NEWS PHOTO James Tubb
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Kyle Heger moves the puck in the second period of the second scrimmage Thursday, the first day of training camp for the defending WHL champions.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The pedal is through the metal to start the Medicine Hat Tigers training camp.
Camp opened Thursday at Co-op place with a pair of scrimmages between the 86 players all vying for a spot on the 2025-26 roster, or when it comes to prospects, their place in the organizational depth chart. It was the start and the pace associate coach Joe Frazer says they expected.
“Both those games were intense, it was physical and it was a good test for the 2010s, their first camp,” Frazer said. “For them, just seeing how intense and competitive our veterans are and how bad they want to win. So it was a really good start for the guys.”
The Tigers will play a total of six more games as the four teams in camp face off with a winner crowned on Saturday before an intrasquad game on Sunday wraps up the camp. Frazer says the game style of camp, all scrimmaging and no practices, helps get the players to the competitive mindset quicker.
Team Black won the first game, beating Team Grey 8-7 in a comeback. Forward Jaxson Craig scored twice. Team Teal beat Team Orange 7-6, forward Brayden Ryan-MacKay had a pair of goals.
It’s MacKay’s third training camp, playing in 19 games with the Tigers last season. He led the way in what was the more scrappy of the two games, dropping the gloves in a skirmish. The 17-year-old says all of the players are doing whatever they can to make an impression and he says he’ll do whatever it takes to stick with the main roster.
“All the boys are just trying to make an impact, get a spot on the team, do whatever they can,” Ryan-MacKay said.
“I’m willing to do whatever I can to make the roster and it’s what I’m out there to do, and I’ll do it every single game if I have to.”
The coaching staff, scouts and hockey ops watch from above as each shift serves as mini-tryouts before the preseason gets underway. Some of the Tigers’ established players are not taking part in the camp scrimmages, with 20-year-old defenceman Josh Van Mulligen, 19-year-old blue liners Bryce Pickford and Jonas Woo and 16-year-old Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll serving as coaches for the tournament alongside alum defenceman Rhett Parsons.
The Tigers’ other two overagers, forwards Ethan Neatens and Misha Volotvskii, are both playing over the weekend.
Pickford says coaching is more stressful than if he was on the ice.
“It’s pretty fun. Actually, I haven’t really coached in a while, I coached when I was younger but I coach for real now and it felt pretty good,” Pickford said.
The Montreal Canadiens prospect says he helped coach his dad’s team when he was younger, taking a little more time now to learn all the names that come with a large training camp.
“All the guys are really good kids and they work really hard,” Pickford said. “So I’m pretty thankful to be working out with them.”
The 19-year-old will head to Canadiens’ training camp on Sept. 9, he attended development camp over the summer after being selected 81st overall by the NHL club in June. He enjoyed that NHL experience, learning some skating tips, and the 20-goal scorer says they helped further develop his shot.
Pickford is one of five returning defenceman for the Tigers, the team’s early strength to start the season even with the graduating of Nashville Predators prospect Tanner Molendyk. Pickford says he’s pushing to step up and have the impact Molendyk did.
“I looked up to him, he’s the best defenceman I’ve ever played with,” Pickford said. “His skating is unbelievable, he has great vision, I can’t say enough good things about him and I’m hoping to step into his shoes.”
There are a lot of options for that final spot on the blue line, from returnees in Tyson Moss and Riley Steen, Koray Bozkaya who returned from the BCHL, signed U.S. player Kyle Heger, the drafted Luke Warrener, as well as free agent camp invites looking to make their name known.
Heger, who was selected by the Tigers in the 2022 WHL Draft, signed with the club in the offseason and through the first day of camp has enjoyed the new pace. The soon-to-be 18-year-old says there were multiple factors that pushed him to playing with the Tigers and in the WHL this season.
“The biggest thing was the coaching, and then the play style, it fits my game better,” Heger said. “I valued my options both ways, the American route and coming up here and I just saw both and think Medicine Hat was a better fit for me.
“I always tell my dad that you have to start with the end in mind and I want to play in the NHL, and I think this is going to help me the best and develop my game the most to come here.”
Training camp continues Friday with games starting at 8:30 a.m. running until 1:15 p.m. before a couple hour break. They have two final round robin games from 5-9:45 p.m. Friday and wrap the mini-tournament up on Saturday with games at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday’s intrasquad game is at 10:30 a.m.
