WHL Medicine Hat Tigers

Game 72: March 19 vs. Lethbridge

Published on March 19, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Medicine Hat Tigers News Release


@ HURRICANES: Tonight Medicine Hat will play in game 72 of the season against their rival the Lethbridge Hurricanes coming off a 9-3 defeat just one night ago. The season is in the balance for the Tabbies as tonight is a must win game, coupled with an Edmonton loss to force a tie breaker game next Tuesday night. Tonight also marks the 7th of 7 meetings this season, with Medicine Hat posting a 1-4-1-0 record.

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP:

Medicine Hat continues to battle for the final playoff spot with 1 games remaining (including tonight), the Tabbies sit 2 points back of Edmonton, Medicine Hat is 7-3-0-0 down the stretch in their past 10 games

Lethbridge snapped a 2 game losing streak last night in their final regular season home game, the win also clinched the Central Division for the first time since 1996

David Quenneville scored twice last night and took over the team lead in scoring against the 'Canes this season, the 17 year old defenseman has 5 points in 6 games and leads the club in goals with 3 vs. Lethbridge

2015-16 WHL RANKINGS: Record (29-37-3-2). Central Div. - 5th Eastern Con. - 9th Home - (16-16-1-2) Away (13-21-2-0)

TIGERS FAST FACTS:

Lethbridge is the second most penalized team in the Eastern Conference as they broke the 1000 minute mark last night as a team, they are only 1 of 4 teams to reach that mark this year

Brayden Burke added to his point total against the Tabbies last night with 3 more points to lead all 'Canes players with 13, Tyler Wong increased his goal total vs. Medicine Hat, now scoring 7 times in 6 games, 16% of his goals this year have come against the Tigers (43)

Chad Butcher recorded his 100th assist last night in Lethbridge, he became the 61st Tiger in franchise history to reach that mark

TIGERS VS: (BDN 1-3), (CGY 5-1), (EDM 6-0), (EVT 1-0), (KAM 2-0), (KEL 0-3), (KTN 5-1-1), (LETH 1-4-1), (MJ 2-2), (POR 0-1), (PA 1-2-1), (PG 1-1), (RD 0-5-0-1), (REG 0-3-0-1), (SAS 2-2), (SEA 0-1), (SPO 1-0), (SC 1-3), (TRI 0-1), (VAN 0-2), (VIC 0-2)

MARCH 19th TEAM HISTORY: The Tigers took on the Calgary Hitmen at home during the 2010-11 season. Rookie Curtis Valk scored his 8th of the season which ended up being the only goal scored on the night as Deven Dubyk nabbed a 27 save shutout in what was his first career shutout in the 1-0 victory, the Tigers 45th of the season. Dubyk would follow this performance with another 40 save shutout to finish the season.

WHL PLAYOFFS: The 2015-16 edition of the WHL Playoffs will see the Hurricanes win the Central Division for the first time since the 1996-97 season, which ironically enough was the same year they went to the Memorial Cup.

WHO'S HOT: TIGERS: David Quenneville has 24 points in his past 22 games, Chad Butcher has 14 points over a 6 game point streak and Mason Shaw is also on a 6 game point streak, scoring 9 points. HURRICANES: Tyler Wong is on a 14 game point streak recording 23 points over that span, Giorgio Estephan has 11 points over his last 7 games and Stuart Skinner has won 6 of his last 7 starts

GOALIE GOAL: In last night's game Lethbridge goalie Stuart Skinner scored a goal into the empty net. The WHL hasn't seen a goalie goal since Chris Dreidger of the Calgary Hitmen back in February of 2014.

WILD FINISH: Medicine Hat has left the dramatics to the final game of the season to try to get into the post season. Coupled with an Edmonton loss, Medicine Hat needs to win tonight to force a decisive tie breaker game next Tuesday against the Oil Kings.

2015-16 CLUB LEADERS:

Goals (30) Max Gerlach Assists (45) Chad Butcher   Points (73) Chad Butcher

PIM (122) Connor Clouston Plus/Minus (+4) Clayton Kirichenko Wins (20) Nick Schneider

SPECIAL TEAMS:

POWER PLAY: 63/302 - 20.9% (ranked 13th in WHL)

HOME- 37/145 - 25.5% (ranked 3rd in WHL)

PENALTY KILL: 198/268 - 73.9% (ranked 21st in WHL)

HOME- 86/121 - 71.1% (ranked 22nd in WHL)

TIGERS ROSTER MAKEUP: The Tigers currently have 22 players on the roster - 2 Goaltenders, 7 Defenseman, 13 forwards

AGE BREAKDOWN: 3 - 20 year olds, 5 - 19 year olds, 7 - 18 year olds, 5 - 17 year olds, and 2 - 16 year olds

NHL DRAFTED / SIGNED PLAYERS: Matt Bradley (Montreal Canadiens), Nick Schneider (Calgary Flames)

ATB FINANCIAL - TIGERS BROADCAST:Listen to legendary Bob Ridley broadcast all Tigers games on CHAT 94.5 FM. Bob Ridley has called all but one Tigers' Game in Team history since the Medicine Hat Tigers came into the league in 1970.

Check out the Medicine Hat Tigers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from March 19, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central