NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins waits on the bench ahead of the third period of a 10-2 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Dec. 13 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers find themselves in a similar spot for the second straight second half.
They sit first in the Central division and one point back of the Prince Albert Raiders for the Eastern conference lead. A year ago they led both conference and division, one point ahead of the Saskatoon Blades and Calgary Hitmen.
They have 35 games on the horizon as they look to get back to where they finished last year, at the Memorial Cup final with a WHL championship ring on the way. There’s a lot that has to go right between now and then, as well as some steps taken forward, according to head coach Willie Desjardins.
“I look at guys and if you just put a number on it, they’re at a 70, but they can be at 90 or their potential is 100, well they’re playing at 75 right now,” Desjardins said. “They still have another 25 per cent that’s in them that they’re not at yet.
“It’s really, really hard to get to that extra per cent, that’s not very easy. But you know when you see that they can do it and now it’s just to get them there.”
The Tigers have seen multiple players find a new step in the first half, none more prevalent than their top defence pairing of captain Bryce Pickford and Jonas Woo.
Pickford, who signed his entry-level contract with the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, leads all WHL skaters and CHL defenceman in goals this season with 25, adding 44 points in 31 games. Woo is third on the Tigers in points with 16 goals and 41 points. He’s also third in WHL defenceman points and second in goals, he leads all WHLers with a +40 plus/minus.
The Ruck twins, Markus and Liam, have each taken a step and sit second and fourth in team scoring respectively. Markus has seven goals and 42 points, Liam has 14 goals and 41 points, both playing 33 games.
The Tigers’ five newest skaters, Yaroslav Bryzgalov (six goals, 27 points), Noah Davidson (nine goals, 18 points), Kyle Heger (five goals, 13 points), Kade Stengrim (six goals, 12 points) and Gavin Kor (two goals, nine points) have taken steps while getting their first look at the WHL.
While Desjardins looks for players to reach that 100 per cent level, he says it comes with a challenge: they’ve never played at that level before. He says players often don’t know it’s inside them or that they can reach it.
“The only way you get it lots of times is to get pushed, if it’s easy, you don’t have to go that extra bit, it’s getting pushed, and a lot of times, it’s consistency – probably more than anything,” Desjardins said.
“That’s why I know players have more is because for a short glimpse, I’ll see that really high level. And if you see it once, you can get it again. Yeah. But saying that, it’s not very easy to get there, that’s really hard to get there every day and do it, but that’s what you strive for.”
Desjardins says the work him and former captain Oasiz Wiesblatt put in last season is an example, the pair working for five years on taking fewer penalties, finally paying off in the playoffs and Memorial Cup.
It takes time and work, Desjardins says, but also the feeling of winning. The franchise’s winningest coach has won a lot, sitting ninth all time among WHL coaches. He says the feeling of winning and success is the best motivator a player can have to find that next level.
“Just feeling how great winning is and how much fun it is that you want it, like you really want it,” Desjardins said. “And you look at your teammates and you see how bad they want it, and it makes you go to a level that’s hard to get to. But when you’re really passionate and you’re driving, you can get to it.”
The Tigers will start the second half healthy, only missing defenceman Veeti Väisänen who is playing for Finland at the World Juniors. A welcomed sight after missing forward Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll and defenceman Niilopekka Muhonen for a majority of the first half.
Eleven days after returning from the holiday break last year the Tigers made a splash, acquiring defenceman Tanner Molendyk and forward Misha Volotovskii in a blockbuster trade with the Saskatoon Blades. Just 12 days out from the Jan. 8 trade deadline, Desjardins says they will see how the market pans out.
He says it’s hard to win in the WHL and hard to be a team who challenges each year.
“The extent teams go for is not like they used to, like the last 10 years, maybe, but there’s lots of big trades and it’s not just one or two teams,” Desjardins said. “You look at last year, Calgary and Lethbridge both made lots of trades and we were fortunate enough to come out of it. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get to playoffs, anything can happen.
“It’s such a risk to go all in on any of it because you get an injury at the wrong time, bad goalie at the wrong time, you don’t get out and then you’ve wasted your future a little bit for for something that never happened. So last year was really great for us. We were able to find a way to win, it was a special group, but it is a challenge right now to manage to be good every year and still be great some years.”
