Newly-acquired Tigers defenceman Tanner Molendyk and forward Misha Volotovskii take the morning skate Wednesday ahead of their debut against the Prince Albert Raiders at Co-op Place. Both skaters were brought in via trade Monday from the Saskatoon Blades.--NEWS PHOTOS JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
For a second straight season, Misha Volotovskii and Tanner Molendyk are on a team with championship-or-bust expectations. Instead of Saskatoon, the pair will look to drive the Medicine Hat Tigers to the promised land.
The pair suited up in their first games as Tigers on Wednesday since being acquired from the Blades in a blockbuster Monday, seeing 17-year-olds Hayden Harsanyi, Jack Kachkowski and five draft picks going the other way.
They spoke with the News ahead of the Wednesday night affair against the Prince Albert Raiders, expressing their excitement in joining the Tigers.
“I’m pumped to be here, super excited,” Volotovskii said. “It seems like they have a super-tight group here and I want to join that.”
The 19-year-old Volotovskii has notched four goals and 11 points in 37 games this season. In his WHL career, the Calgary product has 19 goals and 35 points in 195 games.
Molendyk has four goals and 21 points in 21 games this season. He returns from representing Canada at the World Junior tournament alongside Tigers forward Gavin McKenna.
In 210 career WHL games, all with the Blades, the 19-year-old McBride, B.C. product has 26 goals and 134 points.
“It’s different colours but it’s special, it’s part of hockey,” Molendyk said. “I kind of knew it was coming. But, to go to a team like this is really, really cool.”
They both piled up playoff experience with the Blades as well, with Volotovskii suiting up in 26 postseason games and Molendyk 39. They both appeared in all 16 games of the Blades’ run to the Eastern conference finals last season, where Saskatoon fell in Game 7 to the eventual champion Moose Jaw Warriors.
It was a series that saw six of seven games go to overtime and provided lessons Molendyk hopes to pass on in Medicine Hat.
“Just how much it grinded us, how prepared to be,” the Nashville Predators prospect said. “Six overtimes with Moose Jaw wasn’t fun but it’s little things like that. Just to be prepared for those moments. We didn’t know it was coming and I thought that we did a good job of getting ready for it.”
That experience earned the hard way, either in the playoffs or with Team Canada, as well as taking the brunt of heavy minutes while playing both sides of the ice, is what the Tigers will lean on Molendyk for.
“We’re going to depend on him a lot for his playoff experiences, leadership, he’s been in big games with Team Canada,” associate coach Joe Frazer said. “When you watch him skate, he adds an element that we love. We want to play with speed, we want to be the fastest team in the league, and he fits that mold perfectly.”
Frazer says Volotovskii excels at shutting down opposing team’s top lines, often paired against the Tigers’ line of Oasiz Wiesblatt and Gavin Mckenna. While Volotovskii isn’t going to put up a sexy number of points, the Russian-born centreman takes pride in his defensive game and being able to be relied upon at even strength and, especially, on the penalty kill.
“I just don’t want to let the other team score,” Volotovskii said.
Both look back fondly on their time in Saskatoon, Volotovskii is grateful for the coaches, teammates and top teams they had. Molendyk couldn’t say enough about his former club.
“I don’t have enough words to thank that organization,” Molendyk said. “I came in as a 15-year-old, just a little guy in the a bubble and they treated me like gold. Colin and Mike (Priestner) and all those guys. They’re like family me now, all the guys I’ve played with are going to be best buddies of mine for a while now. Leaving was hard, but onto the next chapter.”
They will return to Saskatoon to face their former club on Feb. 11. In the presser conference following the trade, Blades’ general manager Colin Priestner said no one else would likely wear 24 for Saskatoon again. Molendyk had to pause before sharing his thoughts on that honour.
“You don’t hear that very often, so to get that recognition is pretty special,” Molendyk said.
As the next chapter begins for both Volotovskii and Molendyk, the focus remains the same in Medicine Hat, with all eyes and hearts pointed toward a hopeful path to the franchise’s sixth championship. They’ve continued to add to the group with Monday’s deal the latest, and biggest, cherry on top.
Frazer hopes the acquisition shows how much they believe in this group, but he acknowledges it’s now on the entire team to make the cost worth it.
“We’ve liked this group for for a couple years now, we’ve matured enough to where we can take a big step, that’s been the goal all along,” Frazer said. “The players are excited, and the fans are excited. Now it’s up to us to make sure we’re getting better every day and sticking to the process, because you still have to play the game.
“It doesn’t matter what it says on paper. The team that goes out there, works and executes, that’s the team that wins, and we have to make sure we’re doing that.”
