NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna braces for a hit from Regina Pats forward Connor Bedard in a 5-1 Tigers win on Feb. 5 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers returned from their last Manitoba road trip with another learning experience.
The Tigers were right there against the Winnipeg Ice on Tuesday before falling 3-1, scoring their only goal of the trip as they were shut out 2-0 Wednesday in Brandon against the Wheat Kings.
Associate coach Joe Frazer says the close losses are a lesson of how tight playoff games will be and how they have to play in them if they want success.
“It’s not going to be 7-6, 7-5 games, it’s going to be tight checking, low scoring games,” Frazer said. “Defensively it was pretty solid we didn’t give much up. But offensively we have to make sure that we’re willing to just get pucks in behind them, get to areas where we can use our speed and not force things off the rush. We want to attack off the rush but we just have to be aware of the numbers and situation.
“If we have the three-on-two let’s take it, but if not, let’s lay it in behind them and get our forecheck going, so we can keep that speed game and wear teams out. Hopefully that’s a good learning lesson here for the last seven games of what it’s going to be come playoff hockey.”
Forward Shane Smith scored the Tigers’ lone goal of the road trip, his 19th on the season. He says they have been using the two losses as a reference point of what can’t happen again in their remaining seven regular season games if they want to play in the postseason.
“We definitely talked about it, we don’t want to be sitting at home in April thinking about what we could have done better, or regretting a past game,” Smith said. “Its just a learning curve for us not to have that feeling at the end of the year.”
Despite the losses, the Tigers (26-26-8-1) remain in seventh place in the Eastern conference playoff hunt due to Wednesday night wins by the Edmonton Oil Kings and Saskatoon Blades against the sixth-place Regina Pats and eighth-place Swift Current Broncos respectively.
The Tigers’ first chance to get back in the win column is Saturday when they host Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats. The Pats were four points ahead of Medicine Hat entering play Friday when Regina was in Lethbridge taking on the Hurricanes.
“They’re a little ahead of us in the standings and it’s going to be a war,” Pasha Bocharov said about facing Regina. “That’s really all there is to it. There’s no extra preparation that needs to be done, we just need to focus on what we need to do and prepare for battle.”
Frazer echoed there is no different game plan for the Pats, it’s about the Tigers sticking to their style.
“That’s playing fast, it’s relentless, on the attack and it starts by being relentless defensively,” Frazer said. “We have to make sure we’re getting above the puck so that we can create turnovers, use our speed on offence. As much as we want to be fast offensively, we have to be fast defensively so we can close their gap, shut it down early so we can get more time in the zone. For us, it all starts with the puck. How hard are we willing to work without it to get it back?”
Saturday’s game also marks the return of Tigers’ top prospect Gavin McKenna to the lineup, his first game in the orange and black since he had two assists in a 5-1 win over the Pats on Feb. 5.
“I can’t wait,” McKenna said. “I haven’t really seen the Tigers for a while now, they’ve been on the road, so to get back with the guys will be awesome. Then come Saturday night, it’ll be a big game for the playoff spot. We have to work hard there and my family’s coming down, too, so getting to see them will be cool. It’ll be the first time since Christmas.”
