Tigers look to carry momentum from trio of wins into new week

By JAMES TUBB on October 16, 2024.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

The Medicine Hat Tigers had a bounce-back weekend they hope to carry into another successful week.

Coming off a three-win week, capped off with a pair of wins over the weekend, the Tigers host the Prince George Cougars tonight at Co-op Place. They’ll look for a fourth win in a row against a Cougars team that lost 5-0 Monday at Calgary to the Hitmen.

Associate coach Joe Frazer says the mid-week contest will be an exciting matchup.

“They’re a heck of a team, they have a ton of talent up front,” Frazer said. “They were one of the best teams last year, they returned lots of guys, one of the best goalies in the league. It’s an exciting challenge and we’re looking forward to it.”

The Cougars lost in the Western conference finals last season to the Portland Winterhawks and returned a large part of the roster. They’re led in net by 2025 NHL Draft eligible net minder Joshua Ravensbergen, a projected first-round pick who has a 5-2 record this season.

Offensively, 20-year-old Borya Valis leads the team with four goals and 15 points in tie games, good for fourth in the WHL. They also feature five NHL prospects, Riley Heidt (Minnesota Wild), Terik Parascak (Washington Capitals), Hunter Laing (Calgary Flames) and Koehn Zimmer (Los Angeles Kings).

Prince George sits second in WHL goals for (38), also surrendering the fourth-highest number of goals (37). Their power play is ninth (23.7 per cent) and penalty kill is fifth (84 per cent). In comparison, the Tigers have scored 29 goals (11th) and only surrendered 25 (eighth). Medicine Hat’s power play (28.1 per cent) and penalty kill (83.3 per cent) are fourth and seventh respectively.

Frazer says there are similarities between the two teams that will allow the team who does their job the best, to find success.

“We both want to play north, we’re fast teams with skill and both have great goaltending,” Frazer said. “Both teams are similar and it’s going to be who executes the most as a team. That’s the most important thing for us moving forward.”

The Tigers will be without defenceman Bryce Pickford who will be serving the third and final game of a suspension as a result of his kneeing major against Red Deer Rebels froward Kalan Lind in the first period of a 3-0 win on Oct. 9.

They could be without defenceman Niilopekka Muhonen and Matt Paranych, who are both considered day to day with upper body injuries. Forward Ryder Ritchie was to be evaluated Tuesday for his day-to-day injury as a result of taking a skate to the face on Oct. 9. He could be available to face the Cougars.

That leaves Medicine Hat with six skaters who will be out of action Wednesday, with F Hayden Harsanyi out month to month with a lower-body injury, and defenceman Josh Van Mulligen day to day (upper-body injury). As a result, rookies get valuable ice time and call-ups get an opportunity they have ran with, according to Frazer.

“Having all those guys gone at NHL camps, it gave our younger guys at SAHA a lot more reps, a lot more game time in preseason, and they all got into the home opener,” Frazer said. “That experience over that four or five weeks was vital in their development and knowing what the league’s all about. So when we call them up, they’re ready to go.

“They did an outstanding job coming in, that’s a tough Vancouver team and they played well against them.”

The Tigers were propelled in that 5-3 win Saturday over the Giants by the power play, scoring three goals over a stretch of 1:31 in the third period. Frazer coaches the power play and he enjoyed seeing the group find success after a slow start.

“We were creating chances, they just hadn’t been going in,” Frazer said. “We had a lot of meetings just showing the good stuff we’re doing and just sticking to the process. Sooner or later, the pucks were going to start going in and the players did an unbelievable job just keeping it simple, sharing the puck.

“There’s a couple great shots, but we had traffic. Every goal started with puck retrieval, where the puck was loose but we won the battle to get the puck back, and that’s so important on the power play. So it’s great to see them get rewarded, because they have been doing a great job, the puck just hasn’t been going in.”

Meneghin tabbed goalie of the week

Medicine Hat net minder Harrison Meneghin received league honours Tuesday.

The Tigers’ goaltender was named goalie of the week for the week ending Oct. 13 after his first full week in the orange and black.

The Tampa Bay Lightning prospect picked up his first two wins as a member of the Tigers, posting a .50 goals-against average, a .978 save percentage and a shutout.

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