncos, a game that featured a charity jersey and top prospect Gavin McKenna.
Tigers’ forward Andrew Basha, who gave the crowd plenty to cheer about scoring his first career hat trick – he finished with four goals on the night – was all smiles talking about the fans and how they could impact a potential playoff series.
“For the fans to sell out, that was amazing, and be loud as well, it was huge … it was amazing to get a big win like that in front of so many people,” Basha said. “Within our group it shows us we have all those fans who have our back and we have a lot of support. Hopefully we get some big turnouts moving forward, (it was) just a really special night for the whole group.”
The Tigers have six more games in the regular season campaign, three in the friendly confines of Co-op Place. They host the Calgary Hitmen on Saturday before the Edmonton Oil Kings are in town on Mar. 22, and they wrap up the regular season by hosting the Swift Current Broncos on Mar 25.
Coming out of the weekend Medicine Hat sits in seventh place in the Eastern conference and in a playoff spot. Forward Tomas Mrsic, who scored in Saturday’s win, says they are looking forward to hopefully packing the arena themselves come the postseason.
“I hope they keep coming back and seeing that we’re winning, not just coming for one guy on the other team,” Mrsic said. “For playoffs it should be pretty good and then as the years come by, we’ll keep getting better and better and hopefully build that fan base.”
Mrsic attributed his big celebration in the win to having that fan energy pump him up, keeping his energy level at 100 through the game. That constant energy is what associate coach Joe Frazer says gives them an advantage when the building is full.
“When you’re feeling tired at the end of the shift, just having all those fans in the building and that energy, it helps you go harder to finish that shift off,” Frazer said.
Frazer says it’s up to the coach staff not to get too excited with it, having to keep the emotions even keel on the bench to help keep players calm while 6,000 fans cheer them on. Frazer was on the roster and behind the bench when the Tigers’ nightly attendance was 4,006 at The Arena. As was head coach Willie Desjardins who continues to thank the Medicine Hat faithful for sticking with the team through their difficult 2021-22 season and are starting to reap the rewards.
“It’s huge when you have that fan support, I’ve always said we have great fans here in Medicine Hat, we really do,” Desjardins said. “I appreciate them sticking with us, I’m hoping they’ll be excited as we build here. We’ll get a few more big crowds as we go over the next few years.”
Tigers jersey auction raises over $8,000 for President’s Choice Children’s Charity
The Medicine Hat Tigers fan created orange jerseys caught the eyes of a lot of charitable fans.
The Tigers raised $8,780 through online auctions of the alternate orange jersey worn on Feb. 25 and created by eight-year-old local fan Maddy Rieger.
The jerseys were part of the CHL’s Your Team Your Jersey game in partnership with Real Canadian Superstore, with all auction proceeds going to support President’s Choice Children’s Charity.
Medicine Hat beat the Memorial Cup hosts Kamloops Blazers 7-3 in that game.
