Tigers hoping to ride scoring depth into Saturday’s matchup against Pats

By Ryan McCracken on December 8, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Tigers are hoping to bring some scoring depth back to the Canalta Centre for Saturday’s matchup against the Regina Pats.

The Tabbies have gone 4-2-0-0 through the past six games, most recently including a 2-2-0-0 East Division road trip, and a varied attack has been at the centre of that success.

“That’s huge for us. You can’t rely on the same guys to score every night,” said Tigers alternate captain Ryan Jevne. “We’ve put a lot of focus on getting good starts and really preparing for every game, playing 60 minutes. Over the last few games here we’ve found a way to do that. Even though we haven’t gotten the results some games, we’ve been pretty happy with our play.”

While usual suspects like Jevne, James Hamblin, Tyler Preziuso, Ryan Chyzowski, Linus Nassen and Bryan Lockner have continued to do their part in recent games, the Tigers have seen a surge in offensive output from their younger players.

“It seems like everything is clicking,” said Tigers defenceman Daniel Baker, who scored his first goal of the season in Wednesday’s 6-5 overtime win against the Moose Jaw Warriors.

“It’s always good to see everyone contribute. Obviously (Joel) Craven got his first of the season against Moose Jaw too, so it’s nice.”

Baker has been heating up for a while. The 17-year-old blueliner has racked up six points over the past eight games and nearly found his first goal in a 6-2 win over the Red Deer Rebels on Nov. 28 — but a deflection from Hamblin held him to an assist on the goal.

Thankfully Baker’s quest for the milestone reached its conclusion Wednesday when a puck dropped right in the crease for a tap-in goal against Moose Jaw.

“If only they were all that easy,” said Baker. “It kind of felt like a relief because I’ve been waiting for that first one. It was nice.”

Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston says he’s been encouraging his defenders to get involved in the offence and jump in on the rush when the opportunity arises, and it’s been paying off for players like Craven, Baker and Nassen.

“We want the defencemen involved. A lot of our goals by our defencemen are guys going to the net. We want to cover for defencemen if they are up in the rush like that,” said Clouston. “The guys are doing a good job with reading and anticipating when the right time is to get up there and get after it.

“Early on in the season we weren’t getting much offence at all from our defencemen, so it’s a real plus.”

Saturday’s matchup against Regina is one of four remaining before the Tigers break for the holidays, and three of those will be played at the Canalta Centre. While Jevne says they aren’t looking past the Pats, it’s still knowing they’ll be off the road for a while leading into Christmas.

“It’s pretty good for us. It really helps you stay focused. If you’re on the road, those games are a little bit tougher so being here you can really dial in on the preparation,” said Jevne, whose Tigers take on the Rebels in Red Deer on Dec. 14, then return home to host the Kelowna Rockets the next day before parting ways for the break. “We know that those games matter so we’re not thinking too far ahead about the break. We’re coming in every day just like it’s a regular day. Each game we have to prepare for our opponent and come out strong.”

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