NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat defenceman Dru Krebs battles with Moose Jaw forward Atley Calvert in front of Beckett Langkow in the first period of the Tigers 6-3 win over the Warriors on Dec. 10.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers have seen strings of success up and down the lineup in the first 35 games of the season.
They are one contest past the halfway mark on the year and sit in eighth place in the Eastern conference with a record of 13-17-4-1, good enough for the final playoff spot.
Through those 35 games the Tigers have had multiple players step up and lead the way on both sides of the puck, and head coach Willie Desjardins says it’s a good group with room to get better.
“(Oasiz) Wiesblatt’s line has played really good the last 10- 12 games but we’ve had good performances from young guys and it’s one way we are different, guys have played well at different times,” Desjardins said. “We mark our success factors every night and it’s funny because it’s always different guys, it’s a group effort.
“If I look on defence it’s the same thing, (Bogdans) Hodass and (Rhett) Parsons started really good, (Dru) Krebs and (Pasha) Bocharov have come in and played while of late you know and (Reid) Andresen and JVM (Josh Van Mulligen) have been pretty consistent. Our goaltending is getting better all the time. It’s been a pretty good group, there’s nobody I’m really disappointed in. I see an upside and we have to reach that upside.”
Here are the Tigers’ scoring numbers at the 35-game mark with commentary from associate coach Joe Frazer.
Forwards
Brendan Lee (2002)
35 GP, 18 G, 15 A, 33 P
Andrew Basha (2005)
34 GP, 7 G, 25 A, 32 P
Oasiz Wiesblatt (2004)
35 GP, 15 G, 13 A, 28 P
Brayden Boehm(2004)
35 GP, 13 G, 10 A, 23 P
Tyler MacKenzie (2004)
35 GP, 12 G, 11 A, 23 P
Dallon Melin (2002)
34 GP, 7 G, 12 A, 19 P
Cayden Lindstrom (2006)
28 GP, 9 G, 9 A, 18 P
Shane Smith (2005)
35 GP, 11 G, 4 A, 15 P
Owen MacNeil (2003)
34 GP, 4 G, 10 A, 14 P
Tomas Mrsic (2006)
25 GP, 5 G, 6 A, 11 P
Hunter St. Martin (2005)
32 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 P
Gavin McKenna (2007)
8 GP, 6 A, 6 P
Cru Hanas (2005)
18 GP, 2 A, 2 P
“The key for us is being able to roll four lines all night, we want to be fast and we want to wear teams down so we can take over in the third (period) and the only way you can do that is if you’re rolling four lines,” Frazer said.
“A lot of guys have had huge summers and have come back and they’re taking big steps from last year. Looking at our top line, all three of those guys – Basha, Oasiz and Lee – have been great the whole first half. But then Tyler MacKenzie and Brayden Boehm have had big jumps. MacKenzie’s gotten faster, he always worked hard, competed, but now he’s quicker. Boehmer has always had the speed and now he’s getting to the dirty areas and that line has given us a ton recently. Guys like Shane Smith and Hunter St. Martin, they’ve taken steps throughout this first half and they’re our No. 1 penalty kill unit up front. That’s not easy to do at 17, and they’re doing it and giving us great minutes. It goes down the list a lot of guys have really, really stepped up.”
Defencemen
Reid Andresen (2005)
35 GP, 5 G, 14 A, 19 P
Dru Krebs (2003)
34 GP, 3 G, 15 A, 18 P
Pasha Bocharov (2004)
35 GP, 6 G, 10 A, 16 P
Bogdans Hodass (2003)
27 GP, 4 G, 11 A, 15 P
Rhett Parsons (2003)
35 GP, 2 G, 11 A, 13 P
Kurtis Smythe (2002)
24 GP, 6 A, 6 P
Josh Van Mulligen (2005)
35 GP, 4 A, 4 P
“Most nights they’re pretty good as a group of six; we’ve had maybe two or three off nights which is bound to happen,” Frazer said. “But I think as a whole our gaps have been good, we’re staying connected, joining the rush, we’re creating some offence. On the flip side, we continue to have to make sure that risk management’s not giving up too much off the rush.
“Bocharov and Krebs have really taken steps the last month, they’ve been outstanding in November and in here in December. Reed and Josh have both really taken steps playing together, they’re pushing each other and playing well together. Then Parsons and Hodass are both always reliable, hard, mean defencemen to play against and some great penalty killers. We really liked that group and we need those guys to be great if we want to continue to have success.”
Goaltenders
Beckett Langkow (2003)
13-11-3-1, 3.12 GAA, .888 SV%
Evan May (2004)
0-6-1, 3.92 GAA, .873 SV%
“Both guys have been great, they give us a chance to win every night and guys are super confident playing in front of them,” Frazer said. “When you’re going into a game and you know you’re going to get good goaltending it’s just a huge confidence booster. They’re both buddies and they push each other to continue to get better and that’s the biggest thing, they both have to continue to work. It’s nice to have that friendly competition to make sure each guy keeps improving.”
