NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers' captain Tyler MacKenzie wins a face-off against Saskatoon captain Trevor Wong in the first period of the Tigers' 3-2 overtime loss Saturday against the Blades at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers are gearing up for a busy slate.
The Tigers are at Regina tonight taking on the Pats in the first of a three-game, four-day week that includes a road contest Friday at Swift Current before hosting the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday at Co-op Place.
Medicine Hat enters the week off a three-point weekend and sits in first place of the Eastern conference with an early record of 3-0-1. Head coach Willie Desjardins says they just have to stay focused.
“It seems like every team on our side is a tough team,” Desjardins said post practice Tuesday. “You have to be ready. I don’t think there’s anything you do specially different for your teams, you just have to make sure you’re ready.”
Tonight’s contest against Regina is the first matchup in the post-Connor Bedard era for the Tigers and Pats, with the young superstar set to make the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks who selected him first overall in the 2023 NHL draft. Desjardins says it’s a different matchup than it has been in years past.
“(Bedard) certainly was a guy you had to key on, they had probably three really high-end guys you really had to watch, so that will be a little bit different,” Desjardins said. “But all in all, all teams have some top players that are hard to handle and play well, and Regina is no different. They have a good group and they’ll come at us hard.”
The busy week is something captain Tyler MacKenzie says is a learning curve for rookies as they adjust their lifestyles off the ice to manage the workload. That off-ice management and focus the their keys to the week.
“This is kind of the first week we’re super busy and for the young guys, it’s new to them, so it’s about keeping our body good with nutrition – staying hydrated is huge for us – and getting in the gym and stretching,” MacKenzie said. “This whole week, it’s an important stretch for us. We’re trying to just refresh the minds after coming off the three-point weekend.”
The Tigers were recognized for their three-point weekend and a strong start to the season, being named to the CHL’s Top-10 list for the second week of the campaign, coming in at No. 10. Desjardins says while it doesn’t mean anything in the standings, it has still some significance for them.
“We’ve worked really hard to get back again, we have a long, long ways to go,” Desjardins said. “Are we a top-10 team? I don’t know if we’re a top-10 team, we have a long ways to go yet. But it’s really nice to be rewarded for putting the effort in we have so far.
“I don’t put a lot of stock into those rankings, but it’s just nice we are not in the bottom 10, we’ve moved and that’s a nice thing. It’s great for our guys but we just have to get a lot better.”
The Tigers’ locker room had seen the rankings online and shared it throughout. It’s something Mackenzie says means something in the moment, but the group has to just build off it.
“Not a lot of teams get that honour, I think we’ve earned it and obviously it’s a pretty cool thing, but we’re not going to think about it too much,” MacKenzie said. “If anything, it’ll motivate us to want to go out there, win more games and keep playing how we play, just Tiger hockey, that’s all that matters to us.
“But it’s pretty cool, two years ago no one would have thought we’d be in this position, so to be there now, it’s definitely special.”
The Tigers followed up the Cru Hanas trade on Monday with another deal with the Seattle Thunderbirds, sending defenceman Braeden Wynne to Seattle for a ninth-round pick in the 2024 WHL draft. Wynne joined the Tigers ahead of training camp and played in three preseason games.
Desjardins says both moves were about getting players an opportunity to play.
“Cru was with us, he’s a good person, he’s worked hard, he wasn’t getting an opportunity here and I do think he has a really good upside,” Desjardins said. “He can be a really good player, we just have lots of numbers. It’s hard to get everybody out there and it’s not fair if a guy’s not playing. So I think he can be successful and I wish him all the best.
“Braeden Wynne wasn’t with us, Seattle was looking for some depth and we wanted to give him a chance to play in the league, so we made the trade.”
