Defenceman Kyle Heger scans to make a pass during a scrimmage Friday.--News Photo James Tubb
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers’ defence will be their strength this season, returning all but one member of the 2025 championship core. It’s also setting up to be the toughest battle as training camp continues on.
The Tigers boast a staggering five returning blueliners from the championship run last season, with 20-year-old Josh Van Mulligen, and 19-year-olds Bryce Pickford, Jonas Woo, Veeti Väisänen and Niilopekka Muhonen.
“Having five returners is a luxury,” Van Mulligen said. “We have a very experienced D-core and that’ll help us win a lot of games this year. There’s a lot of really good, young defencemen pushing for spots and it’s good competition to have, it’s a good problem to have that many options.”
The Tigers have 18-year-olds Kyle Heger and Tyson Moss, 17-year-olds Riley Steen and Koray Bozkaya, who returned after playing in the BCHL last season. Luke Warrener, a 16-year-old drafted in May, is also fighting for a spot.
“It’s a challenge for sure, we have lots of guys who have been here and they’re good, and that’s the key,” head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said before camp got underway.” “(Tyson) Moss and (Riley) Steen are both really, really good players, they’ve been here. So it’s going to create stuff, (Kyle) Heger is coming in, that’s a high-end guy, (Luke) Warrener is here, so there’s a lot of action.”
Van Mulligen, Pickford and Woo are all sitting out of camp and the Fins are both away, set to return closer to the regular season. It sets up those fighting for the one spot to showcase why they should get full-time minutes in the WHL.
“It’s going to be really completive,” Heger says. “Talking to Shaeffer (Gordon-Carroll), you get better every day from the guy you compete against and practise with every day. I’ve learned a lot from being here a week from Pickford and Woo, so it’s been really good and really competitive.”
The Tigers will finish their round-robin tournament that started Thursday with a pair of finals games Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., before an intrasquad game Sunday to finish camp. The games schedule and facing one another all weekend is an early test Heger has enjoyed.
“You have to be consistent, you can’t just be good one game and then not good the other game,” Heger sad. “You have to prove your game every night and obviously you have to prove yourself every night in the Western League.”
It wasn’t long ago that Van Mulligen, entering his final WHL season, was fighting for a roster spot himself as a 16-year-old. The Medicine Hat product played his age-16 season with the South Alberta Hockey Academy, suiting up in 13 games with the Tigers in 2021-22 before making the full time jump the next season.
“It feels like just yesterday was it was my first year,” Van Mulligen said. “It’s weird heading into my last camp. But I’m just going to try to soak in the experience this year and just try to enjoy every single day. It’s definitely a cool feeling being a 20 this year.”
He’s been a leader for the Tigers over the last few seasons, settling into his role on the blue line and helping return the Ed CHynoweth Cup to Medicine Hat last season. It’s an opportunity he’s embraced and he enjoys helping the next wave of Tigers.
“Going through it for so many years and being more of a leadership role, it’s just making the experience good for the young guys,” Van Mulligen said. “For a lot of guys, it’s their first camp, so we want to make that experience as good as we can for them.”
The Tigers will break camp on Monday before opening the preseason on Tuesday at Lethbridge against the Hurricanes.
