Thursday, March 31, 2016

Evicted! Edited With the Tigers Reponse Below

Re-Edited: With the Tigers Reponse

http://chattelevision.ca/__news/city-serves-tigers-eviction-notice/

The City served the Medicine Hat Tigers an eviction notice today.  They have repeated numerous times on their facebook page that this is not an April Fool's Joke.

A quote from the article above

Right before training camp started in August, a temporary access agreement was signed by SMG and the team. The city says over the course of the season, that agreement was renewed 11 times, with the last such agreement expiring March 24. Clugston says they hoped there would be a last minute deal, but the majority of council is on board with this decision.


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The Medicine Hat Tigers Response
http://www.tigershockey.com/article/whl-disappointed-with-city-decision

The financial terms of the agreement were settled in June 2015; however the City of Medicine Hat and SMG have been continually looking to claw back what was originally agreed upon. The Medicine Hat Tigers have been dealing with SMG almost daily for months to finalize this deal. On a conference call last week both parties agreed to the final issues. The Tigers then signed the contract on March 24th, 2016 believing the matter was concluded. However, once again the City and SMG decided to make changes and not to honor what was agreed to earlier that week, a trend that has become too common in these negotiations.

Although the team is not obligated to do so, in a gesture of good faith, the Tigers have paid their rent at the Canalta Centre earlier this season. Meanwhile all revenues that are owed to the team have not been paid by SMG.


Thoughts
So It appears the WHL has been working with both sides and an agreement is still not in place. Previous comments on this blog have stated one of the biggest disagreements causing an issue is: Who pays for the dressing rooms? It is a significant chunk of change.

The Tigers position says they have had agreements, but the agreements have been changed multiple times at the last minute.

I find it hard to beleive that if your talking everyday to each other, that each side still has communication issues. Sounds fishy from both sides...


Good News

Nick Schneider
Nick Schneider made his pro debut yesterday night with the Stockton Heat of the AHL.  Starter Kevin Poulin had an injury and the flames decided to go with the young 18yr old callup.

Here is the Game Boxscore
http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1015691

Here is his aftergame interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkWpCAD04j4

Schneider was listed as the Games 3rd star, stopping 34 of 37 shots in a 4-2 Loss to the San Diego Gulls.  The gulls have a .600 winning percentage, while Stockton dropped down to .500.

Hunter Shinkaruk
Shinkaruk scored his first goal in the NHL. He deflected a puck into the net. The Flames lost 8-3. Here is the video
https://www.nhl.com/video/t-279611060/c-43104703

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Tiger Season Comes To An End

A 6-4 Loss to the Oil Kings in Game 73.

A Disapointing Ending.  6-0 Dominance in the regular season. One Game, Winner take all loss.

I guess the game tonight seemed kinda similar to how their overall season played out. A quick 2-0 lead to start the game. Followed by some goaltending and Special Teams troubles. A valiant comeback that had the arena rocking. Then a PP goal did them in


13 Season Playoff Streak
The Loss tonight ends the Tigers 13 season in a row playoff streak. It's been 13 years since their was no playoff hockey in April.  It will be only the 3rd time in 13 years the Tigers haven't advanced to Round 2 of the WHL playoffs.
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Draft Lottery
The Tigers have a 95% chance at the 5th overall pick. They have a 5% chance at the 3rd pick and can only move up if they win the lottery.

Good Luck to the 20 Year Olds who are moving on in Ty Stanton, Mack Shields, Brian Williams, as well as Austin Lotz

More Later

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Tigers Force One Game Playoff

The Tigers Did It!!!! They forced a 1 game playoff, which will be Held Tuesday night in Medicine Hat against the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Edmonton was creamed by Red Deer 7-2, the Tigers Defeat Lethbridge 4-2


Edmonton crawled into the post season with 10 points in their last 15 games = .333% winning percentage.

