NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers Cruz Chase makes a blocker save during a scrimmage at training camp on Aug. 28. Chase is one of three goalies on the Tigers roster, alongside returnee Jordan Switzer and offseason signing Carter Casey.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Cruz Chase had been connected with the Medicine Hat Tigers long before he debuted at training camp in August.
The 17-year-old net minder toured the Tigers’ locker room in 2021 while playing with the Airdrie Xtreme at the Medicine Hat Hockey Hounds tournament.
Fast forward a few years, after he was selected 136th overall by the Regina Pats in the 2022 WHL Draft, and Chase was the backup goaltender as the Pats and Connor Bedard rolled into Co-op Place on March 11, 2023.
The Airdrie product got to see Co-op Place at one of its loudest points, with 6,405 strong cheering on the Tigers in a 7-0 shutout win over the Pats. After his rights were traded to Medicine Hat ahead of the 2025 trade deadline, he’s hoped to have an opportunity to experience a packed Co-op Place once again. This time on the home side.
“It felt like I was meant to be here,” Chase said.
He is one of three goaltenders left on the Tigers’ preseason roster, joined by returnee Jordan Switzer and offseason signing Carter Casey. With Switzer at Calgary Flames camp and the front runner for the starters role, Chase and Casey are both lined up for a start this weekend as the Tigers are in Whitehorse, Yukon to face the Kelowna Rockets.
It’s an opportunity Chase is looking forward to, having family in Whitehorse who he hasn’t seen in years. He’s excited to see them, but also focusing just on the chance in front of him.
“I just want to worry about myself here, if I worry about how the other guy’s playing or what the coaches are thinking, I kind of lose who I am,” Chase said. “If I just stick to what I am and how I play, I think I’ll be at my best.”
Chase played with the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks last season with a 13-3-2 record in 18 games, sporting a .910 save percentage and a 2.38 goals against average. He appeared in one playoff game as Calgary won an AJHL title and captured the national Centennial Cup.
It was a learning year for Chase and one he says sets him up to join another defending champion team.
“The intensity in the WHL is definitely a lot higher for everyone, in the AJHL your best guys will lead the pace, versus out here, every single guy is pushing their hardest,” Chase said. “Playing in the AJ for a season has helped me kind of adjust, this isn’t as big of a step as it would have been straight from U18.
“I learned last year, it’s never going to be as easy as it looks, right? Both years I came into a championship team, I watched them play and thought, I should do the same thing. But coming into it, you have to work twice as hard as you think you will. But I think having that experience from last year will set me up for success, just kind of having the right expectations I should have.”
As the Tigers were starting their championship run and Chase was starting the AJHL playoffs, the 17-year-old Casey visited Medicine Hat alongside fellow offseason signing, Kade Stengrim.
He got a taste of what it would mean to be a Tiger, and has enjoyed his time in Medicine Hat since.
“It’s kind of blown my expectations away, everyone’s been super good to me,” Casey said. “We have a lot of new guys and a handful of returners, too, and the group’s been super cohesive so far, which has been awesome. It’s easier to transition and everybody’s super welcoming.”
Casey started last season at the high school level in Grand Rapids, Minn., winning 10 games with a 2.72 GAA and a .912 SV%. He then joined the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL and after a pair of goaltending injuries, thrusted into the starters role.
He won three regular season games, with a shutout, sporting a 2.08 GAA and a .920 SV%. Casey backstopped the Black Hawks to a USHL finals appearance where they lost in a decisive Game 5 overtime. He had a 2.53 GAA and a .918 SV% in 15 playoff games, winning 10 games with two shutouts.
Casey says he entered the USHL stint after not playing his best at high school, gaining confidence with his performance with Waterloo. He says the injuries forced him to just turn his brain off and play, where he found his success.
“It gave me a lot of confidence, knowing I can play at this level, I can play junior hockey and I’m ready to take that next step,” Casey said. “Say I go (to the USHL) and I don’t play at all, next year it looks pretty muddy, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. But being down there and getting those games, getting that experience, it made it pretty clear what I wanted to do.”
Turning his brain off and playing is how Casey’s looking to approach his first preseason start with the Tigers. Early in camp he says he was overthinking and he’s since found the best way for him to get better and also find results.
“It’s connected the last couple of days of how that’s going to work where in the game, turn off your brain, then the goalie skates (during practice) is a great spot to just work on a lot of stuff,” Casey said. “Finding a balance and making everything habitual is kind of the big thing we’ve been working on. When I when I just turn my brain off and compete, that’s when I’m at my best.”
Casey has had some help with the transition, his mom Molly signed a nine-month lease at a house in Medicine Hat and has been working remotely from there while ‘billeting’ him and Stengrim. It’s provided him valuable home cooking, cheeseburger sliders at the top of the pedestal as of late. It’s also given Casey some early comfort in a new scenario while he competes for a spot.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to live at home and play high school hockey, just kind of how it is in Minnesota, so it’s been awesome,” Casey said.
Heading into the weekend in the Yukon and both goalies looking to prove themselves, head coach Willie Desjardins has one ask of the pair.
“Lot’s of saves.”
“They’ve been good, they’ve both been really good,” Desjardins said. “Both guys have played well and we have three 2007-born goaltenders, so we’re probably going to only be able to carry two, so we’ll have to see where it goes.”
