NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers captain Daniel Baker follows through on a shot in the first period of the Tigers 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Ice on Feb. 25.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers lost an irreplaceable part of their roster last weekend.
Defenceman and captain Daniel Baker suffered an upper body injury against Lethbridge Feb. 26 and will miss the remaining 17 games of the Tigers season.
Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins said it’s a bigger loss than people realize on and off the ice.
“He was a big loss in the dressing room. I don’t know how many shots he blocked every night for us, always played against the other teams’ top lines, just a big, key force,” Desjardins said.
Desjardins said it was great to see Baker grow in the two years he coached him and was happy to see him lead the Tigers as he did this season.
The 20-year-old Edmonton product played his entire 213-game Western Hockey League career with the Tigers since being drafted 26th overall in the 2016 draft. In that span he contributed 20 goals and 69 assists for 89 points.
This season, he played in all 49 games the Tigers had played entering Tuesday’s contest against Red Deer. The Edmonton product has five goals and 20 assists this year.
Baker’s injury comes at a time when the Tigers have been hit hard with them, with forwards Tyler MacKenzie, Noah Danielson and Brendan Lee all on the shelf. His absence also makes a youthful Tigers lineup that much younger as there are only two 20-year-olds and one 19-year-old in netminder Garin Bjorklund active.
As the Tigers look toward the future, they can experiment with their lineup and let younger defencemen slot into the top d-pairing sooner than they normally would.
“What a chance for other guys. Other guys are going to get opportunities they’ve never got before,” Desjardins said. “In the end it will be better for next year, it will help guys come along and that’s the key for us.”
Rhett Parsons, who was Baker’s defensive partner for a majority of the season, said it sucked to hear the news because he is such a good leader and well respected in the room. Parsons said as a group they have to play as hard as they can because that’s how Baker played.
“I think as guys in the room we just need to make that next step,” Parsons said.
When asked if he would take a bigger leadership role already being an alternate captain, Parsons said picking up the leadership is on everyone in the room.
“As a group we have to all step up a little bit, everyone’s a leader in there,” Parsons said. “We just have to come to the rink every day with the mindset that we want to win and with him absent it definitely changes things but I think as a group we have to step up and lead the way he would.”
Carter Chorney and Logan Barlage will finish the season as the oldest active Tigers, both being 20-year-olds. Chorney is a close friend of Baker’s from before he donned the orange and black in December and said it was tough to take in the news.
“Daniel is a huge part of this team, especially being captain and it always sucks to lose a guy like that,” Chorney said.
Chorney said yes when asked if he’s taken a bigger leadership role being one of the remaining older players.
“Especially with Dan being out it’s just me and Bar’ in there, so I think taking a leadership role a little more serious is a big thing,” Chorney said.
Desjardins noted the open slot on defence is an opportunity for everyone to capitalize on before singling out rookie Josh Van Mulligen.
“I think it’s certainly going to be an opportunity down the road for Van Mulligen,” Desjardins said. “He’s not here all the time yet but he will be and he’ll get a chance somewhere along the lines to step up. So I think it’s a really big one for him.”
He also tabbed the Tigers two European defenceman, Bogdans Hodass and Gleb Ivanov as guys who could get more time. Desjardins did say whoever steps into the role won’t be where Baker was.
“There’s lots of guys that will get opportunities to improve over that but they’re not where Baker was, they’re just not,” Desjardins said. “They’re going to have to use these games to get there.”
