GAME NOTES: Tigers open home-and-home against ‘Canes to wrap up season

HOME: 25-9-1-0

AWAY: 24-11-0-0

Central Division: 1st

Eastern Conference: 2nd

INJURY UPDATES:

SCHULTZ – Lower Body

RUBINS – Upper Body

Man Games Lost to Injury: 85

16-17 SEASON SERIES VS. HURRICANES

OVERALL: 2-3-0-0

HOME: 2-1-0-0

AWAY: 0-2-0-0

LAST 5 SEASONS: 15-11-1-0

LAST WIN: Feb. 11, 2017 – 5-0

2016-17 CLUB LEADERS:

GOALS: BRADLEY, RASSELL, FISCHER (34)

ASSISTS: CHAD BUTCHER (72)

POINTS: CHAD BUTCHER (98)

PIM: ZACH FISCHER (141)

PLUS MINUS: CLAYTON KIRICHENKO (+47)

WINS: NICK SCHNEIDER (32)

16-17 CLUB COMPARISON:

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP:

With 99 points on the year, the Tigers are just 1 point away from reaching the 100 point plateau in a season for the 7th time in franchise history

With a win the Tigers will reach 50+ wins for just the 4th time in Tigers franchise history, the last time that mark was reached was during the 2006-2007 season (52)

Medicine Hat is 25-5-0-0 against the Central Division this season with 3 of those defeats coming at the hands of Lethbridge, however the Tigers won their last meeting 5-0 February 11th at the Canalta Centre
The Tigers power play has gone 6 for 9 over their past 2 games (67%) and rank 2nd in the WHL with a 29.0% rating
Since January 6th the Hurricanes have gone 24-4-1-1 in the 30 games played, Medicine Hat is 22-8-0-0 over the same span

TIGERS FAST FACTS:

Zach Fischer has 4 goals in his last 2 games played while teammate Matt Bradley is riding a 3 game point streak recording 6 points over that span (4G, 2A)
Hurricanes forward and leading scorer Tyler Wong had his 13 game point streak come to an end on Wednesday, previously Wong had 29 points in those games with 9 games being multi-point performances
Only 4 other Tiger players since the 1996-97 season have reached a +40 rating or higher in one season, currently Clayton Kirichenko has a rating of +47, good for 4th in the WHL

DID YOU KNOW?: Chad Butcher needs 2 points to reach 100 on the season. If he hits the mark he will be just the 6th Tiger since 2000-01 to reach triple digits in points.

LOOKING FOR ONE: Tigers forward James Hamblin sits on 19 goals this season; he just needs one more marker to set the second highest amount of 20+ goal scorers in franchise history with 10 different skaters (record – 12 in 85-86)

WHO TO WATCH: Tigers – Chad Butcher: Coming down to the last 2 games of the season, Butcher needs 2 points to crack 100 and has recorded 10 points in the 5 games against Lethbridge this season. Canes – Stuart Skinner– The big goaltender has been solid in net for the Hurricanes having won 13 of his last 17 starts. Skinner has the second most wins in the WHL (34) and second most minutes played (3304)

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: It was the final game of the season for the Tigers as they hosted Lethbridge during the 2011-12 season. A back and forth affair had the Tigers up 4-2 into the middle of the period until the Hurricanes scored two quick goals to end the frame. Hunter Shinkaruk buried a hat trick in the period on a power play, notching his 49th goal on the season. Matt Konan scored in the third to put Medicine Hat up but Lethbridge scored with 16 seconds left to force overtime. The game went to an 8 person shootout with the Canes prevailing 6-5.

NHL DRAFTED / SIGNED PLAYERS: Matt Bradley (Montreal Canadiens), Nick Schneider (Calgary Flames), John Dahlstrom (Chicago Blackhawks), David Quenneville (New York Islanders)

by Ryan Plysuik

GAME NOTES: Tigers open home-and-home against ‘Canes to wrap up season

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