NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Mat Ward reaches for the puck in the first period of a 5-2 win at Co-op Place over the Swift Current Broncos.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Lightning McQueen may think he’s got speed, but real speed will be on display starting Friday night at Co-op Place.
The Medicine Hat Tigers and Swift Current Broncos will square off in a track race of two clubs trying for the same final goal, both utilizing speed to get there.
The Tigers flew up and down the ice all season, skating to their first Eastern conference championship since 2006-07 and the first Central division title since 2017-18. They enter the playoffs on a 10-game win streak and led the Western Hockey League in scoring, being the lone team to reach the 300-goal mark.
Down Highway 1, Swift Current hung around in a tough East division, holding onto the eighth seed with the 12th most goals (240) and the 15th fewest goals allowed (256). The Tigers allowed just 193 goals, the third fewest among WHL teams.
The quick numbers favour the Tigers, but they aren’t overlooking their East division rivals, who they split the season series 2-2 with.
“They play in the way we want to, play both teams like speed and they have some guys who can move who are hard on defence to handle,” head coach Willie Desjardins said. “They can push back, so they’re good. They got some big defence back there as well, good goaltending, they’re just a good team.
“They’re probably better than their record showed. They have been against us, for sure. So we have lots and lots of respect for them. They had a hard playoff series last year, so they’ve got that experience where we don’t.”
Swift Current made it to the second round of the 2024 WHL playoffs, moving on after a four-game sweep of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. They lost in five to the eventual champion Moose Jaw Warriors. Medicine Hat lost in five games to the Red Deer Rebels.
The Tigers have just six skaters who have made it to the second round of the WHL playoffs. Of those six, defenceman Bryce Pickford won a championship with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2023.
While the rest of the lineup looks to get out of the first round for the first time, they have picked up a different kind of experience this season, battling adversity. The Tigers have faced an abnormal number of injuries this season, with forwards Cayden Lindstrom and Andrew Basha missing all but the 23 games Basha played. They’ve missed others, leading to an almost full month of playing short-handed.
“Going through the regular season, it’s nice to go through adversity, because you have to learn to deal with it,” associate coach Joe Frazer said. “There’s always going to be adversity in playoffs. Mentally, we’re hardened from a regular season where we had lots of injuries and guys had to step up, guys were in and out, so we’ll lean on that experience.”
The two teams split the season series, each coming back to win a game in either team’s rink. Swift Current won the most recent matchup, a four-goal third period that propelled them to a 5-3 win at Co-op Place on Feb. 7.
Medicine Hat had two skaters reach the 100-point plateau in Gavin Mckenna (41 goals, 129 points) and Oasiz Wiesblatt (36 goals, 103 points). Swift Current’s highest scorer, forward Luke Mistelbacher, had 42 goals and 93 points. Both teams won 20-plus games at home, with the Tigers tallying 25 to the Broncos 21. Medicine Hat was able to achieve more success on the road, 22 wins to Swift Current’s 14.
“We know they’re pumped up to play us,” McKenna said. “They think they can beat us, so we have to make sure we’re ready. They’re going to come hard, they have a tough barn to play in but if we play the way we’ve been playing as a team, we’re going to be super motivated.”
The WHL polled 328 players from all 22 clubs at the midway mark of the season, with one of the questions being the hardest rink to play in on the road. Swift Current’s InnovationPlex received seven per cent of the votes.
It’s an intimate rink to play in, with a low ceiling that amplifies the sounds. Tigers fans have shown an ability to take over opposing rinks as of late, with two fan buses taking over a full section in Calgary on Sunday, for the 5-2 conference-clinching win.
Fans crashed the city’s ticket website leading up to the playoff series, a sign of support the players hope to pay back when the puck drops Friday.
“In Calgary seeing those fans, they had a whole section and you could hear them throughout the whole rink,” McKenna said. “We get that here in Co-op, they’ve been amazing so far, and I know they’re going to be excited. Because we’re excited and when they show up, it brings us energy.”
