Soakin’ in the Tubb: Tigers face one last test from high-octane regular season

By JAMES TUBB on March 22, 2025.

Nothing happened quite like it was planned this year for the Medicine Hat Tigers, but they may still find themselves in the exact place they set out to reach in September.

On the tail end of the regular season, the Tigers find themselves in a position to win their first Eastern conference banner since 2006-07. Since that team when on to win the club’s second league title in four years, that regular season banner gets overshadowed with good reason.

But for this year’s team, an accomplishment like that afte six months in injury hell is a reason to celebrate.

From the first days of camp the Tigers have been without the CHL’s top rookie for the 2024 NHL Draft, Cayden Lindstrom. In a span of a week in October they lost Ryder Ritchie and Hayden Harsanyi with a skate to the former’s face and having the latter’s leg bent under him in a wrestling match.

In November, Andrew Basha left with lingering pain from an injury suffered last year and ended his regular season a month later. In that same not-so-jolly December, starter Harrison Meneghin was knocked out for a month on an innocuous-looking play.

They’ve been kicked up and down, keeping the WHL’s Weekly Report fully stocked with names as the season ticked by. Yet, somehow, the wins kept piling up. Through the plethora of injuries and illness, the Tigers have kept themselves in the running among the league’s best.

They’ve held first in the Central division since Nov. 19, coming off a 5-3 loss at Saskatoon with a Blades team that still had Tanner Molendyk and Misha Volotovskii.

That’s what makes this weekend, the concluding stretch of the regular season, so special. They’ve had to weather storm after storm, play shorthanded for almost a month straight while relying on 16-year-olds to play above their age, and still have held onto the division lead.

It’s a step, a really big step, from last year’s team that couldn’t weather the second-half injuries and lost the division to the Swift Current Broncos. That’s a testament to the depth of this year’s team as well as players stepping up throughout the year.

For the Tigers, with the division and conference still in hand and the only obstacles between them and that banner being the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Calgary Hitmen, there’s no better ask to end the final weekend.

All they have to do is win.

Pick up wins this weekend and the Tigers hold all the cards in the East when the pages turn to the postseason. After a season of getting dealt some nasty cards, it would be a welcomed change to have an ace up the sleeve before the most important hands of the year.

Tub(b) Thoughts

â€’ Saturday’s sellout is extremely encouraging with the playoffs around the corner. Tigers fans have shown up in the second half of the season, and for good reason, they’ve gone 22-2-1-1 since the deadline. The team has done their part and put themselves in the dance, time for the audience to follow suit.

â€’ It was a shock on Family Day when the team unveiled a new goal song, Simple Minds’ ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’. It has the potential to help set the tone in Co-op Place, but could use some more karaoke stars in the stands joining in to accentuate the vibe.

â€’ Just as much of a shock, the return of the ‘Flying Tiger’ was certainly a surprise, and a welcomed one. This column has been critical of the team for not going above and beyond when it comes to jerseys, so a hat tip for this move, one not accompanied with a league sponsor. Still holding out hope the orange creamsicle jerseys make a return sometime soon.

â€’ As special as Gavin McKenna’s seven-point night was last weekend, and it was damn special, seeing Oasiz Wiesblatt hit the 100 point plateau was a real treat. Seeing how excited the rest of the team was for their captain shows how much of a heartbeat he is in that locker room.

â€’ It’s truly wild how last minute the WHL’s playoff seeding will be decided; it’s been a long time since a season has come down to the wire such as this. Three teams in the running for the East division, Tigers and Calgary Hitmen battling for the Central and conference and the Victoria Royals/Prince George Cougars are duking it out for the B.C. division. The only division decided is in the U.S., what a year from the Everett Silvertips.

â€’ The WHL’s ‘Wednesday Night in the Dub’ promotion has been well received around the league, with the final freeto-watch spotlight game on Sunday in Calgary against the Tigers. It was a lot of fun being part of the media poll, with the nights we were dunked on for being wrong as thrilling as the night’s just one person chose the right team over the other five (3-0 record for the local guy those nights, FYI). Hopefully it returns next season, after an offseason from the prediction game to recover of course.

James Tubb is sports reporter with the Medicine Hat News. He can be reached at jtubb@medicinehatnews.com