Tigers to host mental health awareness game Saturday
By JAMES TUBB on February 16, 2024.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb The Medicine Hat Tigers have partnered with the Canadian Mental Health Association for a mental health awareness game this weekend. The Tigers, in partnership with the CMHA, will have several features to promote the importance of mental health during their game-day experience against the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday. According to a release from the Tigers, they will have a CMHA-run kiosk on the concourse where fans can learn more about mental health and the organization’s community-based services, videos featuring Tiger players talking about the importance of mental health and public service announcements about mental health and CMHA. Head coach Willie Desjardins has long been an advocate for mental health and says they put a focus on the person before the player when it comes to internal discussions. “Hockey is one thing, but people are way more important than hockey,” Desjardins said. “We always have to do whatever we can to help each other. “We’ve always talked about that family first. I always believe hockey is a great sport, an unbelievable sport, but it’s our gift and we’re lucky to play it. But there’s more important things.” Saturday’s game is part of the Tigers’ ongoing partnership with CMHA and its Talk Today program. Since its launch in 2014, Talk Today has addressed the mental health needs of hockey players and other athletes across Canada. From 2014 through the 2022-23 season, nearly 8,600 individuals have received mental health and suicide awareness training through the program. Tigers forward Shane Smith says mental health is an important issue he’s glad is getting recognized by the organization and WHL. He’s had family members and friends battle mental health issues and says it has made him more aware of how he perceives others and how they are doing. “You never know how somebody’s truly feeling, so it’s just something to be aware of and we’ve talked about having so many problems with mental health and suicides,” Smith said. “So it’s important to always recognize it, and having that in the back of our minds is always something that’s great to have.” Rookie forward Gavin McKenna says putting a focus on mental health has been a priority for him when it comes to dealing pressures of the game and being in a spotlight. “It’s not talked about a ton and it’s good we’re kind of putting the focus on that,” McKenna said. “If anyone has anything going on, they should always speak up. It’s good that people are starting to key in on this stuff.” While people never truly know what one another are dealing with, people have their own escape to find peace, with sports serving that role for some. Smith says they take pride in being an escape for people and look to give people that opportunity to enjoy themselves for a couple of hours at Co-op Place every time the puck drops. “We’ve had such great fans all year and just having that escape from whatever they may be dealing with, to get out and have a good time watching hockey,” Smith said. “For us, always coming to the rink we enjoy doing it and it’s something to kind of get away from our personal lives and just have fun with it.” 16-15
