NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Tigers centre James Hamblin races through the neutral zone during a Western Hockey League game against the Kelowna Rockets on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018 at the Canalta Centre. Hamblin suffered a wrist injury Saturday, March 17, 2018 and will not be available for the post-season.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat Tigers will be without their top centre when they open the WHL post-season on Friday against the Brandon Wheat Kings.
James Hamblin has been ruled out for the entirety of the playoffs after suffering a wrist injury on a heavy neutral zone hit in the dying minutes of Saturday’s regular season finale against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The 18-year-old Edmonton product underwent surgery Tuesday and will not be available until next season.
“He dislocated a bunch of small bones in his wrist on the hit,” said Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston. “Most of the impact was taken with his left hand. It’s unfortunate.”
Hamblin finished his 70-game season sitting third on the team in points, and second among forwards, with 21 goals and 43 assists. While Clouston says there’s no replacing a dynamic player of Hamblin’s calibre, he believes Elijah Brown is the best man to fill the role alongside captain Mark Rassell and 17-year-old right-winger Bryan Lockner. Rookie Baxter Anderson will step in for Brown on the third line with Gary Haden and Jaeger White.
“We’re going to have to have guys to step up in different areas, on the power play, on the penalty kill. It means an opportunity for Brown that I do believe he’s ready for,” said Clouston. “He’s fast, he’s skilled. He likes to dish the puck and I think he’ll be able to find Rassell.”
Hamblin’s absence is sure to provide a challenge for Rassell — who spent most of the last two years on a line with Hamblin and racked up 50 goals alongside him this season — but the Tigers captain says Brown has the speed and playmaking ability to maintain a dominant presence on Medicine Hat’s top line.
“It’s pretty terrible timing, the very last game before playoffs and he’s a huge piece of our puzzle, but our team is always next man up. We’ve had big names go down before and the young guys stepped up, that’s what it’s going to take in this series,” said Rassell, who missed the final two games of the regular season to heal some bumps and bruises, but will be ready for Game 1. “Brown is going to have to step up. It’s a big role, it’s what he wanted when he asked out of Seattle and it’s what he has right now. If Brown can step up and fill that role that Hamblin had I think we can be OK, but I feel really bad for Jimmy… I wish him the best. You can’t replace a guy like that but we sure can try.”
Clouston added defencemen Linus Nassen and Dylan MacPherson will both be available for Friday, and he hopes to have centre Mason Shaw back in the lineup later in their Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Wheat Kings.
“It’s real positive,” said Clouston. “I think we’re hoping that at some point during the series (Shaw’s) available.”
The Tigers also returned goaltender Jordan Hollett for Saturday’s game after he missed 15 contests with a knee injury. Clouston says he has been pleased with
Hollett’s progress, but has not yet made a decision on who will start Game 1 against Brandon on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
“We’ll make a decision either by Wednesday at the end of practice or for sure Thursday,” said Clouston.
