Pair of eastern conference matchups creates important weekend for Tigers

By JAMES TUBB on November 29, 2024.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

After a five-day break, the Medicine Hat Tigers gear up for a pair of home games against Eastern conference opponents.

The Tigers host the Brandon Wheat Kings tonight at Co-op Place before the new-look Calgary Hitmen come to town on Saturday. It’s the first matchup between Medicine Hat and Calgary since the Hitmen acquired Minnesota Wild defence prospect Kalem Parker from the Moose Jaw Warriors, and Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect Tanner Howe from the Regina Pats.

Medicine Hat comes into the weekend off a 4-3 overtime loss Nov. 23 at home to the East-leading Saskatoon Blades. Associate coach Joe Frazer says they’ve enjoyed the week of rest and practice but they have to be ready for two big matchups.

“Obviously they have some guys who are really good players, it’s not going to change anything for us,” Frazer said. “We want to make sure we’re playing our game. You have to be aware of those guys when they’re on the ice. But they have a great team; they were before adding those two guys.”

The Tigers have split the first two games of the season against Brandon, winning 6-1 at home Oct. 11 before Carson Bjarnason shut out Medicine Hat 3-0 in western Manitoba on Nov. 2. They’ve beaten Calgary in both previous matchups, winning 4-2 Oct. 23 at home and 4-3 in a shootout Oct. 30 at Calgary.

“They are great teams, both have really good goaltending, Brandon’s Bjarnason is leading the league in save percentage (.920), a great goalie,” Frazer said. “Calgary has a lot of skill up front and on the back end. Both teams give you different challenges, which should be an exciting weekend.”

Calgary (11-7-3-1) sits tied for second in the Central division with the Lethbridge Hurricanes (12-8-1-1), both playing 22 games, three fewer than the Tigers heading into play Friday.

The weekend matchups are also the first time the Tigers will hit the ice since they lost out on hosting the 2026 Memorial Cup, with the rights awarded to the Kelowna Rockets. Gavin McKenna says the announcement Wednesday doesn’t change their plans.

“It’s super disappointing, it’s a big missed opportunity and I thought we for sure had it,” McKenna said. “It’s definitely frustrating, but nothing we can do now except just move on, move forward and nothing changes. We have to win our way there.

“Every year our goal is to win championship, so to hopefully get there in Kelowna and kind of steal it from them, that would be pretty cool.”

The Tigers will be without goaltender Harrison Meneghin for the weekend, still working back from a lower-body injury suffered late in the first period of a 3-2 overtime win at Prince Albert to the Raiders on Nov. 20. Frazer says the 20-year-old net minder is considered day to day.

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