NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Hayden Harsanyi stick handles the puck along the wall in the first period of the Tigers' 10-7 win Sept. 15 at Co-op Place over the Swift Current Broncos.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers’ forward core is young and looking to fill the back of the net.
The Tigers enter the 2023-24 season with a younger group of forwards than the year prior, with only three 19-year-olds (Oasiz Wiesblatt, Tyler MacKenzie and Brayden Boehm) followed by four 18-year-olds (Shane Smith, Andrew Basha, Hunter St. Martin and Brett Calhoon).
The rest of the group is 17 and 16-year-olds led by returning players Tomas Mrsic and Cayden Lindstrom, with the infusion of rookies Kadon McCann and Hayden Harsanyi. The youngest Tiger was also the youngest player on last year’s opening roster; Gavin McKenna starts the season as a 15-year-old and will help lead what should be a dangerous offence for the club.
The team put up 20 goals in two preseason games against the Swift Current Broncos, adding 12 more in two games against Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat led preseason scoring with 32 goals. The next closest team, the Spokane Chiefs, had 27.
It’s an offence that associate coach Joe Frazer says has shown its quickness but still needs to show it in the gritty areas of the ice.
“Obviously we have some skill there but now it’s going to be focusing on getting to the dirty areas, using our speed, skill and making sure we’re attacking,” Frazer said. “We don’t want to just use the speed and skill on the outside, to make sure we’re getting inside the dots and attacking the house in the O-zone. Using that speed to track guys from behind on the defensive side. It’s been nice to see a lot of guys a step quicker and that’s exciting.”
With the Tigers’ three overagers on defence, captain Tyler MacKenzie has become one of the ‘elder statesmen’ up front. He feels like the old guy of the group now but is excited to see how much the younger players will continue to step up.
“It’s an incredible group up front, guys are pretty motivated to get going and they want to win, that’s the biggest part,” MacKenzie said. “These young guys coming in, they’ve had a few years, when they were 15, they had a chance to come up and get a taste and now they’re 16 and they have a chance to really see what they can prove. The guys from SAHA have been around so there’s lots of expectation on them to play well, but I think they’ll handle it well. As long as they work hard, I think it’s going to be good.”
Calhoon is one of those players who graduated from SAHA last season and has cracked his first WHL opening night roster. The 18-year-old says it’s exciting to be part of the team at this point of the season but is more focused on still being there come the later months. He played in eight games with the Tigers last season, registering a goal and three points. Calhoon says he’s ready to do whatever the team needs to push the needle.
“I can play multiple roles, I feel like mainly I’m just going to be working in the corners and use my physical play, but I can also score,” Calhoon said. “Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do.”
Harsanyi is also making his opening night debut, though he played in four games last season as an affiliated player while suiting up for the Edge U18 hockey academy. He’s ready to play in front of friends and family tonight at Calgary against the Hitmen while also getting better.
“I just want to develop and keep building my game every night, every practice, every game and just keep expanding on that, trying to just do the little things right,” Harsanyi said.
Last season the Tigers were tied for ninth in league goal scoring with 248 in 68 games.
St. Martin cracked the Tigers’ lineup last season as a 16-year-old and worked his way up into starting positions on the penalty kill and getting power play time. Entering this season, with younger players around him and more responsibility ahead of him, he says team success comes down to doing the little things right.
“You have to buy in every day and it’s all about those little micro details, that’s what is going to put you in or out,” St. Martin said. “Those inches where you don’t skate hard back, and that puck goes through that seam and it’s game over. It’s all about those and just keep learning and working every day in practice, forcing those habits so when it comes down to it, it’s just in the back of your mind and you’re just going to do it.”
