Alumni Spotlight: Dallon Melin
July 8, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Medicine Hat Tigers News Release
Medicine Hat, AB - As the off-season rolls on, the Medicine Hat Tigers will be looking back key dates, games, teams, and players from our storied history from now until the beginning of the 2024-2025 season. We take a look back at a small-town farm kid with nothing to lose in this edition of our Alumni Spotlight.
When you rebuild a franchise, you're going to need leaders who have been through everything to help those make that next step into becoming not just a better player with strong habits but also creating a culture that involves hard work, sacrifice, and the will to make the team around you better. The Medicine Hat Tigers acquired one of those types for the 2022-2023 WHL Season. When a player in major junior hockey hits the age of 20, the time in junior slowly starts to dwindle away and it goes past fast, even faster if your future is unknown. Dallon Melin (Czar, AB) started his career as a draft pick of the Victoria Royals, followed by being acquired by the Red Deer Rebels. Melin suited up in 187 games scoring 26 goals and 28 assists in his tenure with Red Deer, while making the playoffs in each season eligible.
But when the off-season in 2022 would come around, the Rebels elected to go a different direction when it came to filling just three positions for 20-year-old players leaving Melin with nowhere to go, until one phone call from the farm in Czar to another number with previous agricultural roots from Climax, Saskatchewan. Melin phoned Head Coach & General Manager Willie Desjardins and all he asked for was an opportunity to try out for the orange and black at the team's upcoming Fall Camp and pre-season schedule. He was granted that opportunity and didn't look back, in two pre-season games, Melin scored four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in just two games, earning himself a spot on the roster to begin the 2022-2023 season. Melin was given the reins as part of the Tigers leadership group donning an alternate captaincy. Melin stepped up his game on the ice with a career year with 41 points (16 goals, 25 assists) in 67 games, helping the Tigers clinch a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season in a 4-3 decision over the Swift Current Broncos, scoring a clutch goal to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead going into the third period of a season deciding game. In the final 20 minutes, he helped linemate Cayden Lindstrom score the eventual game-winner and was a common denominator in Lindstrom's success helping him be nominated for the WHL's Rookie of the Year Award.
While the Tigers season was extended to the playoffs in 2022-2023 following an 11-win season in 2021-2022. Melin would step up with a goal and an assist in four games against the Winnipeg ICE in the Eastern Conference Quarter Final.
Melin was the Tigers nominee for Humanitarian of Year with his dedication to the Tigers school visit programs. His hard work earned him a spot on the University of Calgary Dinos squad fo the 2023-2024 USports season as he made his presence felt in 11 games with U of C (The same school his junior hockey coach started at) while also in five playoff games, helping the Dinos reach the University Cup Tournament for the second straight year.
Dubbed to be on the roster again this season, like anywhere he's gone before, Melin will be called upon to make a difference both on and off the ice.
The Medicine Hat Tigers organization would like to congratulate Dallon on his success thus far and will always remember you as a great Tiger and wish you all the best in pushing onward in your career.
Stay tuned for the latest Tigers news, stories, events and more on our website and social media channels.
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Western Hockey League Stories from July 8, 2024
- Catton Signs Entry Level Contract with Seattle Kraken - Spokane Chiefs
- Alumni Spotlight: Dallon Melin - Medicine Hat Tigers
- Year in Review: Roger McQueen - Brandon Wheat Kings
- Blazers Sign 2024 Second Round Pick Jacob Dumansky - Kamloops Blazers
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