NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forwards Mat Ward, Gavin McKenna and Andrew Basha celebrate McKenna's power play goal in the Tigers' 6-0 preseason win over the Calgary Hitmen on Sept. 7 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers have a lot of options in their forward core.
The Tigers enter the 2024-25 season with an experienced group up front that will then be rounded out and supplemented with rookies.
They’re led by a trio of 20-year-olds in Oasiz Wiesblatt, Brayden Boehm and offseason acquisition Mat Ward. There’s also four players in their age-19 season with Shane Smith, Hunter St. Martin, Andrew Basha and Marcus Pacheco all bringing 140-plus games each of WHL experience.
A pair of 18-year-olds in Cayden Lindstrom and the newly acquired Ryder Ritchie are supplemented by a trio of sophomore stars in Kadon McCann, Hayden Harsanyi and Gavin McKenna. The Tigers will also have an infusion of rookies in Liam and Markus Ruck, Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll, Avery Watson, Brayden Ryan-MacKay and 2024 first-round pick Luke Ruptash.
Not all the rookies will play every night and Ruptash will be limited to 10 games under Hockey Canada’s rule update regarding draft-year players, but they will provide a youthful energy to a lineup that has gotten older seemingly overnight.
It’s a forward core that Harsanyi, who’s heading into his first season of NHL draft eligibility, is excited about.
“It’s very deep, and every line is going to be hard to play against,” Harsanyi said. “We have that depth and we have the top-end talent that other teams don’t have. That’s what makes it so special.”
Harsanyi, who had 12 goals and 28 points in his 68-game rookie season, says the allure of the NHL Draft is something he’s focusing on day by day, not trying to get too caught up in any ups and downs of the season.
“I want to definitely up my goal and point production this year, and I think that will help contribute to the team’s success,” Harsanyi said. “I obviously want to get drafted, hopefully decently high, and have a good season. I just have to take it day by day, practice by practice, game by game and the rest will play itself out.”
The Tigers’ forwards contain four NHL Draft picks, led by Lindstrom as the fourth overall pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Basha and Ritchie were both second-round picks in 2024 and St. Martin was a sixth-round selection. Wiesblatt and Smith also received NHL camp invites, rounding out the group’s top-end talent. With all the hype around them, Harsanyi says they also have to retain a certain amount of humbleness.
“We just have to make sure we stay level headed and not get too ahead of ourselves with all of our talent,” Harsanyi said. “The rest will play out for itself. It’s super exciting with all these guys you see Basha, Ritchie and (Nate) Corbet just doing amazing at their NHL camps. It’s exciting for them to come back and get buzzing again.”
Ward, acquired from the Swift Current Broncos in the first of four trades the Tigers made on May 9, has enjoyed getting to play alongside some of his former combatants. He found himself in a high role in the 2023-24 Broncos lineup that won the Central division and made it to the second round, falling to eventual champion Moose Jaw Warriors.
The 20-year-old Kamloops product is looking forward to the Tigers’ ability to roll all four lines with confidence.
“Maybe other team’s first line can match up against one of our lines, but we got three, four other lines that are ready to go in and ready to jump on their other fourth lines, too,” Ward said.
Last season the Tigers scored the sixth most goals in the WHL, finding the back of the net 280 times. McKenna led the scoring efforts with 34 goals in 61 games, with Basha also touching the 30-goal mark in 63 contests. Both McKenna and Wiesblatt tallied over 90 points (97 and 91 respectively), with Basha reaching 85. Lindstrom and Ritchie both missed a large part of the second half due to injuries and still managed 46 and 44 points.
With the offensive firepower at his disposal, head coach Willie Desjardins says they just have to put it all together to fire on all cylinders.
“It’s a group that has all the elements, we just have to put it together,” Desjardins said. “But I’ve seen it so often where guys just think it’s going to happen and it never just happens, never. If we don’t work, we’ll never win. So we have to be the hardest working team.”
