Rassell to lead Tigers into season

By Ryan McCracken on September 22, 2017.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Mark Rassell will lead the Medicine Hat Tigers into the 2017-18 Western Hockey League season as captain of the franchise when the puck drops for tonight’s 7 p.m. opener in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes.

The 20-year-old Calgary product has been with the Tigers since cracking the roster to start the 2014-15 season, and says it’s truly an honour to be signaled as not just a leader on the team, but the leader.

“It’s definitely an honour to be putting it on for the first time,” said Rassell, who led the Tigers with 36 goals and added 25 assists last year. “I’m in my fourth year here and I got to learn from Tyler Lewington, Ty Stanton and Clay Kirichenko before me, and it’s exciting to see those guys all have great hockey careers. It’s an honour to look back not only at those guys, but all the guys in the past who have worn the C and what they’ve amounted to not only in hockey but in life.”

Fellow forward Mason Shaw was initially pegged to captain the Tigers this season, but a torn ACL threw a wrench in the proverbial gears and opened the door for Rassell. While Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston says there’s simply no replacing Shaw, Rassell is the perfect substitute.

“He’s an intelligent guy, he cares about his teammates and he has a real good feel for what’s going on in the room — and he’s got a good sense of humour. I think there will be times in the season where we need to keep it a little bit light,” said Clouston of his new captain. “You can never replace a guy like Mason. He’s definitely irreplaceable. When he gets back, if he wants the C he’s still our captain. We feel really fortunate that we have a guy who will be able to lead and has tremendous leadership abilities. We feel lucky that Mark Rassell has accepted that.”

While Rassell is perhaps known best for his abilities as a penalty killer, the 6-foot-1, 186-pound winger has made a name for himself in the community over the past few years that extends well beyond the limitations of the boards. Rassell earned the team’s community service award in each of the past three seasons — sharing the honour with Alex Mowbray in 2015 and 2016 before splitting the award with NickSchneider last year.

While some players view activities like visiting schools as a chore that comes with playing junior hockey its highest level, Rassell says it’s something he looks forward to every season.

“I’m a very outgoing guy, I like talking hockey and Ilike talking to fans. Going out into the community, some people see it as a chore but I see it as a privilege to be able to represent our team and the community of Medicine Hat,”said Rassell. “It’s very exciting for me to be giving back to the community, going into the schools and the community, giving speeches to school kids about our lifestyle and being a guy people aren’t afraid to come up to in public and talk to.”

Clouston added Rassell truly exemplifies what it means to be a leader with the Tigers, and his community involvement is a big part of creating that image.

“He’s quite aware for a person his age. He’s able to look out there and see what’s going on. He knows how people look up to the players, he knows that there are some underprivileged situations out there and it could mean a lot to go out there and get involved. To help out, sometimes just to show up can mean a lot. He’s very aware of those things, he’s a compassionate guy and that’s another great quality of a leader.”

Rassell spent almost the entirety of last season on a line with James Hamblin and Max Gerlach, but Clouston says he plans on shaking things up a bit heading into Friday’s season opener.

“We’ll see how that goes, it might change tomorrow night but for right now we’ve got Williams playing with Rassell and Hamblin, and Gerlach will eventually play with Fischer (concussion),” said Clouston. “That’s going to be a little bit tough. Last year we started one way and a few games later we switched things up and didn’t have to change. It was great, it was easy.”

Rassell says he feels part of his leadership responsibilities —which he says will be shared among the team’s group of veterans — will include overseeing the development of Medicine Hat’s rookie talent and making sure they feel comfortable in Medicine Hat and the WHL.

“A lot of those guys, we forget they’re moving away from home for the first time. It’s a big adjustment being away from mom and dad. So for one thing we want to be there for the guys with open ears and open arms. I think that’s going to be huge for us this season.”

Rassell added he sees a lot of promise in Medicine Hat’s crop of rookies. While they’ve parted way with 129 goals worth of offensive production in the form of Chad Butcher, Steven Owre, Clayton Kirichenko, JohnDahlstrom and Matt Bradley, Rassell says their youth should be able to pick up a lot of that slack.

“It’s no secret that we lost a lot of important pieces to our success last year. But we decided that with how good some of our young guys are, that’s not going to be an excuse for us,” he said. “We have a lot of young guys who are fully capable of filling the roles that we’re losing with the roster turnover.”

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