Medicine Hat Tigers forward Shane Smith acts as a screen in front of Red Deer Rebels netminder Chase Wutzke in the first period of a 5-2 Game 5 loss April 5 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers get their first look at a familiar foe this weekend.
The Tigers have a home-and-home series with the Red Deer Rebels that gets underway tonight at the Peavy Mart Centrium. They’ll host the Rebels on Saturday at Co-op Place.
It’s the first meaningful game the two teams have played against one another since the Rebels eliminated the Tigers from the WHL playoffs last season, beating them 4-1 in the best-of-seven first-round series.
Red Deer, like Medicine Hat, has only played one game this season, falling 3-2 in overtime to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Sept. 21. Head coach Willie Desjardins says the Rebels will be a strong team in the Eastern conference this season.
“They had a really good weekend last weekend, they don’t give up much,” Desjardins said. “They’re going to be a team to beat, for sure.
“If you look at the league stats, they lead a lot of the defensive categories, so that’ll be a tough, tough weekend.”
With a team as defensively based as Red Deer, and the Tigers loaded up offensively, the Thursday return of Andrew Basha from the Calgary Flames only adds to the offence. It’s a matchup that is as Yin and Yang as they come, but one Desjardins says they have to play both sides.
“We have to have two Yins, we gotta be good defensively,” Desjardins said. “Our offence will come, but we have to be every bit as good defensively as they are, and it’ll give us a chance.”
Desjardins confirmed Basha is expected to be in the lineup for the weekend series, leaving just forwards Hunter St. Martin (Florida), Cayden Lindstrom (Columbus) and defenceman Veeti Väisänen (Utah) with NHL clubs.
The Rebels saw the return of newly appointed captain Ollie Josephson and Kalan Lind from NHL camps this week.
Both Red Deer and Medicine Hat have seen turnover since the first-round matchup. The Tigers have eight players in the lineup who weren’t in the series last year, including rookies Markus Ruck and the then-injured Bray only one game.
Red Deer graduated long-time captain Kai Uchacz, and of the 22 skaters on their roster, 16 were on the playoff roster last season. Even with the turnover, the Rebels return a similar play style under head coach Dave Struch, who had the interim tag removed this offseason.
Tigers’ forward Oasiz Wiesblatt is making his season debut tonight at Red Deer after returning from Washington Capitals camp. The 20-year-old forward says playing against a team like the Rebels early in the season is what the Tigers need.
“It’s the perfect matchup to see what we can do and kind of prove ourselves,” Wiesblatt said. “Show that we do have some pushback. We want to show them that they pissed us off last year.
“We obviously want to come with some fire and we’re ready to prove to the league that we’re here to show up.”
The Tigers will turn to Ethan McCallum in net for Friday’s game, Desjardins says the 18-year-old’s performance in the 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings on Sept. 21 earned him the nod.
As for Saturday’s game, Desjardins wouldn’t tip his hand between the 19-year-old Zach Zahara and 17-year-old Jordan Switzer as he looks to make a decision from three goalies down to two. He liked what he saw from McCallum in the first game and says he just needs someone to run with it.
“I need a guy that’ll give us a chance to win every night,” Desjardins said. “Last Saturday, we gave up some big chances in the third period, two breakaways, and Ethan made two big saves, those are huge for us.
“So they score on one of those early, it’s going to be a tight game down the stretch, but he shut the door early. They get a late one, but it was probably a little too late for him to get that one.
“We just have to find somebody that’s going to go with it.”
