WHL Medicine Hat Tigers

Game Day Preview January 10 at Swift Current

January 10, 2023 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Medicine Hat Tigers News Release


LAST GAME 6-4 L Vs Swift Current Broncos: It was a game of momentum swings between the Tigers and Broncos at Co-op Place on January 7. After the Broncos opened the scoring thanks to Caleb Wyrostok but the Tigers would score 3 goals in 55 second in the late stages of the 1st from Oasiz Wiesblatt, Dallon Melin & Dru Krebs to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead. Brayden Boehm would add a 4th tally shorthanded before the momentum swung again in Swift Current's favour as they would score five consecutive goals from Rylan Gould, Josh Davies, Matthew Ward with a pair and Wyrostok would get his second of the night on an empty for the Broncos to claim the second game of the 8 game season series with Medicine Hat.

VS SWIFT CURRENT: It's the 3rd of 8 meetings this season between the Broncos & Tigers. The Tigers sport a record of 0-1-1 so far.

Since the 1996-97 season the Tigers are 71-61-6-1 with two ties in 141 games played while on the road against the Broncos, Medicine Hat is 28-39-3-1.

HEAD TO HEAD

2021-2022 2022-23

Oct 1 @ SC (2-0 L) Dec 31 @ SC (4-3 OTL)

Oct 2 @ MH (3-2 L) Jan 7 @ MH (6-4 L)

Oct 19 @ MH (5-4 OTW) Jan 10 @ SC

Nov 5 @ SC (3-2 L) Jan 18 @ MH

Feb 18 @ SC (7-2 L) Jan 22 @ SC

Mar 5 @ MH (2-0 W) Feb 28 @ MH

Mar 18 @ SC (5-1 L) Mar 24 @ SC

Mar 19 @ MH (2-0 L) Mar 25 @ MH

TALE OF THE TAPE

MEDICINE HAT TIGERS (14-19-5-1) 34pts

5TH in Central Division

10TH in Eastern Conference

PP - Overall 34/170 - 20.0% - Away 18/90 - 20.0%

Vs SC - 0/4 - 0% @SC 1/2 - 50%

PK - Overall 128/170 -75.3% - Away 67/91 -73.6%

Vs SC - 3/4 - 75% @SC 2/3 - 66.6%

SWIFT CURRENT BRONCOS (18-15-1) 37pts

4TH in Central Division

8TH in Eastern Conference

PP - Overall 27/129 - 20.9% - Home 13/80 - 16.3%

Vs MH - 1/3 - 33.3% @MH - 1/4 - 25%

PK - Overall 139/179 -77.7% - Home 75/103 -72.8%

Vs MH - 1/2 - 50% @MH 4/4 - 100%

2022-23 REGULAR SEASON STAT LEADERS

Goals - Lee (20) Assists - Basha (27)

Points - Lee (37) +/- Basha (+10)

PIMS - Parsons (54) Wins - Langkow (13)

Shutouts - N/A Save % - Langkow .885%

GAA - Langkow (3.24)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

- Andrew Basha 38 GP: 7-27-34 PTS - Oasiz Wiesblatt 39 GP: 16-15-31 PTS

- Brenden Lee 39 GP: 20-17-37 PTS (12 PPG) - Brayden Boehm 38 GP: 16-11-27 PTS

- Dru Krebs 38 GP: 5-17-22 PTS - Cayden Lindstrom 31 GP: 9-9-18 PTS

- Bogdans Hodass 27 GP: 4-11-15 - Hunter St. Martin 32 GP: 4-6-10

(Return from World Juniors) (Return to the line-up)

MILESTONE WATCH

Kurtis Smythe - 1 games away from 150 GP

NEWS & NOTES

Latvian Leap: Second year defenceman Bogdans Hodass represented Team Lativa at the completed 2023 World Junior Hockey Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the second straight year. Hodass had 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists. As he returns to the Tigers line-up in 27 GP, Hodass has 4 goals & 11 assists for 15 points.

Mr. 400: Tigers Head Coach & Willie Desjardins notched his 400th win as a Head Coach with the Medicine Hat Tigers December 10th in a 6-3 win at home against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Desjardins record in his 13 seasons coaching in the WHL. Desjardins first win as Tigers Head Coach was a 4-3 win on September 24, 2002 against the Saskatoon Blades.

Busy Beckett: Tigers Goaltender Beckett Langkow's 725 saves this season puts him 5th in WHL Goaltending categories, while being second in minutes played with 1759.

Defenders Attacking: The Tigers defence core of Rhett Parsons, Bogdans Hodass, Dru Krebs, Pasha Bocharov, Josh Van Mulligen & Reid Andresen have contributed to 88 points (20 goals, 68 assists)

The Chetwynd Kid: Tigers Centre Cayden Lindstrom is 10th in WHL Rookie scoring with 18 points (9 goals, 9 assists) in 30 games played.

From Cessford with Love: Tigers Rookie Forward Shane Smith is 5th in Rookie goal scoring with 11 goals.

Man Down, No Problem: Going into tonight's game against Swift Current, the Tigers are 6th in shorthanded goals for in the WHL with 7, (Smith, St. Martin, Bocharov, Boehm x2, MacNeil, Lee)

Lee's Laser: Coming into action tonight, Tigers forward Brenden Lee is 3rd in the Western Hockey League with 12 power play goals but also 5th in the entire Canadian Hockey League.

Silver Lining: Tigers forward Tomas Mrsic returns to the Tigers after taking home a silver medal at the World U17s in Langley, BC. Mrsic had one goal and one assists for Team Canada Red. Cayden Lindstrom also participated in the U17s as a member of Team White scoring two goals and two assists in the tournament.

MacNeil's Navy: The Tigers announced their leadership group for the 2022-23 WHL Season, Owen MacNeil was named the 39th Captain in Tigers history, while Rhett Parsons, Dru Krebs, Tyler MacKenzie & Dallon Melin will all wear alternate captain's A's on their jerseys this season.

HOW THE TIGERS WERE BUILT

WHL Draft (9): Andresen, Parsons, Wiesblatt, MacKenzie, Krebs, St. Martin, Boehm, Van Mulligen, Mrsic, Lindstrom, Basha, McKenna

Trade (5): Bocharov, Lee, MacNeil, Smythe & May

CHL Import Draft (1): Hodass

Listed/Signed (2): Langkow, Hanas

Waivers (1): Melin

ROSTER AGE BREAKDOWN (* indicates rookie):

Alberta - 12 - Parsons, Wiesblatt, MacKenzie, Krebs, Langkow, St. Martin *, Smith *, Melin, Van Mulligen *, MacNeil, Basha

BC - 5 - Smythe, Lindstrom *, Mrsic *, Boehm & May

Saskatchewan- 1 - Andresen

Yukon-1-McKenna*

USA - 3 - Lee, Hanas & Bocharov Latvia - 1 - Hodass

PREVIOUS THREE GAMES NEXT THREE GAMES (all times MT/SD

Sat Dec 31 @ Swift Current Broncos (4-3 OTL) Tue Jan 10 @ Swift Current Broncos (6pm)

Fri Jan 6 @ Edmonton Oil Kings (3-2 W) Fri Jan 13 @ Brandon Wheat Kings (6pm)

Fri Jan 7 @ Swift Current Broncos (6-4 L) Sat Jan 14 @ Winnipeg Ice (7pm)

Check out the Medicine Hat Tigers Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2023


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