NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna celebrates his first of two goals and three points in the first period of a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday at Co-op Place to the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers had an opportunity to work out any kinks this weekend before playoffs get under way this week.
The Tigers split the final weekend of the regular season, with a 3-2 overtime win Friday at Lethbridge and a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday at Co-op Place to the Hurricanes.
The win and loss puts the Tigers’ season record at 37-23-6-2 heading into their first-round matchup against the Red Deer Rebels. Head coach Willie Desjardins says they have to be better than they were this weekend.
“Playoffs is a different game, we just didn’t play good enough,” Desjardins said Saturday. “It’s tough. It’s the end of the year, you don’t want to get hurt, lots of things, but it wasn’t our best. Now that’s all over and we just look ahead.”
Gavin McKenna scored twice Saturday and Oasiz Wiesblatt found the back of the net. McKenna recorded an assist on Wiesblatt’s goal, breaking a Tigers record in the process. With the assist, the Whitehorse product passed Al Conroy’s record for most points by a 16-year-old with 97 on the season.
Conroy had 38 goals and 95 points in 68 games as a 16-year-old in the 1982-83 season.
McKenna finishes his rookie season with 34 goals and 97 points in 61 games played, missing six games while playing for Canada at the U17 Hockey Challenge in November. He was also scratched due to illness in the Tigers’ 8-4 loss March 15 at the Swift Current Broncos. He says it’s a record he’ll embrace for the rest of his life.
“It’s pretty cool to have your name in history here, it’s an old organization,” McKenna said. “It’s really cool and hopefully, there’s a few more to come.”
Desjardins says they’re fortunate to have a player like McKenna and says his season was “pretty incredible.”
“He’s amazing hockey player and a really good young man,” Desjardins said. “He’s got lots of great values.”
Heading into the week of preparation ahead of Game 1 Friday at Co-op Place, the routine doesn’t change for the banged-up Tigers who remain without forwards Cayden Lindstrom, Shane Smith, Marcus Pacheco and Vasyl Spilka. Desjardins says they’ll handle it like a normal week, not changing pace just because the calendar flipped into the postseason.
“You do what got you here, so don’t change a lot,” Desjardins said. “We just have to be working. We have to make sure we have lots of energy and are as healthy as we can be.”
The Tigers enter the playoffs this year on a different note than last season. In the 2022-23 campaign, it took until a Game 68 win over the Broncos to clinch a postseason berth against the former WHL franchise, Winnipeg Ice. The year before that, Game 68 brought a sweet release from the slow, painful drag of an 11-win season.
This year, there’s a steady excitement growing within a team that is looking forward to the playoffs and isn’t viewed as an all-time underdog, but one that can find success.
“It’s something you look forward to at the start of the year, it’s something everyone works towards, playoff hockey, and it’s the best time to play hockey,” Wiesblatt said. “It’s the most exciting, the fans can be loud and everyone’s just going to be ready to go.”
The Tigers have seen larger crowds at the friendly confines of Co-op Place to end the season. Saturday’s contest saw 4,840 fans take in the game, and a week prior, 4,528 were in attendance for a 4-2 win over the Central division-winning Broncos.
The impact of a fan base that shook the old Arena and made 4,006 feel like 40,006 is growing as the excitement level grows around one of the youngest teams in the WHL playoffs. It’s an impact that’s been felt on and off the ice and could help fuel what they hope is a lengthy playoff run.
“The fans have been really great,” Wiesblatt said. “They’ve been coming a lot the last 10 games, it’s been really electric in here and it’s been fun. It’s really exciting.”
