NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna celebrates a third-period goal in a 3-1 loss on Jan. 19 to the Red Deer Rebels at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers head into a busy weekend looking for continued success.
The Tigers are coming off a 5-4 win Tuesday on the road over the Regina Pats. That win built off a 5-4 comeback OT win on Feb. 10 over the Red Deer Rebels and gave them just their second win in their last five games.
Head coach Willie Desjardins liked the win for his group and how they handled a road game against a team like Regina hungry for a playoff spot.
“It’s always tough when you have teams who have to get in,”Desjardins said. “Travel is always tough, but saying that it was good for us to find a win, got a big save on the penalty shot by Ethan (McCallum). It was a good game throughout the team.”
After Regina opened the scoring eight seconds into the game, the score was tied up four times before Medicine Hat pulled out the victory. Associate coach Joe Frazer says they’ve handled adversity all season and is always encouraged to see them manage two points in games like that.
“We’ve been down lots this year where we’ve been able to fight back, stay into it and ultimately get the win,” Frazer said. “There’s just a belief in the room that we’re never out of a game and that starts with our leadership group. We talk lots about all they’ve been through, a ton of adversity in their career so it stems from them.
“We believe we’re always in a game, we can always come back and we’re heading into the third tied up and we have strong belief we can figure out a way to get the two points.”
Tuesday’s win also shined the light a little brighter on Tiger rookie Gavin McKenna. The 16-year-old had two goals and two assists for his sixth four-point night of the season. The offensive night boosted McKenna into first place in the WHL’s rookie scoring race, passing 17-year-old Prince George Cougar forward Terik Parascak, who has led rookie scoring since Sept. 30.
McKenna leads Parascak by three points in five fewer games, tallying 25 goals and 76 points in 47 games, which also leads all rookies in the CHL.
Reaching the top of the rookie scoring is a spot McKenna says he likes being and credits his teammates for getting him there. But he says there’s still more work ahead.
“Obviously the job’s not finished,'” McKenna said. “I just gotta keep going, just as a team, we’re getting a really good playoff push here. If we just keep having success, carrying that into playoffs will be huge.”
Desjardins says McKenna reaching that scoring level means a lot to the team because he’s helped get them to the level they are. He’s liked how different lines have stepped up at different times through the year and says it’s something they’ll need to continue if they want to play in the spring.
“In the playoffs you have to be three, four lines deep and we have that,” Desjardins said. “We have four lines who can play, we have to get scoring off all the lines so it’s been good for us. But McKenna has certainly been excellent here the last little bit.”
The Tigers have three games this weekend, starting tonight when they host the Prince Albert Raiders. The CHL’s best Saskatoon Blades are at Co-op Place and the Tigers head to Edmonton on Family Day Monday for a matinee.
Desjardins says all three matchups provide their own challenge for his team.
“P.A. always plays us hard, so we’re going to have to be on top of it,” Desjardins said. “They put up some big shot numbers against some really good teams, so they’re playing good. Saskatoon is so deep, they’ve made lots of moves for this year. They have a really deep team throughout, their defence are really mobile, they’re solid at forward, they’re just a really tough team.”
With puck drop at 2 p.m. for Monday’s game, Desjardins says it’s different than usual but affects both teams the same.
“Edmonton will be ready for us, they are a different team than they were earlier, they have one really big line. So it’s just a game we have to be ready.”
The Tigers could be without defenceman Jack Kachkowski who is labelled as day-to-day with a lower body injury according to Frazer. The 16-year-old dressed Tuesday but was not on the ice for the second or third periods.
