NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Zach Zahara reaches out to make a blocker save in the first period of a 4-2 loss against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Dec. 30 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
For the second time in their young hockey careers, Ethan McCallum and Zach Zahara will be trusted to back stop a team to success.
The goaltending duo worked the crease for the U18 South Alberta Hockey Academy last season and are the two goalies trusted to man the net for the Medicine Hat Tigers the rest of this season. It’s a challenge both are excited for.
“It feels good for me personally, knowing there’s now two of us,” McCallum said. “There’s probably going to be more of a battle for who’s going to get those games because eventually there will have to come down to the point of who is going to start and who is going to back up. It’s just a matter of me and Z, being able to push each other every day and just make ourselves better to help the team out in the end.”
Medicine Hat ran with three goalies through the first 38 games of their season, before a deadline-day trade sent 19-year-old Evan May to the Moose Jaw Warriors for a 2027 third-round pick on Wednesday leaving the 17-year-old McCallum and 18-year-old Zahara with the task.
Zahara says the goal stays the same for himself and McCallum, stopping pucks and getting wins.
“Ethan is a great guy, I really like him and we get along super well,” Zahara said. “So to share the crease with him again, this year is just a great honour.”
The two young net minders had the better numbers of the trio, with Zahara leading with a 10-2 record, a 1.86 goals against average and .936 save percentage in 12 games. McCallum has a 2.70 GAA and .896 SV% with six wins and three losses in 11 games.
McCallum says it’s not just a goaltending partnership between him and Zahara but a friendship that has grown over the last two seasons, one built off putting aside personal concern to ensure team success.
“We can put aside our differences and push each other in the sense that we’re not going to hate each other after every day, it’s going to be a good bond and we’re going to be able to support each other no matter who’s playing or how things are going during the tough times,” McCallum said. “It’s a very good relationship to have, especially at this high level of hockey. To have someone to fall back on and someone that plays the same position as you is just really nice to have.”
Both say they’ll miss having May around every day and learned a lot from the elder of the three. Zahara says the former teammate imparted the mindset of not being too negative about his own game and earning every day. McCallum says May taught him patience with the process and just letting things happen during the game on and off the ice.
“Just trying your hardest, working as hard as you can every single day in practice, or whether that’s off ice in the gym, just making sure that you’re giving it 100 per cent,” McCallum said. “Things will work out whether that takes months or years, or just a matter of weeks.”
May was acquired by the Tigers early last season to back up then starter Beckett Langkow. In his two years in the orange and black, May appeared in 40 games with a record of 14-16-2.
Head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins says there is no defined role yet between the two goalies, and with both looking for the starting job, he says they’ll see how it plays out.
He says the move was based a little bit on looking toward next season with the younger goalies while also allowing them to show what they can do and become.
“It does allow us a different look at the overagers for next year, so there was some sight ahead,” Desjardins said. “But saying that, our young guys have put up some really good numbers, so it’s going to be good for them to get a chance.”
With the roster set and the goaltending duo in place for the remaining 29 games of the regular season, the focus turns to building off a 25-22-2 record and staying in first place of the Central division. That effort starts tonight at Lethbridge against the Hurricanes, the first of a home-and-home series that turns back to Co-op Place on Saturday.
It’s a weekend that Zahara, who will soon don new pads in place of his current puck-stained ones, is looking forward to.
“It’s always a fun game against Lethbridge, the rivalry is here, so we’ll go into their barn and try to get two points in what should be a good night,” Zahara said.
