NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers' goaltender Evan May watches a puck bounce off his toe while making a save during 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 are starting the season with three goaltenders who all want to be the go-to guy in net.
Evan May, Zach Zahara and Ethan McCallum are all on the roster to start the 2023-24 season and they are all in different points of their junior hockey career.
The 19-year-old May joined the Tigers via trade early last season and backed up recently released overage net minder Beckett Langkow, appearing in 19 games last season with a 5-9-1 record.
Zahara has played a combined 60 minutes in relief in the WHL across two regular season games, and another eight minutes also in relief during last year’s playoffs. The 18-year-old spent all last season with the U18 South Alberta Hockey Academy, backstopping them to a second straight Circle K Classic.
McCallum broke camp with the Tigers last year and was eventually returned to SAHA after not playing a game and the acquisition of May. The 17-year-old battled injuries and only played six games at the U18 level last year.
Head coach Willie Desjardins says they will keep the trio for a while as they decide who gets what playing time, with May, the veteran of the group, being the front runner, with the younger goalies to back up.
May says having the competition for the net is fun and he welcomes the motivation.
“There’s goalies chasing you so it’s a little different, but it’s really competitive still and I still have to work as hard as I did last year,” May said. “This league is hard, anyone can come up by surprise. So it’s really humbling knowing there’s two other guys who want it just as bad as you do.”
May says there was a lot of confidence from himself coming back to Medicine Hat for what was his first training camp as a Tiger. He’s looking forward to seeing the growth of the team in front of him and says they have a lot of depth and potential.
For Zahara, he’s aged out of the U18 leagues and has made his first opening weekend roster in the WHL. He is excited for the opportunity but says the work has only began.
“It feels great having put in the work over the last couple of years, especially last summer, now it’s kind of paid off for a little bit,” Zahara said. “But we’re just kind of getting started here now again.”
The Tigers were tied for the eighth fewest goals against last season, allowing 224 goals against in 68 regular season games. In four playoff games against the Winnipeg Ice, they allowed 18 goals.
While all three are working toward their own goals, there is still a sense of camaraderie between the three.
“Between the three of us, we actually get along very well, so there’s just that aspect of where, even though we are competitors, we get along really well and we can put aside our differences and cheer on each other and really push ourselves,” McCallum said. “Because with positivity in the locker room between the three of us, we can just push past our limits and just push each other to become better to see what the outcome is.”
McCallum isn’t allowing himself to soak in the moment too much as he knows making the opening roster doesn’t mean anything for the whole season. He says he’s focusing on the little things and being at this best, as he’s sure May and Zahara are as well.
“We still have three goalies, so there’s a lot of work to be done, and if I crack the top two spots, I don’t just want to be sitting on the bench all year. I’m going to work hard to be able to prove to myself and to the team I can be their guy and be the No.1 guy for the whole season,” McCallum said. “My job here isn’t done, I have a lot of work to do and it’s just managing myself, making sure I’m doing the little details right and proving I can be here.
“Last year I was here for the home opener but I was gone just a couple months later, so just focusing on staying here full time.”
