NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Pasha Bocharov celebrates his first period goal in the Medicine Hat Tigers 5-1 win over the Regina Pats on Feb. 5 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
A casual Medicine Hat Tigers fan would understandably think Pasha Bocharov has always played forward in the orange and black. But the defenceman has continued to embrace the position change for one reason, the good of the team.
The 18-year-old moved from the back end to forward in the middle of January when the Tigers were plagued with the injuries of Tyler MacKenzie and Brendan Lee. After a couple games alongside captain Owen MacNeil and Shane Smith, Bocharov was put alongside two of the Tigers’ top scorers in Oasiz Wiesblatt and Andrew Basha.
He has four goals and one assist for five points in his last six games playing forward, a majority of the goals coming from driving to the net with his stick down, another role he’s gladly accepted.
“Anytime you can do anything to help the team win, stepping into a spot like that forward position, then you do that for the team,” Bocharov said. “I’ve embraced that role as the guy trying to kind of get those skilled guys the puck. I’ve really enjoyed it and they find me back and we make the most of it. It’s been really good and a really fun opportunity for me.”
Bocharov said his two linemates play a big part in him being able to find success at the forward position but says it also comes down to having the right mindset and not seeing any downside.
Associate coach Joe Frazer says the way Bocharov has accepted the role and embraced it says a lot about the Escondido, Calif. product.
“Not a lot of kids would give it a try, especially in today’s world, and for him to do it and give it his all, that speaks volumes about his character,” Frazer said. “Then as a forward, when you watch him, he’s tenacious, relentless and he competes. He’s one of our best guys at getting to the net, going hard to the net, and when you look at his goals, it’s just going to the net hard and we needed that.”
While he’s been having success at forward and has been able to show off his celebrations more and more as goals keep coming, Bocharov doesn’t want to commit to staying in the role. But he says the ultimate decider on whatever position he plays is what works best for the Orange and Black.
“I’ve thought of staying (forward) since I’m finding success up front, but I’ve been playing defence my whole career and it’s really just wherever they need me,” Bocharov said. “It’s about adapting and finding a way to be the best I can for the team and that’s really all it’s about. We’ll see what happens in the future here and go from there.”
The Tigers have the week of practice before they open a home-and-home series with the Lethbridge Hurricanes this weekend. Friday night they are down Highway 3 at the Enmax Centre before hosting the Hurricanes at Co-op Place on Saturday.
Frazer says the focus this week is fine tuning things while also building off their sweep of last weekend’s slate, including a comeback 4-2 win over the Hurricanes last Saturday.
“These are always fun games to play, we know it’s going to be loud Friday in Lethbridge and we know it’s going to be a tough weekend,” Frazer said. “We have to have a really good week of practice. Luckily, we just played them, so we know what they’re all about and we just have to touch up on a few things and just make sure we’re fresh and ready to go this weekend.”
