Game Day Preview October 12 at Tri City

October 12, 2022 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Medicine Hat Tigers News Release

2022-2023 TIGERS RECORD: 2-3-1-0 Home: 1-1-0-0 Road: 1-2-1-0

2021-2022 TIGERS RECORD: 11-53-3-1 Home: 8-25-1-0 Road: 3-28-2-1

LAST GAME: 5-2 Loss at Seattle Thunderbirds: For the first time in four seasons, the Medicine Hat Tigers made their way to Portland for a showdown with the Thunderbirds, The Tigers would give up the 1st goal of the game to Kyle Crnkovic on a T-Bird power play. While Hunter St. Martin got his first Western Hockey League goal shorthanded to tie the game at 1-1 after 1. The second would be tightly matched between the two clubs, Gracyn Sawchyn would give Seattle a 2-1 lead headed to the third before chaos would erupt at the 12 minute mark of the 3rd where 3 goals would be scored in that minute 2 by Seattle (Reid Schafer & Gabe Ludwig) while Reid Andresen would score on the power play to keep things interesting but the Tigers couldn’t rally like they did in Portland as Reid Schafer ended up with the final goal on the empty net to give the Thunderbirds a 5-2 win over Medicine Hat.

VS THE AMERICANS: The Medicine Hat Tigers haven’t played the Tri City Americans since February 21, 2020 when the Tigers double up the Americans 4-2 at Co-op Place but the last time these two faced each other in Kennwick, WA was October 8, 2018 and it was a 2-0 shutout thanks to the work of Jordan Howlett in between the pipes for Medicine Hat. The head to head record going back to the 1996-97 WHL Season is 27 GP: 12 wins, 8 losses, 1 OT loss, 1 shootout loss and 1 tie. On the road in Tri City the Tigers are 9-4 in 13 games played against the Americans.

2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON STATS LEADERS:

Goals (4) – Oasiz Wiesblatt Assists (5) – Basha, Hodass

Points (9) – Andrew Basha

PIMS (27) – Oasiz Wiesblatt Plus/Minus (6) – Rhett Parsons, Andrew Basha

Wins (2) – Beckett Langkow Shutouts (0) – N/A

Save % (.885) – Beckett Langkow Goals Against Average (3.26) – Beckett Langkow

WHO’S HOT

-Andrew Basha 6 GP: 3G 6A – 9 PTS

– Bogdans Hodass: 6 GP: 1G 5A – 6 PTS

– Oasiz Wiesblatt 5 GP: 4G-2A – 6PTS

– Rhett Parsons 6 GP: 1G 4A – 5 PTS

– Tyler MacKenzie 3 GP: 3G-1A – 4 PTS

MILESTONE WATCH:

Rhett Parsons, playing in Career Game #90

Dru Krebs, Playing in Career Game #150

Willie Desjardin, 9 wins away from 400 as Tigers Head Coach

NEWS & NOTES:

Thru 6: The Medicine Hat Tigers are sporting a 2-3-1record in the 2022-23 WHL Season so far after winning their season opener against Lethbridge, the Tigers have lost two straight to Lethbridge (5-4 Sept 30) & Winnipeg (5-2 Oct 1). This is the Tigers first US road trip since February 2019. They snapped their two game losing skid with a 6-3 win in Everett (Oct 7) but fell 4-3 in overtime on Saturday in Portland and dropped their second straight game to the Seattle Thunderbirds Tuesday 5-2.

From Jelgava With Love: Tigers defenceman Bogdans Hodass has started the season as one the top point getters among WHL defencemen with 7 points in 6 games tying him with Luca Cagnoni (POR), Hudson Thornton (PG) & his opponent Wednesday Lukas Dragicevic of Tri City.

Basha in the Top 10: Tigers F Andrew Basha has now reached the League’s Top Ten Scorers after his assist Tuesday in Seattle tied with five other skaters.

Busy Beckett: If Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow starts, it would be his 7th straight game for the Tigers, sporting a 2-3-1 record with a .885 Save Percentage and a 3.53 GAA,

First Road Trip, First Goal: Three Medicine Hat Tigers rookies have scored their 1st Western Hockey League goals on this US road trip, Cayden Lindstrom and Shane Smith scored their 1st Friday October 7 in Everett while Hunter St.Martin scored his first WHL goal on a shorthanded break away against Seattle Tuesday night.

Behind the Bench: This is Tigers Head Coach Willie Desjardins’ 11th season coaching the Tigers in two different tenures and is just 9 wins away from 400 while coaching the Orange & Black

HOW THE TIGERS WERE BUILT:

WHL Draft (12): Andresen, Parsons, Shtrom, Wiesblatt, Ekren-Bratton*, MacKenzie, Krebs, St. Martin, Boehm, Van Mulligen, Mrsic, Lindstrom, Basha, McKenna, McCallum

Trade (3): Bocharov, Lee, MacNeil

CHL Import Draft (1): Hodass (18)

Listed/Signed (2): Langkow, Hanas

Waivers (1): Drover, Melin

GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN (* indicates rookie):

Alberta – 11 – Parsons, Wiesblatt, MacKenzie, Krebs, Langkow, St. Martin *, Smith *, Melin, Van Mulligen *, MacNeil, Basha

BC – 3 – Lindstrom *, Mrsic *, Boehm *

Saskatchewan – 2 – Andresen, Ekren-Bratton *

Manitoba – 1 – McCallum *

Newfoundland – 1 Drover

Yukon – McKenna *

USA – 3 – Hanas, Shtrom, Bocharov Latvia – 1 – Hodass

ROSTER AGE BREAKDOWN (* indicates rookie):

2002 – 3 – (Drover, Melin, Lee,)

2003 – 5 – (Langkow, Parsons, Krebs, Hodass, MacNeil

2004 – 5 – (Shtrom, Wiesblatt, MacKenzie, Bocharov, Boehm)

2005 – 7 – (Andresen, Ekren-Bratton *, St. Martin *, Smith *, Hanas *, Van Mulligen *, Basha)

2006 – 3 – (McCallum*, Mrsic *, Lindstrom *)

2007 – 2 – McKenna AP & Paranych AP

Previous Three Games Next Three Games (all times MT)

Fri, Oct 7th – at Everett (6-3 Win) Wed, Oct. 12th – at Tri City Americans (8:00pm)

Fri, Oct 8th – at Portland (4-3 OT Loss) Fri, Oct. 14th – at Spokane Chiefs (8:00pm)

Fri, Oct 8th – at Seattle (6-3 Loss) Fri, Oct. 21st – vs Red Deer Rebels (7:00pm)

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