Tigers blanked 3-0 in final WHL game for Chyzowski, Clayton, Kemp

“You see them grow from young guys to men,” said Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins. “You’ve seen them come from guys that just got a little bit of ice time to guys that carried us the whole time. So, I think the organization is really proud of them and what they’ve done.”

Medicine Hat was unable to get over the hump against the Edmonton Oil Kings however, dropping a 3-0 decision at Co-Op Place to finish the season with a 0-6 record against the top team in the Central Division.

“We pushed hard against Edmonton every time, we just couldn’t beat them,” said Desjardins. “If we don’t have big off-seasons in training, we won’t beat them next year either. The guys know they got a lot of work ahead of them.”

While Desjardins spoke on the Tigers’ season and his exiting overagers, no Tigers players were made available for comment following Thursday’s loss.

Oil Kings captain Scott Atkinson kicked off the scoring midway through the first period, accepting a pass from fellow overager Ethan Cap to spin and score in his final WHL game as well.

Edmonton almost picked up a second goal in the first period as the buzzer sounded, however the officiating staff reviewed the tape and determined the puck crossed the line late.

It remained a 1-0 Oil Kings lead well into the second period, before Edmonton doubled their advantage with defenceman Logan Dowhaniuk deking his way to a power play goal before the end of the frame.

Kaid Oliver added an empty-net goal for Edmonton to cap off his junior career as well, while Sebastian Cossa stopped all 29 shots he faced from the Tigers to earn the shutout.

Desjardins said he was pleased with the way his group of rookies tackled the adversity this season brought, but added there is another gear they will need to find.

“If they’re going to be another Chyzowski or Clayton or Kemp, those guys got a lot of work to get to that spot because those are high-end guys,” said Desjardins.

Tigers captain Chyzowski ends his WHL career 18^th in all-time games played for the franchise with 280 regular games under his belt over five years, tallying 98 goals and 217 points over that span.

Clayton, a four-year Tiger on the team’s blueline, led all WHL defencemen in scoring this year with 30 points in 23 games to end his career with 88 points in 214 games in black and orange.

As for Kemp, he was brought to the team at the 2018 WHL trade deadline from Edmonton in a blockbuster move that sent Josh Williams up north. In his 109 games with the Tigers organization, the Saskatchewan product fired home 53 goals and 129 points.

Medicine Hat finished off the truncated season with a record of 14-8-0-1, good enough for second place in the Central Division with 29 points.

For Desjardins however, the fact the team reached the end of the road without a positive case of COVID-19 was a bigger accomplishment.

“For us to come through this whole COVID stuff with no positive tests is really quite incredible,” said Desjardins. “It says a lot about the guys, it says lots about the billets too in how they took care of themselves so we could stay healthy.”

by Scott Roblin

Tigers blanked 3-0 in final WHL game for Chyzowski, Clayton, Kemp

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