The Tigers recouped 21/30 points in their last 15 = .700%
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The Tigers went 6-0 against the OIl Kings during the Season, however the last couple games have been extremely close

Tickets
Season Ticket Holders can pick up their tickets at the Canalta Centre Sunday march 20-21 from 9am-6pm. Tickets go on sale to the General Public Tuesday @ 9am.

The Winner of this one game playoff will face the Brandon Wheat Kings in a 2-3-2 playoff format.

Friday, March 18, 2016

1 Game Left

Unfortunately the Hurricanes Downed the Tigers 9-3 Friday night In Lethbridge. 3 of the Hurricanes goals were empty net goals.

Hurricanes 17yr old goaltender Stuart Skinner scored an empy net goal, after the Tigers pulled Schneider when they were down 7-3.

The win for the Hurricanes also Clinched the Central Division. I don't think many expected them to do that at the start of the season.
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For the Tigers it means tomorow nights' game in Medicine Hat is a must win. They must also rely on Red Deer to Defeat Edmonton.

If the Tigers win, and IF Edmonton loses, their would be a one game playoff tuesday night in Medicine Hat.




Friday, March 11, 2016

Playoff Chances Updated

From February 3rd

"If Regina or Edmonton doesn't falter the Tigers need to win @ a .700 rate. which is essentially pulling a rabbit out of the net at this point in the season."

Since Then
Edmonton has 12 points in 14 games...Keeping their same rate, but a tiny bit lower than my math predictions which estimated them at a .500 rate.

The Tigers went 15 points in 15 games (.500) rate. It is well  below the needed target of .700
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What That Means
The Tigers have only made a small gain.

The Good News is that in their last 10 games, they are playing at a .750 rate. If they continue that rate, they have a shot at making the playoffs.

They were pretty much on the border of no return, before pulling off 15/20 points.

Schedules Remaining
Tigers:  KTN( H,A) CGY(A), Leth(H,A)
Edmonton: CGY(H,A) Leth(A) ktn(A), RD(H,A)

Both teams play 3 games in 3 nights this weekend, and again could potentially harbor a big swing. The Tigers could both leapfrog Edmonton or become eliminated completely.

3.5 Edmonton wins or Tiger losses will equal elimination.
Edmonton has a tough schedule, but the Tigers do as well.

Friday, March 4, 2016

WoWaWeeWah! Tigers Defeat Oil Kings 5-4

The Tigers defeated Edmonton 5-4 Tonight!

The Tigers scored 2 goals in the last 1:38 to tie and then win the game.
They sit 4 points back of edmonton with 7 games remaining.

The Tigers plays swift saturday and could close within 2 points, with Edmonton playing saskatoon monday.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Scoreboard Watching - Big Week

Interesting Week
This week and weekend will get very interesting. If the stars align their is potential for a massive swings in the standings.. If we look at the extremes where one team does all the winning and the other does all the losing, the Tigers could potentially either close to a 2 point gap, or become 1 point away from elimination.

Week/Weekend Schedules (including rare monday games)
Tigers Play: Ktn(W), Edm, Swift
Edmonton Plays: Tigers,Sask
Saskatoon Plays: Brn(L), Leth, Koot, EDM.
Swift Plays: RD(L), MH, Reg, MJ

IF IF IF..... the Tigers can win against Kootenay(3-0 Win) and Edmonton on friday. They would potentially be 4 points back with 7 games remaining. If the stars align perfectly and Saskatoon beats Edmonton and the Tigers beat swift, that would turn to a 2 point gap.

Their is a glimmer of hope and that depends on this week. Biggest week of the season so far. The Game against Edmonton on Friday could potentially be the "turning point" in both teams' bids for the playoffs.

Potential 2-3-4 way Race
It is unlikely to happen, but their is potential that this gap could suddenly become a 3 or 4 team race, with 4 teams separated by 3 points or less. Edmonton could very well win both games and almost cement their spot as well.