PHOTO COURTESY OASIZ WIESBLATT
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Oasiz Wiesblatt took part in the Columbus Blue Jackets' training camp last weekend. He was released from his amateur contract Saturday and will be in the Tigers lineup this week.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Oasiz Wiesblatt is back with the Medicine Hat Tigers and excited to be in the orange and black again.
Wiesblatt missed the first two games of the 2023-24 season while he was attending training camp with the Columbus Blue Jackets. What was originally just an invite to Columbus’s prospects tournament turned into an amateur tryout contract to take part in their main camp.
“It was a really cool experience, and obviously I’m super happy to be back here and ready to get going, but it was a surreal experience I’ll never forget,” Wiesblatt said.
He took part in three days of camp with Columbus before being released from that tryout contract alongside 10 other players and Blue Jackets’ prospects. He says his focus throughout the camp was on just trying his hardest and showing what he can do while not worrying about competing against NHL veterans. There were a lot of players who did stand out to the 19-year-old on how they approach their jobs.
“Guys like Jack Roslovic, Johnny Gaudreau, Patrick Laine, Zack Werenski, just top calibre NHL players,” Wiesblatt said. “A lot of guys surprised me and it was really good to see Cole Clayton down there and Cole Sillinger. Those guys have taken big steps throughout their career, so that was pretty cool.”
Wiesblatt’s rookie season in the WHL was the 2020-21 bubble season, which was Clayton’s overage season. He was around the team the year prior when Sillinger made his debut. Four seasons later, Wiesblatt says it was a strange scenario for all of them seeing how far they had all come.
“Cowboy (talked about it) quite a bit, he said it was really weird seeing me from 16 to 19, and now you’re competing for the same hockey team in Columbus,” Wiesblatt said.
Wiesblatt is expected to step into the Tigers’ lineup this weekend starting Friday night at Red Deer against the Rebels. Associate coach Joe Frazer says they were excited to get him back on the ice and in the room.
“It’s awesome, just his energy when he came back (Monday), you can just feel it in the room,” Frazer said. “He just loves the rink and puts a smile on everyone’s face, he loves being here. He’s just one of those guys that his energy’s contagious and it’s awesome to have him back.”
As Wiesblatt gets ready to make his season debut with the Tigers, he is able to look back on his camp experience with a sense of encouragement for what his hard work could bring in the future.
“I’ve realized it’s possible to play in that league, it’s not like it’s a huge reach, I think it’s very doable,” Wiesblatt said. “You just have to chase your dreams and make sure what you do every day is leading to what your dream is down the road.”
While he was in Columbus, Wiesblatt was watching the Tigers as much as he could, catching all of the 4-1 win Friday at Calgary and seeing the first two periods of the 5-3 win Saturday over the same Hitmen.
He was able to watch defenceman Josh Van Mulligen, who returned from the Edmonton Oilers’ prospects tournament in time for the season-opening weekend. It was a confidence-boosting experience for the 18-year-old, who felt he belonged sooner than expected.
“I was definitely expecting to be pretty nervous but I felt very comfortable actually,” Van Mulligen said. “It ended up just being another hockey game for me and I think that was just because the guys were so good to me and they just made me feel really comfortable.”
The rookie tournament was his second experience with the Oilers, having taken part in their development camp over the summer. The local product suited up in one game in the orange and blue, playing in the Oilers vs. Calgary Flames rookie game on Sept. 16.
He enjoyed experiencing another rendition of the Battle of Alberta and left the tournament with some lessons on how he can get better.
“The guys are going to be bigger and it’s faster, so it’s about being that decision maker with the puck, you have to be really decisive and make decisions fast,” Van Mulligen said. “Also just being really hard to play against. Getting to play against those big boys, you have to put on some size so I can play hard against them.”
