Medicine Hat Tigers net minder Evan May keeps his eye on the puck in the first period of a 3-2 OT loss Saturday against the Saskatoon Blades at Co-op Place.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Through two weekends of action, the Medicine Hat Tigers sit atop the WHL’s Eastern conference with more ways to get better.
The Tigers are coming off a three-point weekend, with a 4-2 win Friday at Red Deer over the Rebels and a 3-2 overtime loss Saturday at Co-op Place against the Saskatoon Blades. Head coach Willie Desjardins thought it was a good weekend for his team but sees room for improvement.
“Red Deer was a really tough game, the boys played hard there, came back and I know the group played hard again tonight,” Desjardins said after Saturday’s loss. “It was a good hockey game, both teams played hard, lots of speed in that game. Our team will get better as we go – we’re young – we’ll get better as we go.”
The Tigers were less than five minutes away from picking up their fourth straight win to start the season Saturday night, before Saskatoon scored late in the third to force overtime and eventually win. The Blades outshot Medicine Hat 3-1 in the overtime frame Saturday, which is an early carry-over from last season for the Tabbies who lost eight overtime games.
Their overtime performance is something Desjardins says they have worked on and will continue to.
“It’s something we just have to be better at, I don’t think that was our best effort tonight,” Desjardins said. “But I think our guys were tired, I think they were tired through the game. I just don’t think we had a lot of legs when we got to overtime.”
While the Tigers were returning from Red Deer late Friday night, Saskatoon was already at Medicine Hat with no game on their schedule. That extra game and the road trip back from Red Deer was something starting goaltender Evan May says he took into mind ahead of both games.
“Just got lots of sleep, lots of food, lots of hydration and had some fun out there,” May said.
He started both contests and is off to a strong start to his second season in the orange and black. Through the first four games of the season, the 19-year-old Nanaimo product has a 2.21 goals against average and a .931 save percentage. He leaves the weekend with more confidence and looking to continue being the guy between the pipes for the Tigers.
“Three of four points is pretty good, if we can keep doing that all year we’ll be in really good spots, just have to build off this weekend,” May said.
“This week is just another opportunity to show the coaches, show the fans and show my teammates why I’m here and just want to have a good week ahead.”
Medicine Hat is on the road Wednesday as they head to Regina to battle the Pats. Friday they are at Swift Current to face the Broncos before hosting the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday at Co-op Place. One thing the Tigers will look to address before those contests is their discipline, having collected the fifth most penalty minutes in the league.
“We want to be aggressive, we want to play hard, there’s just a couple of calls that were made that could have gone either way,” Desjardins said.
Medicine Hat’s offence Saturday came from Tomas Mrsic and Shane Smith. Smith’s goal marked his fourth of the year and fourth straight game on the score sheet. Mrsic, who scored his second of the season, is looking forward to the week ahead and more tough opponents on the slate.
“We’ve been playing really good,” Mrsic said. “Just have to get hard at practice here, have a good few practices before we go head to Regina and then just have a huge weekend ahead.”
Tigers trade Hanas
The Tigers sent forward Cru Hanas to the Seattle Thunderbirds in a trade Monday morning for the WHL rights to defenceman Reily Pickford.
Hanas played 45 games for the Tigers over the past three seasons, totalling a goal and six points. He had one assist in three games to start this season.
Pickford is playing with the Lloydminster Lancers of the AEHL U18 AAA league.
