NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Bogdans Hodass celebrates his assist on a goal with his defence partner Rhett Parsons in the first period of the Tigers 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Ice on Oct. 1 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Bogdans Hodass wants to play pro hockey and is ready to show he can this season.
The 19-year-old Latvian defenceman is looking to build off his rookie season last year with the Medicine Hat Tigers where he put up seven goals and 24 points in 57 games. Due to injuries and him showcasing his abilities last year, Hodass took over on the top d-pairing alongside Rhett Parsons, a duo that has continued over into this year.
Hodass and Parsons have flourished with the early responsibility and showcased that on the scoresheet, with each having a goal and four assists, good for second and third respectively in team scoring. Hodass said he wasn’t expecting that much early success but feels himself getting better.
“I wasn’t expecting it that far but I’m ready for that because I’m getting better this season,” Hodass said. “I love playing a big role this season, I will play a ton of minutes and that’s helped me.”
Hodass came into the season on the heels of an August World Juniors performance with Latvia where he had two points, an assist against Finland and a goal against Canada. It was an historic tournament for Latvia as they won their first game in the top level of the U20 tournament, something Hodass won’t forget.
“That was an amazing experience with the team, we made history by making the quarter-finals and that was such a good feeling,” Hodass said. “I was so happy, I’m so proud of my guys. And it’s not (over), because in December with World Juniors upcoming we are excited.”
Latvia finished the tournament in seventh, which gives them a spot in the 2023 World Juniors this winter. Coming into his sophomore season Hodass says he’s gotten faster and has his sights set on the ultimate goal.
“I worked a lot in the summer because I was talking with the coaches and they said I need to get faster and also my mentality,” Hodass said. “My mindset is way better this season because I know what I’m going into, because I want to play in the pros and I’m ready for that.”
Parsons describes his d-partner as a pro and says he’s great to play with every night.
“We have good chemistry, good talk out there,” Parsons said. “I think us playing against the top guys pushes us too and forces us to be good every night.”
Hodass says Parsons, the Cremona product, hasn’t pushed the cowboy lifestyle on him yet but makes it easy for him on the ice.
“Pars is a great person, we’re talking every day and we are working hard every day in the practice and practicing together,” Hodass said. “Our chemistry is pretty good, we can find each other easily and we can talk to each other easily.”
Parsons says he never expected to find his early offensive success but attributed it to playing hard defensively and his offseason work.
“I worked more on my offensive game, I think I need to be a better two-way player so I worked on that,” Parsons said. “It’s coming together better than last year and just being another year in the league, I’m more comfortable.”
Tigers associate coach Joe Frazer, who resides over the defence side of the bench during the game, said they believe in their top pairing and said the duo takes a lot of pride in shutting down the other teams’ top players.
“Bogdans is coming back from World Juniors and you can just tell his confidence is just way higher than last year and so is Pars’,” Frazer said. “Both of those guys want to be the best shutdown pair in the league, that’s how they look at it and I think they take immense pride in shutting the other teams’ top lines down. They get that matchup every night and they’re hard and physical on them.”
Hodass and the Tigers were in action Friday night as they opened up their five-game U.S. roadtrip in Everett against the Silvertips. That game was not complete by time off press, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full game story.
Tigers roster moves
The Tigers trimmed down their roster this week as they passed Finnish forward Oskari Kuntonen through import waivers. The 20-year-old was not able to play any preseason games due to an upper body injury. According to EliteProspects, Kuntonen has rejoined the KooKoo U20 team of the U20SM-sarja league where he played last season.
The move clears up the Tigers’ 20-year-old spots as Brendan Lee, Dallon Melin and Alex Drover will remain in the team’s three overage slots.
