NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna celebrates his third goal of the night, finding twine in the second period of a 7-3 win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Calgary Hitmen.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Seven was the cliché lucky total for the Medicine Hat Tigers in a winning weekend.
The Tigers stacked up seven-goal nights, outlasting the Brandon Wheat Kings in a 7-5 slugfest Friday before topping the new-look Calgary Hitmen 7-3 on Saturday. It’s a weekend of important wins that keeps Medicine Hat atop the Central division with a 15-11-1 record, one point ahead of the Hitmen who still have two games in hand.
“It’s really big for us,” head coach Willie Desjardins said of the weekend success. “Every game is close, we’re still not healthy, we’re still beat up, every game is a tough, tough game for us. So it’s just great to get a couple wins.”
As has come routine, the Tigers were led offensively by 16-year-old forward Gavin McKenna, who tallied seven points across the weekend. He had a trio of assists Friday before noticing his first hat trick of the season, third of his career, and adding an assist for a CHL-leading 55 points.
It’s an effort that earned McKenna WHL play of the week honours and even bigger, a spot at Team Canada’s World Junior camp, announced Monday. McKenna will be at the camp from Dec. 10-13 and, if selected for the World Juniors, will remain with Team Canada until early January.
McKenna, speaking about the Tigers play over the weekend, liked his team’s effort across the pair of Eastern conference games.
“Our whole goal was to win a banner at the start of the year and we talked about that going in this weekend,” McKenna said. “These are huge games for points going into playoffs. So for us to get these wins, it’s huge, it’s a big confidence booster.”
His totals extended his point streak to 11 games, one of three active streaks on the Tigers’ roster. Ryder Ritchie tallied a goal and three points on the weekend, extending his streak to eight games. He has four goals and eight points in seven games since returning from injury.
Defenceman Bryce Pickford also has a seven-game point streak, with two goals and four points over the weekend.
Desjardins liked the offensive production he saw from his team over the weekend, crediting some time off helping players get back to a normal.
“We had some chances, before they didn’t go, and this is a big week coming in too, but we’ve had a tough go,” Desjardins said. “We had some time off, (Saturday) our game was better, we played pretty hard tonight. (Friday) there wasn’t a lot of flow to that game but we had a little bit more flow tonight.”
One goal of that offence this weekend was a first in the WHL, with Finnish defenceman Veeti Väisänen finding the back of the net in the third period Friday. The 18-year-old blue liner was the last Tiger searching for his first in the league, getting that long-awaited goal with a curveball-like shot from the point.
“It was great to score, not the nicest goal I’ve scored but it doesn’t matter,” Väisänen said. “It gets the monkey off the back.”
The Hamina, Fin. product has the goal and five points in 22 games. Associate coach Joe Frazer was happy to see the Utah Hockey Club prospect finally get rewarded.
“He’s been getting chances and they just haven’t been going in for him,” Frazer said. “It was a huge goal. He’ll remember that one and now the monkey is off the back.”
The Tigers head into a three-game week, starting off Wednesday on the road against the Swift Current Broncos. It’s the first time this season the two teams have faced off, also making Mat Ward’s return to Swift Current after being acquired by the Tigers in the offseason.
They’ll head to Lethbridge on Friday to face the Hurricanes before hosting the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday for the Medicine Hat News Teddy Bear Toss game.
Medicine Hat starts the week with Jordan Switzer still in the lead role between the pipes. Desjardins says 20-year-old Harrison Meneghin remains day to day with a lower-body injury.
Switzer has made four straight starts for the Tigers, feeling more and more confident with every shot.
“Obviously you don’t want to see Harry go down, but it’s been a cool experience,” Switzer said. “I always want to be that guy, especially in this league. It’s been a good couple games for me, and I think just building from here, the confidence can only go up.”
Desjardins also provided an update on defenceman Matt Paranych who has not played since Nov. 22. He says the 17-year-old Edmonton product has been a healthy scratch the last three games,
“We’re kind of evaluating, just trying to figure out what he’s going to do and where he’s going to be at,” Desjardins said.
