NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN - Medicine Hat Tigers affiliate player Cole Sillinger carries the puck out of his own end during a Western Hockey League game against the Brandon Wheat Kings at the Canalta Centre on Saturday, March 9.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Twelve months ago, James Hamblin was facing the harsh reality of watching from the sidelines as his Medicine Hat Tigers entered the post-season.
This year, the Tabby captain is ready to lead a fully healthy lineup into his hometown of Edmonton for a clash with the Central Division champion Oil Kings.
“Playoffs in Edmonton, it’s pretty cool and I’m very excited for it,” said Hamblin, who suffered a season-ending arm injury in the final game of the regular season last year. “That was obviously really tough. It was hard to not be there for the guys.”
The Tigers were also missing a few other important faces around this point last year, as defenceman Dylan MacPherson was ruled out for the season after injuring his leg in Game 1 in their opening-round series with the Brandon Wheat Kings, while star centre Mason Shaw missed the entire season with a torn ACL.
While the Tigers have been no stranger to the injury bug this season, they’ll enter their opening round series against the Oil Kings Saturday with a completely intact roster – something they’ve been missing for the entirety of 2019.
On top of the healthy lineup, Medicine Hat will also be adding forward Cole Sillinger – the 11th overall pick of the 2018 WHL bantam draft – to their playoff roster. The 15-year-old Regina product had his midget playoff hopes dashed Wednesday in a 5-2 loss to the Notre Dame Hounds in Game 5 of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League semifinal. As a result, Sillinger will join the Tigers in Edmonton to start the playoffs.
“When he left here, he talked about winning a championship with his midget team. I know that was his goal, so it’s probably a little bit bittersweet,” said Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston. “He would have been really disappointed last night, but it’s a quick turnaround and on the flipside of that I know he’s going to be excited to join us and he’s going to do everything he can to help.”
Sillinger – who finished his midget season with 31 goals and 45 assists in just 39 games – laced up his skates for four games with the Tigers this season, netting his first career point in a 3-2 win over his hometown Regina Pats on Dec. 2 and most recently making his Canalta Centre debut in a 4-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings on March 9. While he was held off the scoresheet against the Wheat Kings, Clouston says he saw a lot of positives from his top draft pick and plans to put him in an important role when the playoffs start Saturday.
“I thought he looked composed. He did a lot of little things well,” said Clouston. “He was a top-nine guy, which means a regular shift. I think he’ll get an opportunity on the second power play unit, and we’ll go from there. We’ve got some depth, so there’s options, but we expect him, just like that game against Brandon, to be a factor.”
The Tigers and Oil Kings drop the puck for Game 1 Saturday in Edmonton at 7:30 p.m.
