NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Carter Cunningham celebrates after scoring the opening goal in a 4-2 preseason win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers’ veterans got their first opportunities of the preseason over the weekend.
The Tigers deployed five skaters who played games last season in Saturday’s 4-2 preseason win at Co-op Place over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Carter Cunningham scored to open the game, and two newcomers, Yaroslav Bryzgalov and Kyle Heger, scored in the second period.
Tyson Moss rounded out the scoring with a third period goal as they outshot Lethbridge 29-22. Having the five returners, defenceman Riley Steen, Josh Van Mulligen, Moss and forwards Cunningham and Brayden Ryan-MacKay, was a contrast to a 7-4 win at Lethbridge on Sept. 2 where Kadon McCann was the lone returnee dressed.
“It’s good to look at some of the young guys, they had good games and I thought we played pretty hard for the most part,” assistant coach Josh Maser said. “It’s preseason, so there’s always things to tidy up, but overall I thought it was good.”
Saturday’s contest was also the first look at two other offseason signings, forwards Kade Stengrim and Gavin Kor, both joining the Tigers from the USHL.
Stengrim, Kor and Bryzgalov combined for seven points on the night with Bryzgalov’s goal and two assists, Kor’s hat trick of helpers and Stengrim adding an assist. Maser says they liked seeing the new players mix in, and he liked what he saw from that line of 2007-born forwards.
“It was good for some of those guys to get the first game in, some of the older guys, some of the new American guys we got in,” Maser said.
“They played hard, they created a lot of chances, Bryzgalov and Stengrim are two big units, they went hard to the net and that’s where they have to make the money there in front of that net,” Maser said. “Kor sees the ice well, he made some nice plays. For their first game in this league, they handled themselves well.”
Jordan Switzer started the game in net, making 20 saves. It will be his lone preseason action as he heads to Calgary Flames rookie camp this week, one of six Tigers off to NHL camps.
He says it was a personal rebound from a down training camp and sets him up for the NHL experience.
“I never really had my stuff in camp, it was evident to everyone around here, I knew I had more,” Switzer said. “I’m really happy with how that turned out and I get to carry a little more confidence going into Calgary.”
Switzer will be joined by McCann at Flames’ camp, both free agent invitees. Defenceman Jonas Woo is also going to an NHL camp on an invite, heading to the Carolina Hurricanes’ camp.
All three of the Tigers’ drafted defenceman Bryce Pickford (Montreal), Niilopekka Muhonen (Dallas) and Veeti Väisänen all heading to their respective team camps.
Saturday’s game was the Tigers’ lone home preseason game before they head to the Yukon for the Whitehorse Showcase this week with a pair of preseason games against the Kelowna Rockets. Maser says they expect to trim the preseason roster down, closer to what opening night could see before they make the trip, with decisions still to be made.
“We’ll probably let a few guys get back to their teams and get started, they all showed well and it bodes well for their future, all those guys turned their heads,” Maser said. “We’re probably going to get down closer to the team so we can get a few games before the season starts with more of our team.”
The two games in the Yukon, Friday and Saturday, will be streamed on Victory+ with puck drops at 8 p.m. MST.
