By Jesse Gill

SPORTS

Pair of Medicine Hat Tigers make CHL Team of the Month for November

Dec 6, 2024 | 9:22 AM

The Canadian Hockey League Team of the Month for November was announced announced on Thursday and included a pair of Medicine Hat Tigers.

Forward Gavin McKenna and defenseman Bryce Pickford are both on the list of top players.

This is the second month in a row for McKenna, who put up 32 points over 13 games during the month.

The 16-year old player, not eligible for the NHL draft until 2016 led all skaters in the CHL in scoring in November.

His +16 plus/minus rating for the month tied McKenna for first among all skaters in the WHL.

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Putting up a point in every contest but one, and nine games with multiple points.

McKenna matched his career high for point in a game on Nov. 1 against the Regina Pats with six, and scored his first hat trick of the season against the Calgary Hitmen on Nov. 30.

He’s currently on a 12-game points streak heading into the weekend games.

McKenna is the CHL leader in points and assists on the season, with 57 points and 38 assists.

McKenna, was also the Player of the Week for the WHL, and receive an invite to Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp.

Pickford who most recently missed a game, currently out with an injury had quite the month from the backend for the Tigers.

Finding the scoresheet for 18 points, including nine goals in 13 games in the month of November, he lead all WHL defensemen in scoring.

Overlooked in the 2024 NHL Draft, the Tigers defender could hear his name called during the 2025 event.

Rarely not getting a point each game, Pickford only went pointless in three of 13 contests.

Much like McKenna, Pickford also had a career game in the Nov.1 contest against the Regina Pats, putting up 4 points, with a pair of goals and assists, and a fight for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick.

Sitting at 29 points through 24 games, he ranks third among points for WHL defensemen, but tops for goals with 12. Including his 17 assists, he has hit a career high in all three metrics early this season.

Pickford is in his first season with the Tigers, after spending three with the Seattle Thunderbirds where he won a WHL Championship in 2023.

Also on the team are Kelowna Rockets forward Andrew Cristall, forward Justin Carbonneau of the QMJHL‘s Blainville-Boisbriand Armad, defenseman Sam Dickinson from the OHL’s London Knights, and goaltender Jackson Parson a member of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.