NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Defenseman Aidan Brook watches the play develop in the Oil Kings end during the first period of the Tigers win last Saturday 3-2 in the shootout.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Tigers are hitting the road to Saskatchewan this weekend on a roll, coming off two straight wins last week.
Medicine Hat started the season slow with back-to-back losses at the hands of the Swift Current Broncos. They went through a hard week of practice, where the focus was on structure and consistency in their game ahead of victories against the Red Deer Rebels and Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
After beating the Rebels 4-2 and the squeaking out a 3-2 shootout win against the Oil Kings, the mood was high around the Tigers as they prepared to head out on the road. Medicine Hat rolls into Saskatoon tonight to take on the Blades before they face the Prince Albert Raiders Saturday. Defenceman Daniel Baker says they are excited to have a road trip for the first time since March 2020.
“We’re super pumped, it’s been however many months, almost over a year since our last road trip. So we’re super pumped to get going here and just have a weekend in the hotel and have the team bonding,” Baker said.
Baker scored the game-tying goal for the Tigers in their win against the Oil Kings. He said it was nice to get the monkey off of his back with the goal. All the Tigers on the ice during the goal mobbed Baker and seemed to celebrate him more than the tying goal. He says they’re already a close group only two weeks into the season.
“We’re a really close group of guys. Lots of guys obviously last year got a taste of it and we got close then, we’re just getting a lot of team bonding time and it’s awesome,” he said.
Associate coach Joe Frazer said on Tuesday they would approach their practices this week again focusing on structure and consistency but also special teams ahead of their road trip.
“When you watch the video of the last two games, the structure is better, but there’s always room for improvement there,” Frazer said. “I thought our battle level and compete level was way better so we’re going to continue to focus on that and obviously special teams. I think the penalty kill was great last weekend, gotta keep working on the power play. Just fine tuning everything. We’ve got lots of young guys and just fine tuning our games and trying to play Tigers hockey for 60 minutes.”
The Tigers were not able to practice Wednesday or Thursday before hitting the road due to Co-op Place hosting a Professional Bull Riding event Saturday night.
Medicine Hat is still without a captain, as Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins said last week they wanted to address their over-ager situation before they addressed their captaincy. Twenty-year-old defenceman Eric Van Impe was moved to Seattle last Friday, leaving the Tigers at the WHL’s over-ager limit of three: Lukas Svejkovsky, Corson Hopwo and Baker.
Frazer said they will let it play out a little bit longer as they have the three 20-year-olds wearing ‘A’s’ and they would lead the team with or without a letter on the jersey. He says it’s easier for the coaching staff and for the 20-year-olds having three of them being the leaders they are.
“When you wear the ‘C’ there’s quite a bit of pressure that comes with it, so I think having three ‘A’s’ right now, it allows them to kind of feel it out where they’re at as a leadership group. I think it allows more guys to lead right now and we’ll figure out a captain as we go here,” Frazer said.
Medicine Hat’s next home game is Tuesday when they host the Swift Current Broncos.
Broncos head coach resigns
Swift Current announced Thursday that general manager and head coach Dean Brockman is stepping down from his roles effective today. While the Broncos search for a replacement, assistant GM Chad Leslie will assume the role of interim general manager, and associate coach Devan Praught will take on the role of interim head coach.
Brockman had been with the Broncos since the beginning of the 2018-19 season. In a team release Brockman said, “My experience with the Broncos has been great, and I will miss the incredible support of the community. I appreciate the time I’ve been able to spend here, especially with the amazing group of players in that locker room over these past three seasons.”
