NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Ethan McCallum squares up to a shot from Red Deer Rebels captain Ollie Josephson in the first period of a 4-3 Tigers' loss Saturday at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
A losing weekend against the Red Deer Rebels showed two different Medicine Hat Tigers teams.
Friday’s 4-2 loss at Red Deer, was a game head coach Willie Desjardins says they weren’t focused for and it cost them. Saturday’s loss, a 4-3 comeback bid falling short at Co-op Place, saw more focus from the Tigers unable to beat a stingy goalie in the red and black four times.
“We played harder Saturday,” Desjardins said. “We went up there (Friday) and we weren’t ready for them. They’ve had some guys missing out of their lineup too, so it’s not like they had a full lineup, they had some guys out too. Saturday was a good game, these guys are going to be tough all year. They have a big back end and they work hard up front.”
The Tigers saw the return of seven players into the lineup over the weekend, with forwards Oasiz Wiesblatt, Shane Smith, Ryder Ritchie and defencemen Josh Van Mulligen and Niilopekka Muhonen returning from NHL camps and d-man Jonas Woo back in after serving a one-game suspension.
Finnish defenceman Veeti Vaisanen was returned to the club over the weekend and did not dress but is expected to be in the lineup next weekend. Forward Hunter St. Martin, who had a goal and an assist in two preseason games with the Florida Panthers, was re-assigned to Medicine Hat on Monday.
They still await the return of forward Cayden Lindstrom (Columbus).
Smith, coming back from Vegas Golden Knights’ camp, says the lack of firepower over the weekend will clear itself up as the group gets more practice time together.
“We’ll figure it out and we work at it every day,” Smith said. “The losses is not what we want, but we take these as opportunities to learn as a team and individually. If you did something, you can learn from it. Obviously it sucks to lose, but we can take that chance to learn from it.”
Woo, Basha and Hayden Harsanyi scored in Saturday’s loss with Smith picking up a pair of helpers. Red Deer’s Rhett Stoesser turned aside 37 Tigers’ shots.
Goaltender Ethan McCallum started both games for Medicine Hat, making 25 saves in 60 minutes of action Friday. He was pulled in the second period Saturday after allowing three goals on 11 shots, Jordan Switzer made 10 saves in relief.
Desjardins says he made the switch looking for a spark. Goaltender Zach Zahara wasn’t in the lineup for either weekend game and is day-to-day. Medicine Hat also lost defenceman Josh Van Mulligen early in Saturday’s loss, he did not return after an opening-minute fight with Rebels’ forward Carson Birnie.
The Tigers aren’t done seeing Red Deer anytime soon, with a Friday night road contest at the Peavy Mart Centrium and a mid-week contest at Co-op Place on Oct. 9. Smith says facing Red Deer in four of the first six games of the season gives them an early test.
“They’re a team we’re going to have to get through in playoffs, so we know every game is important, every period, every shift,” Smith said. “They got the better of us this weekend, but we see them two more times and we’re just going to keep building, keep growing as a team.
“We have a lot of confidence in our room that we have a team to do it. So we’re just going to keep working and show up next Friday.”
