Competitive Tigers training camp gets underway

By JAMES TUBB on September 1, 2023.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

The battle for roster spots on the Medicine Hat Tigers is underway.

The Tigers opened their camp Thursday with a morning skate ahead of the official check-in later in the day. On-ice camp activities officially get underway today with practices in the morning and Saturday followed up with scrimmages at night. The weekend wraps with an intra-squad game Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Associate coach Joe Frazer says he’s excited to be back and see who summered well and put in the time training wise. With an influx of younger players and returning veterans, he’s expecting a competitive camp and lead-up to the regular season.

“We’re really excited about the ’07s and ’08s but we have a lot of older players they gotta push for ice time,” Frazer said. “Our forward group, we’ve got 15, 16 guys that are all pushing for spots, we’ve got a lot of D and we’ve got quite a bit of goalies here still, too. So it’s going to be a really competitive camp and that’s what you want, in order to win in this league you have a lot of depth. Hopefully this camp will show that and it’s going to be competitive.”

The Tigers enter training camp off a 30-win season, making the playoffs as the eighth seed with a 30-29-8-1 record before falling in four games in the first round against the recently relocated, first-place Winnipeg Ice. Building off that first-round exit is something captain Owen MacNeil says they have to do this season.

“It’s crunch time for us, we weren’t satisfied with that first-round exit last year,” MacNeil said. “So this year it’s all about where we want to be and we have a group we think can win a championship. Why not us? Everybody’s in the same shoes, so we’re just excited to get going. The young guys all had big summers, the old guys as well. We’re a pretty familiar team, which makes things easier when you have a lot of new faces. It can be hard to gel but when you have a lot of old faces you recognize, it’s easier to get going right away.”

Last year’s team entered camp off an 11-win campaign and were able to surprise some opponents early in the season with their growth, picking up some wins. With a playoff berth behind them, Frazer says they’re going to get every team’s best and they have to match it.

“We have to make sure we’re ready to go right from the start here. Practice details, right off the hop, are going to be crucial so we can make sure the first 10 games we come out of the gates flying,” Frazer said. “We just want more, we need to keep improving., our goal is to win a championship, that’s our goal every year. It was a great experience last year to get in the playoffs and now we have to ramp it up even more and have that standard of excellence every practice.”

This year’s camp marks Andrew Basha’s third as a Tiger and second as a full time player after being drafted in 2020. The NHL draft-eligible forward says there is a lot of faith in the Tigers’ locker room and a drive to reach that next level heading into the season.

“There’s a lot of trust in the coaching staff to help us accomplish what we want as well,” Basha said. “All that is on our minds is winning. We showed we can get to the playoffs and we played a horse of a team in Winnipeg, but now we want to be the horses here. And we’re going to do everything we can to be that horse.”

The players at Tigers camp are divided into team black and team orange for practices and workouts, and will play a scrimmage on both Friday and Saturday evening. The scrimmages get underway both nights at 7 p.m. Sunday’s intra-squad game is from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Smythe commits to MRU

A third member of the 2022-23 Medicine Hat Tigers has committed to play USports hockey.

Utilityman Kurtis Smythe has committed to play for the Mount Royal University Cougars, utilizing the WHL scholarship and development program.

The 21-year-old Cloverdale, B.C. product played 57 games as a Tiger with two goals and 13 points. He totalled 178 Western Hockey League games in four seasons, playing a majority of his career with the Portland Winterhawks before an early season trade to Medicine Hat last year. He finishes his WHL career with four goals and 44 points.

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