Friday, February 29, 2008

Tigers hit 2 game skid

Feb 27th the tigers lost 6-4 to the kootenay Ice.

The tigers had built up a 3-1 lead. Had a 2 man advantage one for 2 minute, and the other a 7 minute powerplay. However it was kootenay who scored, when Steve Dasilva potted a shorthanded goal. Kootenay picked up momemtum from this and scored 4 straight goals to take the lead, and held on to win the game.

Dasilva ended up with a 4 goal, 5 point night and it vaulted them up 2 pts ahead in the standings.


February 29th
Saskatoon vs Medicine Hat

Now this game was on shaw cable, but i didn't get a chance to watch it. In short the tigers scored 3 unanswered goals to tie the game late in the third period, only to have saskatoon score with 3 seconds left on the clock. What a bummer

With the 2 game slid we still currently sit 5th in the division. Home ice is still in reach, but we now have everyone breathing down on the tigers necks. Here's a look at our closest opponents remaining games. They all close the season with a head to head matchup with a close rival.

Kootenay Games
Tri-Cities x1
Calgary x2 (Close the season)
Red Deer x2
Lethbridge x1
Swift x1

Moose Jaw Games
Lethbridge x1
Swift x3 (CLose the Season)
Brandon x1
Regina x1
Edmonton x1
P.A x1
Saskatoon x1

Brandon Games
Calgary x1
Moose Jaw x1
Regina x2 (close the season)
Swift x1
Saskatoon x1
Edmonton x1
P.A x1

Tiger Games

P.A x1
Edmonton x2
Calgary x1
Red Deer x1
Lethbridge x2(Close the season )

Go Tigers Go!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Tigers squeak out a 3-1 win

On a night where lethbridge, moose jaw and swift curent all won, I could hear more than a few groans when Red Deer scored to tie the game late 1-1. Luckily the tigers managed to score with a few minutes left to win the game.

Yashar Farmanara had yet another breakaway and managed to not score for about the 10th time in the last 10 games. Farmanara received a gift when the Rebel Defender fell over his own feet giving him a clear shot at the net. However Yashar also managed to trip himself up not even getting shot on the net. He's due for one soon.

HUGE game tonight! Possible playoff preview, the tigers take on the Kootenay Ice. Big 4 point game, both teams have been hot lately. This game is doubly important in case they finish the season with the same amount of points, whoever wins this game wins the season series as well.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

2 Big Road Wins

3-2 Overtime victory over Swift Current.
4-2 Victory over Calgary.

Both wins come on the road, both games Ryan Holfeld was named the third star, and both games were very tough wins. Didn't listen to the radio, but from the looks of things the tigers defensive play managed to hold off a surging bronco team in the third period. The tigers let another shorthanded goal in against calgary. Jerrid Sauer looked like he stepped it up, scoring a goal adding 2 assists with being named the games first star, in calgary.

Weekend PLAYOFF WATCH:
Unfortunately the Kootenay Ice also won both their games so we remain 2 points behind them in 5th with 2 games in hand. Lethbridge managed to gain 2 points out of 4 on the weekend so we creep up to 4 points behind them, with lethbridge having 1 game in hand. Brandon split their weekend games, and fall to 3 points back. Moose jaw took 3 out of 4 points on the weekend and fall to 5 points back with 1 game in hand.

Next UP:
Red Deer @ Medicine Hat

Red Deer managed to take 3 points out of 4 (win and shootout loss) vs Lethbridge without Brandon Sutter,(flu) and Landon Ferraro(ribs), in their second game.

Medicine Hat is 4-0 vs red deer in the season series, but history has shown their no easy team to defeat late in the season.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Tigers take on the broncos tonight. 12 games left in the season, and only 22 days to play them in. With the standings being so close, I guess you could say playoff time has come early.

6 of their last 12 are vs non-playoff bound teams. 8 games are on the road and 4 games are at home. In order to capture a first round home ice advantage they will have to do better than MJ, Brandon,Swift, and Kootenay. They do have a little bit of control over where they finish, providing those 4 teams don't go on a season ending unbeaten streak.

There is an outside chance to catch lethbridge but I'm thinking the tigers would pretty much have to go on a 11-1 swing in order to do that, and hope lethbridge would only win 8 out of their last 13, or less. Possible? yes, but unlikely, although it would be nail-biting exciting, if those last 2 games vs lethbridge could decide it. Most likely they will be really important points to catch home-ice.

