Rivals ready to drop the puck

By Ryan McCracken on September 21, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The day has arrived.

The Medicine Hat Tigers will drop the puck on their Western Hockey League regular season tonight in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes as the start of a traditional home-and-home set. After splitting a pair of high-intensity pre-season games with the ‘Canes, Tigers captain James Hamblin says he expects the rivalry to begin with a bang.

“The rivalry always brings a little bit more physicality,” said Hamblin, adding the fact Lethbridge earned a No. 3 nod in the CHL’s pre-season rankings doesn’t faze the Tigers. “They’re going to be an unreal team, but we just have to go in with the same mindset that we always do. We’re going for the win.”

The Highway 3 rivalry is poised for another exciting year with 10 matchups on the regular season docket. Given the history between the two squads and Medicine Hat’s two-year reign over the Central Division, Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston says he expects a stiff push from Lethbridge’s highly touted roster.

“There’s a good rivalry and there has been forever,” said Clouston. “I think both teams expect to be competitive and most people believe Lethbridge is going to be a top notch team, which is motivation for us. They do have some high-end players so we want to go after it and we want to challenge ourselves to play a great game.”

While the Tigers parted ways with a number of key names in the off-season — including former captain and 50-goal scorer Mark Rassell and leading defensive point-getting David Quenneville — a handful of young players are poised to fill those voids with breakout seasons. One of those young men is sophomore right winger Josh Williams. The 17-year-old Langley product helped Canada to a gold medal with four goals at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in August and says he’s optimistic about his second WHL season.

“I think everyone is ready,” said Williams. “We’ve prepared for it really well and we’re going to try to go into Lethbridge and give our best effort possible.”

Williams spent the majority of last season on a line with fellow sophomore Henrik Rybinski. Considering spent some time on the ice growing up, Williams says the chemistry seemed to immediately take hold when they met up as Tigers, and he only expects that to grow this season.

“We played a little bit together growing up and then last year we played a lot together,” said Williams. “I think it’s always fun playing with him. He’s a super skilled player. He’s always trying to get open and he gets me the puck.”

Goaltender Jordan Hollett will lead the Tigers onto the ice for tonight’s 7 p.m. start in Lethbridge. Danish netminder Mads Søgaard will serve as his backup.

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