NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers centre Tyler MacKenzie keeps his eye on the puck ahead of a face off in the Tigers 6-3 loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Jan. 15.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
With the Western Hockey League’s trade deadline in the rearview mirror, the Medicine Hat Tigers can fully look toward the future.
The Tabbies have 33 games left in their season and really have nowhere else to focus but the future as they sit last in the WHL with a record of 7-24-3-1 and a young roster that has only six players aged 19 and 20.
Medicine Hat moved veteran forwards Lukas Svejkovsky and Corson Hopwo out for futures as they look to fully capitalize on a season that’s featured an historic 16-game losing streak and will likely see them finish with a top-three pick in May’s WHL prospect draft.
When asked how hard losing makes developing players, Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said it makes it harder because losing is though, but it provides valuable lessons.
“Losing is really hard. There’s nothing easy about it, you can’t possibly lose and not have it take its toll on you, it’s just a hard thing,” Desjardins said. “Saying that, you learn so much more about yourself and you character within teams when you lose than when you win. Winning is easy, once you get going it’s the easiest. You develop more when you lose than when you win. So those are things that with our young guys it’s, let’s go through this now and then let’s never do it again. Once is enough, we don’t need to experience it again. So let’s find ways to get out of this and then let’s not go back here.”
One of those younger players for the Tigers is Tyler MacKenzie, who has been a strong presence for the Tabbies since they returned from the holiday break. The Red Deer product has seven points in his last eight games and has vaulted himself to the top of the Tigers scoring list with 19 on the season.
Desjardins said seeing MacKenzie at the top of their points list has surprised him a little bit, but added he’s played well and it’s good to see guys like MacKenzie and Oasiz Wiesblatt develop throughout the season.
“He’s played well, Wiesblatt’s played well too, those guys have both taken off and are putting in good minutes,” Desjardins said. “Oasiz’s skill level is good so it’s really good to see, those are guys that are developing and are going to be our future leaders down the road and we’re excited about that.”
Wiesblatt has had a surge himself, with four points in the past five games. Other young Tigers such as Ashton Ferster, Brayden Boehm, Teague Patton and rookie Andrew Basha have begun to show their abilities as the season has progressed and they’ve gone through the hardships of the WHL and a tough campaign like the Tigers are experiencing.
Younger players needing more of the season to showcase their skills is something Desjardins said he expected, as he didn’t think they were going to be the team they needed to be until after Christmas.
“I thought it would take our younger guys a while to develop. I thought it would take our Europeans awhile to develop,” Desjardins said. “Saying that I also thought we would have (Cole) Sillinger around probably and some other pieces that would help that. I still believe we are going to get better as we go through the second half and we have to keep working at it.”
As the Tigers head down the stretch of their final 33 games, Desjardins will look to give his young guys the minutes they need to develop while surrounding them with veterans like the newly acquired Logan Barlage, Noah Danielson and others to protect the younger players from some of the league’s best lines. As the season heads to an end for the orange and black, those development minutes for the young Tabbies allow Desjardins and Tigers fans the chance to see what guys can do and what the future of this team could look like come next season.
