Medicine Hat Tigers rookie forward Cayden Lindstrom dishes the puck in the neutral zone in the first period of his team's 3-2 win against the Calgary Hitmen on Dec. 30 at Co-op Place. -- NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Cayden Lindstrom has had the best of both worlds when it comes to being a Medicine Hat Tiger.
He’s been drafted and played in the Western Hockey League, and gets to do so with one of his friends.
The 54th overall pick in the 2021 draft signed with the club last Thursday and made his WHL debut later that night, when the Tigers beat the Calgary Hitmen 3-2.
The 6-foot-5 forward says it was a great experience playing his first game and added he started to feel more comfortable in the WHL as the games went on.
“It kind of took a couple of shifts to get comfortable the first game, but I felt this game I got more comfortable throughout the game,” Lindstrom said following Saturday’s 6-1 loss to the Winnipeg Ice at Co-op Place.
Lindstrom joins Tigers prospect Tomas Mrsic, a fellow Delta Hockey Academy player who was drafted eighth overall by Medicine Hat, as the second 2021 draft pick of the Tigers to sign and debut with the club.
Lindstrom gave an excited answer when asked about being drafted to the same WHL team as Mrsic.
“It was pretty sick honestly. We’re pretty good friends, we hang out quite a bit,” Lindstrom said.
The Chetwynd, B.C. product did not dress in Medicine Hat’s 4-2 road loss to the Hitmen on Sunday, and said after Saturday’s game that he would be returning to Delta after Sunday’s contest.
In 17 games playing in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League with Delta’s U17 team, Lindstrom has 16 goals and 37 points
He says he felt like he made a good impact in his first two games, and the biggest difference between the CSSHL and the WHL is the speed.
“Everyone is was quicker, way bigger, way faster and it’s more fun I think,” Lindstrom said.
Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins spoke highly of Lindstrom after Thursday’s win.
“He’s good, for a young guy he’s got good composure with the puck, he’s big, he can skate and he can shoot,” Desjardins said. “It’s a little different from U17 to this league so it’s hard for him to come in and do that but it was really nice to see him so confident with the puck, that was big.”
As soon as he put pen to paper with the Tigers, Lindstrom became the tallest player on the roster. Captain Daniel Baker and forward Ashton Ferster are close behind, standing 6-foot-4 but Lindstrom still has the highest marking on the Co-op Place door jam – and he turns 16 on Feb. 3.
Desjardins says the Tigers are looking forward to working with Lindstrom and the size and skill he could add to the orange and black in the future.
“When you get a young guy like that, we haven’t had a guy physically like that for quite a while where they’re 6-foot-3 or -4 and with that kind of skill,” Desjardins said. “He’s pretty elite with lots of stuff and just young. He’s got so much ahead of him which is so exciting. We’re looking forward to where he’s going to go, but it’s a big step for him. So for him to do what he did tonight was pretty good.”
Coming off a 1-2 performance in three games over four days, the Tigers have a week’s worth of practice before their next contest.
The Tabbies play a pair at home this weekend, with the Moose Jaw Warriors in town Saturday night for a 7 p.m. contest before the Central Division leading Edmonton Oil Kings enter the Gas City for a 6 p.m. game on Sunday.
