Medicine Hat Tigers play a pair at Co-op Place this weekend, after a four-game road trip

“The Tigers will be out five regulars, two away at the under 17’s, Liam and Marcus Ruck. Edmonton has Joe Iginla away at the under 17’s playing on Team Canada Red. The Rucks are on Team White,” he added.

“Both clubs battling a few injuries at this juncture in the season, which is common. But for a bulk of the top talent on both sides, it’ll be their first time seeing one another.”

Bryant says the Rucks will be back with the Tigers early next week, with a few of their other players return also likely not too far out.

“The reporting on Cayden Lindstrom coming out of Columbus is towards the end of the month, start of December. It looks like he’ll be returned to the club. He has been skating out there in Columbus,” Bryant said.

“They’re just wanting to make sure that he gets all cleared by the Blue Jackets doctors before being returned here to Medicine Hat,” he added.

“Josh Van Mulligen was seen skating on the ice at practice on Thursday. So that’s a step in the right direction for his return to the lineup, as was Ryder Ritchie. He was seen skating in a non-contact jersey on Tuesday, wearing a bubble.”

Defenseman Van Mulligen and Forward Ritchie could be back in the next couple of weeks.

In the interim the Tigers have relied heavily on their depth players to round out their roster.

“It’s been a great opportunity, and that’s one thing that has sort of made this coaching staff’s life a little difficult, but they’re not going to be mad about it.
You’ve got eight defensemen for the Tigers that can really start on any WHL team, and that ice time has been super competitive,” Bryant said.

“With the injuries, some of those maybe bottom six guys have gotten an opportunity to really showcase their skill and have impressed,” he added.

“Up front, you’ve seen guys like Schaefer Gordon-Carroll, who’s just 15, playing top six minutes with Andrew Basha and Matthew Ward, getting incredible experience up there.”

Kaden McCann, a C-rated prospect for this upcoming NHL draft, has seen increased minutes both on the power play and the penalty kill.

“So the depth has had a lot of opportunity to step up, and that’s not even including the kids from the South Alberta Hockey Academy, that have been able to jump into the lineup too,” Bryant said.

SAHA Forward Brayden Ryan-MacKay has already got into 11 games heading into Friday’s game, with forward Avery Watson and defenseman Riley Steen suiting up for four games each. SAHA defender Koray Bozkaya playing in three, while 2024 1st Round WHL Prospect Draft pick forward Luke Ruptash was injured in the home opener, his lone game so far this season.

Saturday night, the Tigers will host a Moose Jaw Warriors team they have battled twice already this season, splitting those games 6-3 with the road team winning both contests.

The reigning WHL Champion Warriors have struggled so far this season sitting last places in the league with a 4-11-2 record and only 10 points on the season.

The Medicine Hat Tigers sit in the middle of the Central Division heading into the weekend games with a 9-8 record, one point back of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Red Deer Rebels and only two points up on the Edmonton Oil Kings, and three on the Calgary Hitmen.

Bryant said it really shows the parity of the division.

“Makes those points early in the season extremely valuable because come February, March, if you’re a point back in the standings, you look back to these games in October and go, okay, well that’s where we dropped a point,” Bryant said.

“They might use that game in Lethbridge as kind of a point of, we can’t lose those games. You want to get those two points,” he added.

“Against a Central Division team in Edmonton, that is right neck and neck with the Tigers. It’s a critical two points tonight.”

After splitting their four game road trip, the Tigers sit in second place in the WHL in penalty minutes, with captain Oasiz Wiesblatt leading the league with 50, and Nate Corbet sitting in third at 45.

With the Tigers dropping their last two games, Bryant said it’s going to be important for the Tigers to stay out of the penalty box.

“They’re going to really want to make sure that they keep that penalty kill, which is doing quite well, off the ice,” Bryant said.

“In Lethbridge, they led 6-3, got into some penalty trouble, and ultimately that kind of opened the door for Lethbridge to come back.”

Tigers forward Gavin McKenna will look to keep his hold on the league lead in scoring with 32 points on the season, also leading the league in assists with 22.

Nov. 8 is also a special day for one of the Tigers as forward Andrew Basha celebrates his 19th birthday during Friday’s game.

Will Bryant will have the radio broadcast on Wild 94.5 starting at 6:45 p.m.

Puck drop at Co-op Place will be at 7 p.m.

by Jesse Gill

Medicine Hat Tigers play a pair at Co-op Place this weekend, after a four-game road trip

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