NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers' forward Shane Smith goes to the backhand before scoring in the first period of the Tigers' 6-3 win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Seattle Thunderbirds.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers will dance with one of the best teams in the country tonight.
The Tigers get set to host the Portland Winterhawks tonight at Co-op Place, the third game of their five-game home stand and the first of their four games in five nights.
The last time Portland was in Medicine Hat was Oct. 8, 2019, a 4-2 Medicine Hat victory led by Brett Kemp and James Hamblin each notching a goal and an assist.
Head coach Willie Desjardins says it will be a tough game for the Tigers.
“Portland is a really good team, you look at their numbers and they’re the best in the league in all kinds of numbers,” Desjardins said. “Maybe they haven’t been winning but they have had 18 minutes of O-zone time to other teams’ eight or nine, which is unheard of, you just don’t put up those numbers. They had 65 shots their last game so they’re certainly an elite team, they were ranked No. 1 in the country and we know that it’ll be a really tough game. They’ve lost a couple so they’re going to be hungry.”
Portland was ranked the top team in the Canadian Hockey League and were re-ranked at No. 4 this week having dropped the first three games on their Central division road trip, losing against the Red Deer Rebels (2-1), Edmonton Oil Kings (5-4) and Calgary Hitmen (7-4).
The Winterhawks’ penalty kill is the fourth best in the WHL at 85.5 per cent and their power play is fifth best at 27.6 per cent. They’re tied with the Tigers in goal for (63) and have allowed the second fewest goals against (32), while Medicine Hat has allowed 46.
Portland also features local product Ryan Miller who is in his first full WHL season.
While Desjardins’ sole focus is on the Tigers getting the two point, tonight’s matchup is a little more special for him as he gets to go up against longtime WHL coach Mike Johnston. The two were assistant coaches together at the University of Calgary in the late 1980s, and Johnston was Desjardins’ best man in his wedding.
It’s a matchup Desjardins says he looks forward to.
“He’s a good coach, like a really, really good coach and good person,” Desjardins said. “He’s done such a great job with that franchise. It’s incredible when he came in and just turned the franchise around and he’s certainly an elite coach at any level, he also does a great job building, too. Not many teams have the record he has had over the number of years where they’ve had continual winners. I know he wants to win it this year so I know they’ll be playing hard.”
The Tigers enter the contest down a forward with Gavin McKenna having left for the U17s on Sunday. His absence, paired with Brayden Boehm’s lower body injury that has been upgraded to an indefinite timeline, leaves the Tigers with the option of playing 11 forwards, seven defencemen. Desjardins says there’s some difficulty to bench management with that lineup configuration.
“We have to play a deep bench, it’s going to be hard against Portland because they’re going to come at us hard and you need older guys to handle it,” Desjardins said. “So it’s a big chance for younger guys. They want that opportunity, they’re going to get it and they’re going to have to be ready.”
There are still roster decisions to be made for the Tigers 14 games into the season, as they continue to carry three goaltenders in Evan May, Zach Zahara and Ethan McCallum. May started both games over the weekend, earning a win against Seattle with Zahara taking over in the first period against Edmonton to pick up the victory.
Zahara has three wins on the season, his first full in the WHL, with two victories coming in relief. He was happy to contribute in the wild win Friday and says he’s just staying even keel with the success.
“Being down 4-0 is not the spot any team wants to be in in the first period,” Zahara said. “Willie said in the first intermission what a cool story it would be if we came back and won the game. So that was my mindset going for the rest of the game there, it was just trying to make every save to give the guys a chance to win.”
Desjardins liked both goalies’ performances and says a decision will come soon.
“Zach was really good, Evan played well, he rebounded well,” Desjardins said. “We’re going to have to decide stuff pretty soon but we just want to make the right decision.”
50/50 jackpot carried over from Saturday
The 50/50 jackpot from Saturday’s Tigers game was not claimed and will rollover to tonight’s game. The jackpot will start at $12,850.
Puck drop between the Tigers and Winterhawks is set for 7 p.m.
