By Erin Schwab - Medicine Hat Tigers

GAME NOTES: Tigers welcome Wheat Kings for pivotal Game 2

Mar 25, 2018 | 12:07 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The Medicine Hat Tigers host the Brandon Wheat Kings for the second game of the first round of playoffs. The Tigers took game 1 with a score of 7-2 with seven different players scoring. During the regular season, every contest between these two clubs was decided in overtime, with Brandon winning 3 of the 4.

Who to Watch

Medicine Hat Tigers – Kristians Rubins is the smooth skating and great puck handling defenceman on the Tigers’ blue line. Rubins sees the ice well, reads and reacts to the play and he is very fluid in all aspects of the game. The 20-year-old Latvian born player had three points (1G, 2A) in game one of the playoff series. Look for him to make an impact on both ends of the ice tonight.

Brandon Wheat Kings – Luka Burzan is a well rounded forward who joined the Wheat Kings before trade deadline. He scored 9 goals and picked up 12 assists in 30 games played with his new team. Burzan scored one of Brandon’s lone goal during game 1.

Regular Season Memorable Moments

HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW

Summer pool hours extended and discounts applied as Big Marble Go Centre upgrades start

13h ago

Medicine Hat company drawing in clients with witty signage

Apr 16, 2024

Medicine Hat College holding event for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness day

Apr 16, 2024

Dawson Heathcote scored a hat trick in his rookie season October 20th, 2017 vs Kootenay ICE.

After beating the Red Deer Rebels at home on December 30th, 2017, Shaun Clouston became the winningest coach in franchise history with 324 wins, surpassing former coach and mentor Willie Desjardins’ mark of 323.

David Quenneville recorded his 197th career point as a Medicine Hat Tiger February 9th, 2018, against the Calgary Hitmen, setting a new franchise record for points by a defenceman, passing Kris Russell’s previous mark of 196 points.

Mark Rassell scored his 100th Career WHL Goal February 24, 2018 vs the Wheat Kings. He is the 31st Tiger to score 100 goals in their career

Mark Rassell scored his 50th goal of the season March 9, 2018 vs. the Edmonton Oil Kings.

David Quenneville was named to the Eastern Conference 1st All-Star Team.

Career Highs

Mark Rassell and David Quenneville had banner years for the Orange and Black while tying for top point producing Tigers with 80 points each. Rassell scored 50 goals and picked up 30 assists while Quenneville netted 26 goals and had 54 assists.

Six other Tigers also reached career highs in goals and assists this season including:

Ryan Chyzowski (21G, 31A)

Ryan Jevne (20G, 27A)

Gary Haden (17G, 25A)

Jaeger White (10G, 24A)

Dylan MacPherson (4G, 18A)

Dalton Gally (2G, 10A)

Tyler Preziuso and Kristians Rubins reached career highs in goals and points this season. Preziuso scored 17 goals, combined with his 16 assists, he reached a career high of 33 points. Rubins netted 7 goals himself and assisted on another 20 goals for a career high of 27 points. James Hamblin reached career highs in assists and points this season. Hamblin nearly doubled his assist production picking up 43 on the year and along with his 21 goals, he reached a career high of 64 points.

New Kids on the Block

Hayden Ostir scored a total of 9 goals and picked up 17 assists this season, 6 goals and 14 assists while wearing Orange and Black.

Elijah Brown became a Tiger before the trade deadline and scored more goals (7) in Orange and Black than in his career as Thunderbird (6).

Bryan Lockner reached career highs in goals (14) and assists (12) this season. Lockner joined the Tigers at trade deadline and scored 7 goals while picking up 7 assists in Orange and Black.

Youth Movement

Our Tigers rookies contributed to the success of the season putting up a combined total of 25 goals and 65 assists during the regular season.

Josh Williams 11G, 9A

Dawson Heathcote 6G, 3A

Henry Rybinski 3 G, 9 A

Cole Clayton 2G, 5A

Linus Nassen 1G, 25A

Baxter Anderson 1G, 4 A

Joel Craven 1G, 6A

Trevor Longo 0G, 4A

Protecting the Paint

During the regular season:

Jordan Hollett sported a 16-13-4 record with a 3.43 GAA and a .896 SV%

Michael Bullion had a 20-15-3 record with a 3.19 GAA and a 0.891 SV%

During the playoffs:

Jordan Hollett 1-0-0 record with 2.00GAA and 0.941 SV%

Injury Report:

Linus Nassen – upper body (day to day)

Dylan MacPherson – lower body (week to week)

Mason Shaw – lower body (week to week)

James Hamblin – upper body (indefinite)