NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN Medicine Hat Tigers forward Baxter Anderson (11) celebrates with teammates Corson Hopwo and Dru Krebs after scoring against the Prince Albert Raiders in a Western Hockey League game Wednesday at Canalta Centre.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
With three key forwards missing from the lineup, the Medicine Hat Tigers have been forced to lean on their depth.
Although the Tigers are riding a small two-game slide following Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime backbreaker to the Prince Albert Raiders, Medicine Hat’s unsung heroes have been making the most of their increased responsibility through the team’s most tumultuous stretch of the season.
“Going forward here, it’s going to be crucial for guys to step up,” said Tigers forward Nick McCarry, who scored twice Wednesday. “It’s great to see.”
Medicine Hat’s injured list has been growing since the start of 2020. Centre Elijah Brown has missed 11 games since suffering a lower-body injury in a loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Jan. 7, while rookie standout Cole Sillinger has been out for three contests since taking an upper-body injury in a lopsided win over the Swift Current Broncos on Jan. 28. Making matters worse, 18-year-old first-line winger Lukas Svejkovsky caught a bug earlier this week and was unable to get on the ice.
Svejkovksy isn’t expected to be out much longer, though Brown and Sillinger will likely miss at least another week.
“With those guys out, they told me I need a bigger role, I need to step up here,” said McCarry, who is riding a six-game point streak with five goals and two assists in the span. “I think I’ve done a really good job there. I’m playing with two good guys in (Cyle) McNabb and (Bryan) Lockner and it’s been really good.”
The 18-year-old Calgary product’s two-goal performance Wednesday led the Tigers to within seven seconds of a season-series sweep over the reigning champion Raiders – who came back to steal the game in overtime. Medicine Hat’s third goal also came by way of secondary scoring, with Baxter Anderson cashing in on a lucky bounce from the neutral while filling in for Svejkovsky on the top line alongside James Hamblin and Corson Hopwo.
“You need that. You need a push from those guys,” said Smith, adding McCarry’s line with Lockner and McNabb created numerous chances Wednesday. “I thought Lockner was really good, I thought McNabb skated well. Nick was the beneficiary but you’ve got to go to the net. He went to the net twice with his stick on the ice and guys made good plays. It’s really positive for him to score and to feel good about himself.”
Anderson has been with the team for the past four seasons – logging 159 games in the span, mostly in a fourth-line role. The 19-year-old Fort Langley, B.C. product says it feels great for his hard work to pay off in the form of first-line minutes, even if just through an adverse stretch of the season.
“It’s a long time coming. I’ve kind of just got to stick with it and plug away, do the best I can when I get that opportunity and just keep going with it,” said Anderson. “It’s been lots of fun playing with Jimmy and Hopwo. They’re both good players who can get you the puck, and I had lots of chances with them.”
McCarry and Anderson aren’t the only ones being called on to shoulder some added responsibility this week, as defenceman Damon Agyeman suited up as a forward Wednesday for the second time this season, filling in alongside Noah Danielson and Caleb Willms.
“It’s really good to see. We need that out of them,” said Hamblin. “It just shows that a lot of hard work pays off in the end. It’s good to see and hopefully they can keep that going.”
The Tigers (32-15-2-1) are on the road for a two-game Manitoba swing, starting tonight in Brandon against the Wheat Kings (27-19-2-2) at 6:30 p.m.