Colton Grant's end to end shorthanded goal made the #3 spot on the whl's weekly top 5 goals.
Heres the link to it!

http://whl.ca/video/index.php?team_id=&game_id=&video_id=154&page=1

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Hot Hot Keet? - Guitar Hero

Found this the other day while browsing youtube videos. When Matt Keetley was up with the flames, they had a little guitar hero competition. He made it to their semi-final before getting "smoked". Something a little different to say the least.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Monday Morning Punch

A Memorable Game in Recent Tiger History
The Night was March 5, 2005 Tigers 5 Hurricanes 2

This game marks as my second favorite game in the last 10 years. After building a commanding 5-2 lead, the game turned nasty. A line brawl, sucker-punches, knee-on-knee hits, football like tackles, one punch knockouts, and a legendary goalie fight Between Matt Keetley and Aaron Sorochan ensued.

Heres a clip! The "Good stuff" Happens around the 1:50 mark.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Here is former tiger Derek Dorsett taking on Nicholas Blanchard of the Albany River Rats on January 13th 2008. Nice Bout!




His most recent fight, Dorsett takes on Brian Lee of the Binghamton Senators.

Game 60 Vs Brandon

The Tigers officially sealed a playoff Spot, and kept themselves in the leaders spot for home ice advantage. It was really, a can't lose game. With Brandon one point behind us in the standings, a loss would have had the Tigers plummet to 7th place. Brandon had a few key players out with injuries, it didn't show in the first period.

The Tigers started out very flat footed. Brandon had them on their heels for the first 15 minutes of the first period. Ryan Holfeld made his second "oops" in as many games. Stopping the puck at the side of the net, Holfeld passed the puck with his glove into the corner, right on the tape of a Wheat King Player. He one-time passed it over to Jordan Hale sitting alone in front, and he made no mistake of potting his 2nd career whl goal. Brandon Took the Lead 1-0.

A few minutes later the momentum swung when some Hard work by Colton Grant payed off. No he didnt get a goal or assist on the next goal, but he probably should have. Chad Erb nailed him twice along the boards, instead of taking his time to get up, he bounced up put on the jets, and tripped over a pair of wheatking sticks intertangled, resulting in a Medicine Hat powerplay. Right as the powerplay ticked off the clock Jarred Sauer directed a nice shot towards the net, and Bretton Cameron pounced on the rebound. 1-1 Tie Game.

Highlight Goal of the Season Candidate? Colton Grant took a page out of Darren Helms playbook, and completely undressed Former Tiger Matt lowry, and Brandon Defender Colby Rowak, to score an unbelievable shorthanded goal. For once the tigers weren't the team that was scored on shorthanded.

Brandon had thier chances, but Ryan Holfeld was playing some good hockey. He was cutting the angles real well, and playing the 2on1's like it was a set drill in practice. He earned the first star tonight.

IN the third period Wacey Hamilton pounced on a rebound shot on the powerplay to get that ever so important "Insurance" Goal, and Micheal A'hlen salted the game away with an Empty netter. Final Score 4-1 Tigers over Brandon

3 stars were
1. M.H - 31 Ryan Holfeld
2. M.H - 28 Bretton Cameron
3. M.H - 12 Colton Grant

Pretty much agree here. I would have swapped the 2nd and third star, but they both played well.

Tiger Thoughts: Putting Jerrid Sauer on the back-end is turning into a really good move. He still makes a few mistakes every now and then, but he's developing a good patience back there, and he has the stamina and experience to be our #1 guy. Through the first 40 or so games he only had 6 points, he has doubled that playing defense in the next 16 games or so(Can't remember exactly but close enough).

Colton Grant: At the beginning of the year it appeared as though he was turning into a "matt Lowry" type situation. He was playing ok but he wasn't playing with the fire he had been during the previous season, and slowly fading into the background. However in these last 20 games he has sure turned his game around quick. He has been one of the most consistent tigers on the ice and is making good plays happen. Keep your eye on him next game and watch his work ethic he has impressed me lately, escpecially when he makes plays like he did tonight.

