From the couch to the top line

By Ryan McCracken on March 23, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Three months ago, Elijah Brown was sitting on a couch in Edmonton. Now he’s centering the top line of a division winning Western Hockey League franchise.

The 18-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers centre was shipped to the Gas City from the Seattle Thunderbirds at the trade deadline after leaving the T-Birds earlier in the year in the hope of landing a better role elsewhere. While he was initially penciled in to fill a key role on Medicine Hat’s third line alongside Gary Haden and Jaeger White, a season-ending injury to James Hamblin has opened the door to the biggest opportunity in Brown’s budding career.

“Jimmy’s injury sucks, obviously. We all look up to Jimmy’s game and how hard he competes every night. We’re all praying for him and for a quick recovery, but it’s an awesome time to step up,” said Brown, who will open Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals alongside Mark Rassell and Bryan Lockner. “It’s playoffs and that’s what I wanted, was an opportunity. It’s awesome that the coaches trust me and are putting me there.”

It didn’t take long for Brown to establish himself within Medicine Hat’s system. The Edmonton product immediately found success on the third line with Jaeger White and Gary Haden — logging an assist less than two minutes into his career with the Tigers before closing out his season with seven goals and 11 assists after posting just 13 points in 64 games with Seattle last season.

The 5-foot-9, 168-pound lefty boasts a speed-based approach to the game with a good set of hands and an eye for the pass — three factors that make him a great choice to centre a line with Rassell and Lockner. After surpassing last season’s assist production in less than half the time alongside Haden and White, Brown says he can’t wait to see what he can accomplish next to a 50-goal scorer.

“That’s the first thing we said to each other. I said ‘I’m going to get you the puck,'” said Brown. “I’m more of a pass-first guy so it’s going to be special, hopefully, finding him in the slot and everywhere else on the ice.”

Brown added he believes the new makeup of the line — which provides speed, skill and grit with a scoring touch — will prove beneficial entering a sure-to-be challenging first round series against the Wheat Kings.

“It’s a lot of skill on one line,” said Brown. “Jimmy’s got the work ethic, a ton of skill and speed and that’s going to be hard to match but I know I’ve got a lot of skill that can take over, same with Rassell and Lockner.”

Despite being undersized by the standards of the league, Brown still enjoys getting involved in the physical side of the game, while the 6-foot, 201-pound Lockner helps provide more space and time for his linemates with a bruising style of play. The Wheat Kings will bring a much bigger roster to the ice, but Brown says he believes speed will prevail as long as they don’t stray from the game plan.

“We’re a younger, smaller team but in saying that we’re also faster,” said Brown. “We have really good systems so if we play it simple and don’t let them get into our heads, using our speed is going to be the most important thing.”

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