NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Mat Ward looks to make a pass from behind the net in the first period of a 5-1 win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Regina Pats.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers made use of their last home game for a week.
The Tigers salvaged a split weekend with a 5-1 win Saturday at Co-op Place over the Regina Pats, a bounce-back following a 4-2 loss Friday at Red Deer to the Rebels.
“It was a real good effort,” head coach Willie Desjardins said postgame Saturday. “A late night coming in from Red Deer, tough game. I thought it was huge. We were able to play four lines tonight.”
On Friday, Andrew Basha and Oasiz Wiesblatt scored, Gavin McKenna and Bryce Pickford each recorded a pair of assists.
Overage forward Mat Ward led the way Saturday with a pair of goals and an assist, the second marker a shorthanded, empty netter. The tallies bump the Richmond, B.C. product up to four goals and nine points in 11 games this season, a welcomed amount of offence for the forward.
“It’s a bit of a relief, I’ve been struggling production wise a little bit,” Ward said. “When you’re struggling you just have to be positive, keep working and doing your thing, and eventually it’ll come. So just put my head down and go to work and be positive.”
Desjardins says they played well in Red Deer as well but need to find success beyond simply playing well.
“We had our chances, pulled our goaltender down by one, could have gotten it,” Desjardins said. “Red Deer is a tough team on the road, we played pretty good, but we need to find a way to win that one.”
Harrison Meneghin stopped 29 shots at Red Deer, Jordan Switzer made 22 saves in Saturday’s win.
The Tigers got their first looks at freshly signed 18-year-old forward Carter Cunningham who made his WHL debut on Friday. Desjardins has liked what he’s seen in early showings from the South Alberta Hockey Academy alum.
“He’s surprised me with how good he is, he’s a pretty good player,” Desjardins said. “He’s not up to speed, he’s not used to it yet. But I do think if he had a month, he could be pretty good.”
He fills a much-needed role for the Tigers up front, missing forwards Hayden Harsanyi and Ryder Ritchie due to injury, Cayden Lindstrom still with the Columbus Blue Jackets and both Liam and Markus Ruck gone for the U17 Hockey Challenge.
While he would prefer a full lineup that didn’t require double shifting, Desjardins says there are positives from the extended ice time players are seeing due to injuries.
“Being short does bond a group together, because if you don’t play well as a group, you don’t win. You need each other,” Desjardins said. “You just can’t do it by yourself. So that’s something we just have to get, we have to get playing hard as a group.”
The Tigers are off until Wednesday when they head to Calgary to face the Hitmen in the first of four straight road games. They’ll head to Regina on Friday and then will be at Brandon on Saturday to face the Wheat Kings.
“We’ve been spoiled being at home here, we don’t realize how hard this is going to get for us,” Desjardins said. “Our numbers, we’re just so thin, it’s hard because it catches up to you. When you play game after game, guys just get wore down a little bit.”
Tigers trade McCallum
The Tigers traded 18-year-old goaltender Ethan McCallum to the Saskatoon Blades on Monday, acquiring a fourth-round pick in 2027 and a conditional fourth rounder in 2028.
McCallum, a second-round pick in the 2021 WHL draft, appeared in 28 games across two seasons for the Tigers. He had a 12-9-1 record with a 3.20 goals against average and an .879 save percentage.
He was in net for five games this season, making three starts with a 1-1 record, a 4.09 GAA and a .835 SV%.
