NEWS PHOTO James Tubb
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Bogdans Hodass embraces the crowd after scoring the overtime winner Feb. 10 in a comeback, 5-4 victory over the Red Deer Rebels at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
There have been 33 European drafted players to play at least a game as a Medicine Hat Tiger, but none took the ice in orange and black more than Bogdans Hodass.
The soon-to-be 21-year-old played 178 games in three seasons for the Tigers, passing the previous import drafted benchmark of 143 by Ukrainian defenceman Sergei Klimentiev from 1993-95.
It’s a milestone the Latvian defenceman says he never planned on reaching but is proud to have achieved.
“I didn’t think about that much at first but right now I’m pretty happy by putting my name somewhere in the Medicine Hat Tigers records,” Hodass said.
He recorded 25 goals and 87 points in his 178 games with the Tigers, playing in two World Juniors tournaments with Latvia during his time in Medicine Hat.
He looks back fondly in his time with the Tigers and says he’s been honoured to play in southeast Alberta.
“I really appreciate the coaches for keeping me here as a 20-year-old, that helped me a lot,” Hodass said. “I’ve enjoyed those three years, especially the first year where we only won 11 games and then next year on the last regular season game making the playoffs, that was really special. It was ups and downs but I learned so much in here for those three years.”
He says he’ll always remember scoring the Teddy Bear Toss goal in 2021, while his favourite game is the Game 68 win over the Swift Current Broncos in 2022-23 to clinch a playoff spot.
Hodass gives thanks to the coaching staff, his billets and his family back home for making the three years with the Tigers as enjoyable as they were.
“Medicine Hat isn’t the biggest city but it was nice spending time with my teammates and my billet family, it was really huge and I enjoyed that,” Hodass said. “Doing everything with my teammates, practising together and getting better, I’m really happy about that and really appreciate it.”
Hodass will be staying in Canada for a while as he looks for his next opportunity, vying for a pro hockey job. Until then, he’ll continue reminiscing on highlights and seeing how much he’s improved since coming to Medicine Hat in 2021.
“A couple of weeks ago I was rewatching my highlight videos of my shots from two years ago, my first year and now, and there’s big differences,” Hodass said. “Especially with my speed and skating. Those things that I’m doing right now, what I didn’t do in my first year when I was only learning, it’s a huge difference how I’m playing right now and how I played before.”
When his teammates have retired or move on to the next stages of their hockey careers, Hodass hopes they look back fondly on playing alongside him and the example he provided in the lineup every night and in the gym every day.
“Just how I was showing the examples of how I was working off the ice and how I was showing my best on the ice,” Hodass said. “I think the young guys can only learn from that.”
