Young Tigers continue to show growth

By JAMES TUBB on February 9, 2022.

There’s no quit in the Medicine Hat Tigers.

The Western Hockey League released a stat Tuesday morning outing the top five teams who have the most wins while trailing after two periods. The Tigers are tied for second on the list with four.

The Tigers last win, a 3-2 victory against the Red Deer Rebels on Jan. 30, was one of those comeback wins. Medicine Hat trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes and stormed back to pick up the win.

Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins said after Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors that the one thing you don’t want to see out of a group is that they quit. Medicine Hat trailed 4-0 after the first period but held in the rest of the game against the Warriors. Desjardins said he thinks the Tigers have grown and gotten better as the season has gone on but said there’s more room to grow.

“We gotta grow guys and there’s lots of different ways to do it,” Desjardins said. “We’re not quite where we need to be, we need to find ways to win hockey games every night and we’re not quite there yet. Guys aren’t there, if they were we would be doing in right now. So it’s how do they get there and sometimes you have to hold them accountable and they sit. Other times you have to help them because they’re trying and you have to help them and give them some confidence so they can get up to a higher level.

Desjardins said playing against opponents like Moose Jaw and the Edmonton Oil Kings, who were first on the same list with five come from behind wins, are great games for the Tigers to keep growing.

“Look at Edmonton’s lineup, for us to go in there and play, we have to be at the top of our game,” Desjardins said. “When we become older and if we play like that, then we’ll get some good results too. But right now we have to keep working on it. If we take any time off Edmonton is going to score, they’re just built that way, they’re too good. So we better have great structure, we’re gonna need everyone committed and everyone playing hard.”

The Tigers will get another learning contest when they host the Oil Kings Saturday night at Co-op Place.