NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers captain Oasiz Wiesblatt skates around ahead of puck drop for the Tigers' 3-0 win Oct. 9 at Co-op Place over the Red Deer Rebels.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers eldest statesman hasn’t wavered from his preseason expectations of the orange and black.
Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt enters the WHL’s holiday break with the sixth most games played among active skaters with 251 across six seasons. Lethbridge Hurricanes defenceman Logan McCutcheon leads the pack with 261, followed by Red Deer Rebels defenceman Jace Weir (253) and Saskatoon Blades forward Brandon Lisowsky and Vancouver Giants forward Connor Levis (252 each).
Wiesblatt sits second in team scoring and seventh in the WHL with 14 goals and 47 points in 33 games. He’s also third in face-off wins (386). He’s starting to think about entering the second half of his final season in junior hockey and how far he’s come.
“Every couple months something happens where it’s not going to happen again, like the Teddy Bear Toss,” Wiesblatt said. “It’s a weird feeling but for me, I have two goals and that’s signing a pro contract and winning a championship. So those are my goals, and those have never changed.”
Wiesblatt has been through a lot of ups and downs in his WHL career, from playing on the worst team in junior hockey in 2021-22 to a group with championship expectations last season. Those expectations only rose over the offseason as general manager Willie Desjardins made move after move to solidify the roster for this season and next.
The Tigers sit at 19-14-1 at the holiday break, good for first in the Eastern conference and the Central division. It’s a first half that saw a plethora of injuries that will carry into the second half. With forward Hayden Harsanyi missing all but seven games, goaltender Harrison Meneghin missing time after being acquired and Andrew Basha out 10 games with injury – all detractors from a lineup that was touted as the tops in the CHL entering the season. Going into the second half, Wiesblatt says the injuries can’t be an excuse for them.
“We obviously had some injuries but we have to look more inside the room and expect more out of each other and dig it out of each other,” Wiesblatt said. “We can’t go looking for things, we have to make it happen. We’ve gotten better during the year and we’re going on a high note.”
Wiesblatt hopes they can use the break to get healthy, whether that be through rest for those able to play, or recovery for others still working back from ailments. The other factor of their game he hopes the address in the second half, staying out of the box.
The 20-year-old Calgary product has been a lightning rod for fans in the first half of the season when it comes to penalties, leading the WHL with 82 PIMs entering Wednesday, the final day of action before the league all goes on break. As a team, the Tigers are second in the WHL in penalty minutes with 498, trailing only the Seattle Thunderbirds (518). They’ve taken the most minor penalties (199), fourth most majors (20) and third most 10-minute misconducts.
It’s a glaring number Wiesblatt says they have to address, and he knows it’s a part of his game he has to work on as well.
“For myself, for sure just playing more of a team game and not worrying about other teams, just kind of worrying about us and focusing on us,” Wiesblatt said.
Desjardins says Wiesblatt and another Tiger agitator Mat Ward have both taken a step in controlling their discipline but he echos his captain in looking for more from both players and team.
“You look at Moose Jaw and Portland last year, two of the lowest penalized teams in the league go to the league final, we just have to get in on that,” Desjardins said. “We have guys who have taken big steps. Oasiz is so much better now than he was two years ago, there’s no comparison. Does he have a little bit more to go? Yeah, he does. Ward’s another guy, lots of character, plays hard, but he just has to stay out of the box and he’s better.
“It’s not like we’re not taking steps, but I think it’s a lot like if you’re a student. If you want to go from a 60 to 70, that’s pretty easy. From 70 to 80 is a little harder, 80 to 90 is even harder. From 90 to 100, it’s really hard. Well, we’ve gone to about 80 or 90, that last bit is hard, but we have to get there.”