Ryan Holfeld: Official Number 1 goalie yet? Thomas Vosvrada has had his confidence shattered a couple times during the season, and Holfeld hadn't exactly been playing consistently either. Earlier in the season it was a coin flip on who would let in some weaker goals. However Holfeld has played pretty well lately, and yet Vosvrada has still let in some weaker goals. I think Vosvrada certainly has potential to be a number 1, but I'm wondering whether or not that potential will come out before it possibly becomes too late for him.


This end of the year race is gonna be a burnburner. One loss in a 72 game schedule could very well be the difference between home ice advantage come playoff time and the 8th seed. 4 home games and 8 road games left in the season.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Former Tigers - Where are they now

For my first blog on this site, I thought I'd try and find an updated list of former Medicine Hat Tigers currently playing hockey around the world. I compiled a pretty big list. Everyone that I could remember, and scoured a bunch of stats sites, I wouldn't doubt that i missed a couple.
Its was pretty difficult to get stats for players in europe, and some sites are unreadable.

The players stats that I couldn't get from the league web page or team webpage, I linked to hockeydb.com

THe links next to the players names are direct links to the players stats page from their current team as of February 16th 2008.

NHL
Clarke MaCarthur - Buffalo Sabres
Jay Bouwmeester - Florida Panthers
Stefan Myer - Florida Panthers
Cam Barker - Chicago Blackhawks
Kris Russel - Columbus Blue Jackets
Derek Boogard - Minnesota Wild
Vernon Fiddler - Nashville Predators
Ryan Hollweg - New York Rangers
Joffrey Lupul - Philadelphia Flyers
Trevor Linden - Vancouver Canucks
Chris Osgood - Detroit Red Wings
Jason Chimera - Columbus Blue Jackets
Rob Niedermayer - Anahiem Ducks

A.H.L
Steve Regier - Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Darren Helm - Grand Rapid Griffins
Micheal sauer - Hartford Wolfpack
Darren Reid - Philadelphia Phantoms
Sean Curry - Providence Bruins
Matt Keetley - Quad City Flames
Derek Dorsett - Syracuse Crunch

ECHL
Ryan Petz - Played a few game For Augusta Lynx
Martin Kubaliak - Bakersfield Condors
Jarret Lukin - Florida Everblades
Kevin Nastiuk - Florid Everblades
Gord Baldwin - Las Vegas Wranglers
Steve Marr - Pensacola Ice Pilots
Chris Stevens - Phoenix Roadrunners
Ryan Kinasewich - Utah Grizzlies
Chris St. Jaques - Victoria Salmon Kings
Phil Cole - Stockton Thunder

CHL - Central Hockey League
David Schlemko - Arizona Sun Dogs
Lee Svangstu - Arizona Sun Dogs
Henry Kuster - Austin Ice Bats
Paul elliot - Laredo Bucks
Cody Blanshan - Mississippi River Kings
Sean Conner - Oklahoma City Blazers
Brett Jaegar - Texas Brahmas
Warren McCutcheon - Tulsa Oilers

CIS - Canadian University Hockey
Ryan Stempfle - Alberta Golden Bears
Kyle Pess - Alberta Golden Bears
Paul Gentile - Calgary Dino's
Adam Redmond - Calgary Dino's
Kyle Howarth - Manitoba
Curtis Austring - Saskatchewan
Mitch Bartley - UBC
Brett Robertson - St. Francis

EIHL - Bmibaby Elite Ice Hockey League -United Kingdom
Shaun Sutter - Belfast
Brad Voth - Cardiff

Del - German Elite Hockey League
Yannic Seidenberg - ERC Ingolstadt
Tyson Mulock - Eisbären Berlin
Adam Courchaine - Füchse Duisburg
Chad Bassen - Straubing Tiger

Austrian EBHL Erste Bank Eishockey Liga
Josh Green - Red Bull Salzburg

Elitserien - Swedish Elite League
Jaroslave Obsut - Lulea HF
Martin Cibak - Sodertalje Sk

Czech Elite League
Marek Curilla - Kladno
Roman PSurny - Zlin ZPS HC
Micheal Psurny - Zlin ZPS HC
Vladmir Sicak - Ceske Budejovice HC

Swiss A League
Stacy Roest - Rapperswil-Jona

Added a couple links to the side as well as game scores. The links go directly to the whl gamesheets.