NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Shane Smith gets ready for a face-off during the first period of the Tigers’ 5-3 win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Calgary Hitmen.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers enter their second weekend of action with another tough slate of opponents.
The Tigers are at Red Deer tonight taking on the Rebels before they host the Saskatoon Blades at Co-op Place on Saturday. Medicine Hat enters the weekend looking to build off a 2-0 start to the season, beating the Calgary Hitmen twice last weekend.
Centre Shane Smith, who scored in both games, says it’s the best they could start but sees room for improvement.
“It was great to go 2-0 and the cool thing is, there’s a lot of ways in our game we still can improve,” Smith said. “It’s just about practice, this week has been huge for us, keep going hard and slowly preparing for Friday and Saturday. Working hard and sticking to our game plan.”
The Tigers’ practices throughout the week have been competitive and high energy. Tuesday involved two-on-two drills in a corner of the ice that resulted in a couple of heated exchanges between teammates, but those were resolved quickly.
Head coach Willie Desjardins says he likes the competitiveness in practices but cautions that they need to be smart and disciplined, which carries over into games.
“You can go hard, but if a guy is exposed, you have to back off, you just can’t take a big hit, stick a knee out or anything like that, but guys are so competitive,” Desjardins said. “If you battle hard, guys’ tempers will go up, which is totally good, that’s the way it should be, but it also is a chance for us to practice keeping our cool.
“I like it, that’s the only way you get better. I always talk about that competition can bring out the best in you and the worst in you. The more competition we get, the more chance we have at getting the best.”
The Tigers will have loads of competition from Red Deer and Saskatoon, two teams in the top of the Eastern conference last season, and neither has slowed down to start this year. Both teams are 1-1 through their first two games, with Red Deer splitting their opening series against the Edmonton Oil Kings and Saskatoon beating the Prince Albert Raiders after losing to the Regina Pats on opening night.
The Rebels have received reinforcements from NHL camps this week leading into tonight’s contest, with forward Kalan Lind and defencemen Mats Lindgren and Hunter Mayo all having been returned from their NHL clubs. Saskatoon received forward Egor Sidorov and goaltender Austin Elliott.
While Calgary was a challenge enough for the Tigers last weekend, Desjardins says this two-game set offers Medicine Hat the new challenge of facing fuller rosters.
“We have to be better if we’re going to compete hard every night, we have to be better, so it’ll be a good test for us,” Desjardins said.
The Tigers did see the return of forward Oasiz Wiesblatt from Columbus Blue Jackets camp early in the week but the 19-year-old forward was practising in a yellow, no-contact jersey on Thursday. Desjardins says they’ll see where he’s at before the game but says he’s close to playing.
He wasn’t the only yellow jersey skating with the Tigers, as import forward Vasyl Spilka has joined his new team in practice while recovering from a shoulder injury that resulted in surgery. It has only been a couple of practices but Desjardins says he’s liked how the Czechia forward looks on the ice and what he can bring to the club.
“I think he’s going to like our team, he’ll have fun here,” Desjardins said. “It takes a while to see what you have with your European players, even after Christmas. With him, he’s coming off a shoulder surgery, so he’s going to be a little bit more delayed. But I think he’s going to be a good player for us.”
Latvian defenceman Bruno Petrovics was cleared through the CHL’s import waivers earlier this week, meaning the Tigers will be holding onto Spilka and 20-year-old defenceman Bogdans Hodass as their two import players for the 2023-24 season.
Lindstrom recognized by TSN’s Button
Tigers’ forward Cayden Lindstrom was one of 32 players named on Craig Button of TSN’s 2024 NHL Draft list.
Button, TSN’s director of scouting, put together his annual ‘Craig’s list’ ahead of the NHL season, with his own projection of draft prospects based on their NHL potential 3-5 years out.
Lindstrom was named at 19th on the list with Button saying he was “intrigued to watch” the Chetwynd, B.C. product play for Medicine Hat this season.
“Big, strong, skilled, competitive, he wants to impact the game,” said Button on Lindstrom. “I think when you look at potential, he is a fascinating player to watch over the course of this year for me.'”
