PHOTO COURTESY STEVE DUNSMOOR
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Andrew Basha reaches to tie up his man off a face-off in the Tigers 9-2 win at Kelowna against the Rockets on Oct. 14
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers’ B.C. road trip gave some players an opportunity to play in front of friends and family for the first time. It also displayed the need for work to be done to get better.
The Tigers finished their trip through Canada’s westernmost province with a 3-2 record, picking up six of a possible 10 points, with a 4-2 loss against the Victoria Royals and 7-5 defeat against the WHL’s top team, the Prince George Cougars, sticking out.
Cayden Lindstrom is one of five Tigers from B.C. who had the first chance in their WHL careers to play in their home province. It was a memorable experience for the Chetwynd, B.C. product who also says they didn’t achieve what they wanted.
“It was really good, I had a lot of friends and family there, it was really fun and it just reminded me of when I used to watch a lot of WHL games in Kamloops and Prince George, it was good to play in front of all my families and friends,” Lindstrom said.
“We should have went 5-0 on the trip, but games like that on the road, you have to stick to what you know and just play how you know how to play, and I don’t feel we did that the two games we lost. We had a good one against Prince George but we just didn’t stick with it and it came back on us.”
Forwards Tomas Mrsic, Brett Calhoon, Brayden Boehm and goaltender Evan May all reign from B.C. and shared the experience Lindstrom had with friends and family. All four skaters scored with familiar faces in the stands, Mrsic says he was able to hear his special audience cheer while on the ice.
“It was pretty cool, I had family at every game except Prince George, it was even better to score in Vancouver with 30-40 family members there, that was pretty cool,” Mrsic said.
The Tigers had a couple of off days during their trip, allowing them to see the sights and enjoy B.C. Forward Andrew Basha says the team took it all in as groups, more so than a bunch of pairs.
“Especially in Victoria and Kelowna, I was hanging out with Lindy a lot, Oasiz, the usual crew. It was just a whole group effort, we didn’t do anything too crazy.”
A trip-opening win against the Kelowna Rockets on Oct. 14 was dulled by the loss against the Royals three days later. They answered back with a 3-2 overtime win against the Vancouver Giants a day later, shutout the Kamloops Blazers 4-0 on Oct. 20, then dropped the finale to Prince George.
“If you started the trip losing the first two and then you win the last three you’re probably elated, but losing the last one of the trip always puts a bummer on it. But when you look at it, it was a really good trip,” associate coach Joe Frazer said.
He liked the way the Tigers displayed their ability to bounce back, coming off the loss against Victoria and navigating a difficult travel day with a ferry ride to beat Vancouver. He says the trip and the losses were more lessons that they’ll take at this time of the year.
“It’s one of those learning lessons, you like that it’s October so you can go over it, teach and learn from it with the young group we have,” Frazer said. “But all in all, the trip was at a good time where we can bond as a team. There was lots to like with some learning lessons in there that will help us improve as we move forward.”
While a majority of the Tigers played at least some games in the WHL last season, they remain a young group and are one of the youngest in the league, with their average age at 17.88 years old. Three 20-year-old defenceman skew their age average on the older side, but four 16-year-olds and five 17-year-olds on the roster puts them tied for the third youngest team.
Having a core that leans younger is something Frazer says they as coaches sometimes forget, only because they have high expectations.
“We have some pretty good players and sometimes you forget they’re 16 and 17, but as long as we’re learning and not making the same mistakes repeatedly game after game, we’re improving,” Frazer said. “Bouncing back from the Victoria game to play the way we did in Van was a huge step in maturity, it takes some maturity to do that. We’ll learn from the Prince George game, we had good video sessions, the guys know and they want to be accountable and that’s the main thing, guys want to keep getting better. That mindset is we’re always looking to improve and if we can keep that, that’ll make us better in the second half.”
