Medicine Hat News
The least-attended night of the week is no more in the Medicine Hat Tigers’ home schedule.
In the 2018-19 WHL schedule released Tuesday, there are no Tuesday games at Canalta Centre and, in a move agreed upon last fall, only 68 regular season contests for each team — down from 72, which was the standard since 1975.
The league stated in a press release that the move to a 68-game schedule was done to “serve to reduce travel and balance the schedule while providing more time for players to focus on training and skill development, as well as their academic studies.”
It also allows more concentration of games on weekends and holidays. Of the 34 Tigers home games, 17 are on Saturday nights, seven are on Friday nights and one is on a Sunday. The other seven are Wednesday night affairs.
The season kicks off as it has each of the past seven years, with a home-and-home set against Lethbridge. The Hurricanes host the Tigers Friday, Sept. 21, followed by a rematch Saturday, Sept. 22 at Canalta Centre.
The season starts with a couple three-game road trips, but the longest road stretch is a four-game set including stops in Cranbrook, Everett, Seattle and Portland in February.
Another tradition that will continue is the season-ending matchup with the Hurricanes, which in 2019 will be Saturday, March 16 at Canalta Centre. It’ll be the fourth year in a row and seventh in the past eight the teams will both start and finish the season against each other.
Williams gets invite
In other Tigers news, 17-year-old forward Josh Williams will try out for Canada’s team headed to the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton and Red Deer this summer.
Williams, who had 20 points in 47 games with the Tigers last season, is among 44 players invited to the late-July camp in Calgary.
“It was a pretty amazing feeling to be invited,” Williams was quoted as saying in a story on the Tigers’ website Tuesday. “It has always been a dream of mine to play for Canada and my first opportunity didn’t go as planned so I intend to make the most out of this one.”
NHL campers
Forward Ryan Chyzowski and ex-Tiger Steven Owre both have invites to the Vegas Golden Knights’ development camp.
Chyzowski, 18 and Owre, a 21-year-old who played at the University of Alberta last season, are both on the roster for the camp which began Tuesday.
Goalie Jordan Hollett is at the Ottawa Senators camp, while David Quenneville is at New York Islanders camp.
