NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Markus Ruck skates towards his bench after scoring in the first period of an 8-4 win Friday over the Red Deer Rebels at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers wrapped up a tough slate with a grand prize.
The Tigers finished a stretch of four games in five days with a 6-1 loss Saturday in Edmonton to the Oil Kings, seeing their win streak snapped at nine games.
To come out of the difficult week on and off the ice with three wins is an accomplishment, head coach Willie Desjardins says.
“The guys played really hard, there’s lots of tough things about last week and even the Edmonton game, I didn’t think we quit, we just didn’t have the legs, we just weren’t sharp,” Desjardins said.
Bryce Pickford scored the lone Tigers goal, his 43rd of the season, giving him goals in eight straight games. The goal also gives Pickford the most by a CHL defenceman in a single season since 2000. He has the fourth-most goals by a CHL defenceman in a single season, seven back of the all-time record of 50 held by Lawrence Sacharuk of the Saskatoon Blades.
The Tigers bench boss wasn’t a fan of the Oil Kings schedule heading into the week, not playing until Saturday when they hosted the Tigers and hosting a busy Prince Albert Raiders team on Sunday, eventually falling 4-3.
“Edmonton seems to have a lot of good schedules,” Desjardins said. “They got P.A. on the back of a three-in-three, they get Wenatchee who play in Red Deer (today), then they play at 11 the next morning in Edmonton. So Edmonton seems to find ways to get good schedules.”
While the Oil Kings have had some advantages in the standings, their loss to Prince Albert on Sunday helped the Tigers in the standings. Medicine Hat clinched the Central division in back to back seasons for the first time since 2016-17/2017-18. The Tigers passed the Oil Kings for first in the Central ahead of the Christmas break and did not relinquish it.
“Edmonton was quite a bit ahead of us at one time and the boys rallied, they played hard all the way through,” Desjardins said. “So we’ve had lots of injuries, some of that stretch we had (Gavin) Koa and (Dayton) Reschny playing defence, it’s not just one guy, it was a whole group of guys, truly a credit to everybody.”
Winning Central division titles is all the Ruck twins have known in the WHL, helping the Tigers to back-to-back clinches. Alongside fellow returnees, who also led the team, Liam says the success they’ve had this season is a credit to the group.
“It just shows the character in the room, obviously we lost a lot of big pieces from last year to this year,” Liam said. “The guys who were here last year have done a good job in bringing the new guys in and making another family here. So a lot of credit to all those guys, it’s been a lot of fun this year and we’ve been playing well.”
The Tigers enter play tonight at Co-op Place against the Regina Pats two points and two wins back of the Raiders for first in the Eastern conference. As much as they look to push for the conference, Desjardins says they have to ensure they’re prepared for the playoffs.
“We have to be ready every game, it’s all about finding ways to get better, so if you get better, hopefully you win games,” Desjardins said. “There’s nothing we can do on the other side, we just have to take care of ours.”
