Medicine Hat Tigers forward Hunter St. Martin carries the puck out of his end in the first period of the Tigers' 10-3 win Sunday at the InnovationPlex in Swift Current against the Broncos.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers wrapped up the preseason in high fashion.
The Tigers tallied 20 goals in two contests over the weekend, beating the Swift Current Broncos 10-7 Friday at Co-op Place and 10-3 Saturday at Swift Current. They finished the preseason with a 4-0 record, marking the first time they’ve gone undefeated in more than a decade.
Head coach Willie Desjardins was happy to end on a win but isn’t reading too much into the results.
“It’s good to get a win in preseason, it doesn’t help you a lot when you get to the regular season but it was nice, we scored some goals which was good to do,” Desjardins said Saturday. “But, Swift Current was really short handed, they probably had six, seven guys out of the lineup while we had a pretty full lineup. They’ll be a different team when we see them again but it was still good to get a win.”
One of several bright spots for the Tigers from the weekend, beyond just the bloated offence, was special teams. Medicine Hat’s power play was four-for-six and the penalty kill only allowed one goal on 12 attempts, scoring a shorthanded goal in the process.
“That was a big difference on the game, our power play has been pretty good,” Desjardins said. “They got a shorty on us early but I thought we rebounded and played pretty good.”
Hunter St. Martin had three goals and an assist in the road victory, with two markers coming with the ma advantage. The 18-year-old says the offence gives him confidence heading into the regular season.
Friday’s win wasn’t the prettiest for the Tigers as both teams lost their structures and the game became a track meet of offence. Associate coach Joe Frazer said afterward it was something they would have to clean up. After allowing only three goals in regulation Saturday, St. Martin says it was about following their standard and what they expect of themselves.
“We want to win a championship, we have that championship standard and we’re trying to live up to that,” St. Martin said. “(Friday) night wasn’t acceptable, we did get the win, but we just had to regroup and had to look at some videos. We came out better and we’re just going to continue to hold ourselves to that standard.”
The Tigers head into the first week of the 2023-24 regular season with a home-and-home against the Calgary Hitmen, with the season kicking off Friday at Calgary before the home opener Saturday at Co-op Place.
Despite a perfect preseason record, Desjardins says there is still a lot of work to be done if they want to reach full potential.
“There’s still stuff I see where we can work harder and be better,” Desjardins said.
“If we want to be a really good team after Christmas, we have quite a bit of work to do.”
