NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers captain Bryce Pickford leans into a shot on the Edmonton net in the first period of a 4-3 shootout loss to the Oil Kings on Nov. 7 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers head on the road again as they hope to get some wins turning their way.
The Tigers are away for a pair of games starting tonight in Regina taking on the Pats. They’ll head to Brandon on Saturday to face the Wheat Kings for a second time in a week, losing 7-4 on Nov. 8.
The Tigers look to reach the 11-win plateau that will hang in infamy, riding a four-game slide entering the road trip.
“We’ve had a great week of practice, both teams we’re going to face are playing well,” associate coach Joe Frazer said. “Regina is playing well, a lot of good teams lately, coming fast, lots of goals and then we know what Brandon can do. So it’s going to be a good weekend.”
The Tigers’ four-game losing streak has still seen them pick up a pair of points, falling in overtime to the Tri-City Americans on Nov. 2 and losing in the shootout to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Nov. 7. The slide gives them something to work toward, captain Bryce Pickford says.
“You can’t become a good team just winning all the games,” Pickford said. “I’d rather go through this slump now than in playoffs. Four games isn’t a lot, our team believes in each other in the room and there’s no doubt in there. So I’m not worried at all.”
They’ve been outscored 21-11 in the span, with nine goals coming from the pairing of Pickford and Jonas Woo, seven from Woo who had a had trick in the 7-4 loss to Brandon.
Following the loss to the Wheat Kings, Frazer called for the Tigers to do a better job of getting to the inside in the offensive end, showing more hunger to score up front while also winning more net-front battles in their own end.
Pickford says hard work will be their path to success in front of both nets.
“Good hard work is what our team needs, and if we just work hard, all those things will fall into place, going on the net hard and getting pucks there, just winning the net-front battles,” Pickford said. “It’ll all come with time. We have a lot of new guys and they’re kind of new to this league and a lot of things are different for them. So once they get their feet in, dip it in the water, then we’ll be good.”
The Tigers are 4-5-1 on the road this season, picking up three wins on the B.C. road trip to find success away from Co-op Place. Winning on the road is a point of pride for the team, Pickford says, heading into a weekend where they’ll also look to make good on a convincing loss to Brandon.
“We like to think we’re road warriors, so Regina is a good young team, they play fast, so we just have to be ready for them and just play Tigers hockey from the get go,” Pickford said.
“Brandon’s a really good team, we have to remember what happened last game and we have to use it as energy. We’ll be excited for that game.”
