Melin looking to lead while a Tiger

By JAMES TUBB on October 12, 2022.

When Dallon Melin put on the Medicine Hat Tigers practice jersey for the first time in training camp, he paused for a couple seconds after having played four seasons with the Red Deer Rebels.

There was no pause however, when the forward donned the orange and black for his very first game.

“I went to check myself out in the mirror and I thought it looked pretty damn good,” Melin said.

The 20-year-old Czar, Alta. product joined the Tigers ahead of training camp after 192 games in the Red Deer red. Melin impressed throughout camp and early in the season with the Tigers as one of three overagers on the roster. Melin said he’s already enjoying his time in the Hat and with his teammates.

“We have a really close team and it’s a good team with a lot of good players in there,” Melin said. “We know how good we are and we know that we have a long ways to go as well.”

He says there were doubts he would have an opportunity like this after last season in Red Deer and being released by the Rebels. He says there are still parts of his game he needs to learn and get better at but is also looking forward to imparting lessons onto his younger teammates.

One of those lessons is how to play a physical role as a bigger player. Melin stands 6-foot-4 and says he has taught players like Cayden Lindstrom and Shane Smith a couple things, whole they’ve showed him the ropes as well.

“They’re bigger guys, they have to throw their weight around and use their body. Just a focus on keeping it a little more simple above the top of circles and below the top of circles,” Melin said. “That’s their area, they can do what they want.”

Melin has started his season on a high note, putting up a goal and four points through the Tigers’ first five games. His biggest goal for the season is to be a good leader in what is his last campaign in the Western Hockey League.

“That’s one of the qualities I feel I bring on the ice, the intensity and work ethic off the ice as well but just doing the right things,” Melin said. “I also have a lot to prove to myself as a player and I think that we have a good enough team we can turn a lot of heads this season. We have a lot of good players, and for myself, I can be a big part of that, there’s a lot to my game that I can bring. Just bringing that physicality of being a big body and then being a leader.”

Coming from another Central division team, there was a chance for bad blood between Melin and his new teammates. He says he and Tigers’ defenceman Rhett Parsons had shared choice words while on the ice last season but quickly put that aside once they donned the same colours.

There is one thing Melin will hold over Parsons’ head – he is more country than the Cremona product.

“He’s like a grain farmer, (but) we actually have cows at our place,” Melin said.

Melin was not in the lineup Tuesday night when the Tigers where in Seattle taking on the Thunderbirds. That game was not complete by time of press, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full game story.

The Tigers’ next action is tonight in Tri-City against the Americans before they wrap up their U.S. road trip Friday in Spokane against the Chiefs.