NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow dons his new gear while taking a water break during practice Thursday at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Look good, feel good, play good is how Beckett Langkow feels about his new gear.
The Medicine Hat Tigers net minder received a new set of goalie pads, blocker and glove on Wednesday after placing the order at the beginning of the season. The new gear will replace his previous set he wore last season, including a blocker that was a replacement last season after the 19-year-old took a puck off his finger in practice, putting him out of action for weeks.
He says Wednesday was a great day seeing his new set up.
“It’s like Christmas here in November, it’s always pretty cool,” Langkow said. “It doesn’t change the older you get, it’s still always exciting.”
His new gear is made by the hockey brand Vaughan, which he switched to ahead of the 2021-22 season after growing up donning CCM equipment. He says he likes seeing the team colours on his jersey and on his gear.
“I like the simple design, keeping it mostly white and it’s similar with my last set, mostly white and then just a clean simple design,” Langkow said. “This new graphic does a good job and it looks sharp.
“That orange and black just looks sharp and we’ve had the same jerseys for a while here but I think they look clean and sharp. If anyone talks about the Tigers, you always talk the orange and black and I think it’s cool.”
He says the new pads made him slide a little more in practice being so new but they did not take him long to break in. He says the way gear comes is easy to break in and isn’t too worried about getting it covered in black puck marks.
“It means keeping the puck out of the net, so I’ll take all of the black marks I can get,” Langkow said.
He had his first shot at getting some of those marks Friday night when the Tigers hosted the Moose Jaw Warriors for the first game of their home-and-home series. The Tigers head to Moose Jaw on Saturday. He says they are excited for the weekend and a chance to snap their six-game losing streak.
“We’ve been playing pretty well and the pucks just haven’t gone in,” Langkow said. “Last game I think we hit three or four posts and had a couple of rebounds that just couldn’t find their way in the net. We just got to keep pushing and the goals will come and the wins will start coming. We just have to stick together in there and just be a team.”
The Tigers enter the game on the heels of a 3-1 loss Tuesday against the Prince Albert Raiders. With only two days in between the games, Langkow says the guys like the short turnaround time.
“We’ve had a couple weekday games at home which has been nice without the travel, so it’s good to split up the week,” Langkow said. “Sometimes those long practice weeks are pretty tough, so if you have a game in between there, it splits it up nice. Then after a loss you can just get right back out there a couple days later, which is nice.”
A full game story of the Tigers games Friday and Saturday can be found at medicinehatnews.com/sports.
