NEWS PHOTO
JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Carter Chorney and captain Daniel Baker watch a pre-game video on the jumbotron after being honoured ahead of the final game of the season Friday night against the Edmonton Oil Kings at Co-op Place.
Ahead of their final game Friday night, the Medicine Hat Tigers gave back.
The WHL club hosted a fan appreciation night with reduced concession prices, giveaways and recognizing their players with an awards ceremony ahead of a 3-0 loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings. Friday also marked the return of Bob Ridley to the Tigers’ broadcast booth. The legendary broadcaster missed the first 67 games after recovering from undergoing cancer treatment in Lethbridge in 2021. Both teams came to centre ice and raised their sticks as the crowd cheered for Ridley after the final buzzer.
Tigers captain Daniel Baker, who last played Feb. 26 due to a season-ending injury, was able to suit up and skate in the final warmup of his 20-year-old overage season. Baker was recognized with the Gerard Moyer Leadership award, best defencemen award and most valuable player for the 2021-22 season.
The defenceman said it was unbelievable to be recognized ahead of his final WHL game.
“I’ve had a lot of great experiences here and been treated really well, but to go out like that, it’s pretty special,” Baker said.
Baker was named the 38th captain in franchise history in December. He said the MVP award was something he had dreamed about since he joined the Tigers in 2017.
“You always want to be that guy, so it was awesome,” Baker said.
The Edmonton product suited up for 213 career regular season games in the black and orange, notching 20 goals and 89 points over his five-year career. Getting the chance to skate in one last warmup with his teammates was something Baker said was sad and great at the same time.
“It was awesome, it’s pretty sad just skating on the ice for the last time and just looking around knowing that I’ll be skating with these guys for the last time,” Baker said. “It’s kind of sad but I’ve had a lot of great memories, it’s been awesome.”
Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins said losing Baker hurt the Tigers more than people realize.
“You take that guy out of a lot of other teams lineups and they are certainly not as good,” Desjardins said.
Baker was also honoured a fourth time in the pre-game ceremony alongside fellow 20-year-olds Logan Barlage and Carter Chorney. All three were presented with a gift from the Hockey Hounds association and were honoured with their own video on the jumbotron. Baker had nothing but good things to say about Barlage and Chorney in their short time with the Tigers. Chorney was signed by the club in December and Barlage was acquired at the Jan.17 trade deadline.
“I can’t thank those guys enough for coming in and being such great friends to me and teammates for all of the guys,” Baker said. “They’ve been great leaders and it’s huge when your 20s are great leaders, and they’ve been that.”
Barlage, a product of Humboldt, finishes his WHL career with 64 goals and 170 points in 292 games played. Chorney’s WHL career finishes at 218 games played with 31 goals and 64 points.
Desjardins said Barlage and Chorney were outstanding in their short stint as Tigers.
“Those two guys hadn’t been with us, easy to just mail it in and just heart and soul, both of them gave everything they could” Desjardins said. “They were proud to wear our jersey and they’ll always talk proudly of that jersey and that’s pretty great thing. Says a lot about the organization, says a lot about them that even though the year was what it was, they still speak highly of that jersey.”
The game started with an Edmonton goal 3:17 after puck drop as Cole Miller found the back of the net for his 15th. The Oil Kings held onto the 1-0 lead into intermission after outshooting the Tigers 12-5.
Edmonton doubled up the lead 9:43 into the second period when Dawson Seitz scored while a roughing match was underway at the Tabbies’ bench between Tigers rookie Steven Arp and Simon Kubicek of the Oil Kings. Shea Van Olm scored in the third period to give Edmonton the 3-0 final.
Garin Bjokrlund made 33 saves in his career high, 48th appearance of the season. Across the ice, Sebastian Cossa made 21 saves for the Oil Kings, with their final game Saturday in Red Deer against the Rebels. Edmonton sits in second place of the Eastern conference with a record of 49-14-3-1 and will dance with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in round one of the playoffs.
Friday’s loss puts Medicine Hat’s final record on the season at 11-53-3-1 giving them 26 points on the season, their lowest total in franchise history. The Tigers head into an important off-season that gets started much sooner than anyone in the organization would like.
Desjardins said he likes his group of players heading into the summer and said the work starts Saturday, when their off-season begins.
“…do we have a lot of work, yes we do. I like the group, I think they are committed to working hard and we basically have this same group again next year so we should be a step ahead to start the year,” Desjardins said.
