Tigers Vs Saskatoon
The Game had an olden days type of feel to it, as the blades have long been ousted from the playoffs and were playing for pride. I thought it was classy of them wearing their old blades jerseys.
The Tigers were still in the running to capture a Central Division Banner so they still had something to prove. The game turned out to be a pretty physical affair, with a lot of rough stuff after the whistle. The Tigers were hoping to come out unscathed with 2 points, but the victory tonight proved to be very costly.
Dryden Hunt was involved in an after whistle scrum and it looked like a few players fell on top of him. When he emerged from the scrum he was holding his arm/shoulder and skated gingerly back to the bench and didn't return. Chad Butcher also took a hit to the head and missed a couple shifts, but returned to the game.
Tyler Lewington Suspended
Tyler Lewington was very angry at the blades players after Linden Penner was pushed into the blades goaltender on a scoring chance. Lewington was involved in a fight at the goalmouth but the refs broke it up after a couple punches were thrown, he then managed to shake off a ref and then engage another blades player in a small tussle. As a result he was handed 2 fighting majors, an instigator, a 10 minute misconduct, and a game misconduct. The Game misconduct is his 3rd of the season and warrants an automatic 1 game suspension. It is possible he picks up another game due to his actions in the game.
He had a crazy night. 1 Goal, 2 assists, +4 rating, and 32 PM's.
Marek Langhamer played the first 2 periods and Nick Schneider played the 3rd period. The Tigers ended the game on a 7 minutes penalty Kill.
Game Giveaways
The Game featured some beach-balls getting tossed around when the Tigers scored. The Tiger Girls were giving away lots of hats and shirts.
Their was a chance to shoot for $45,000 draw. The fan had to put the puck through a small opening, but didn't manage to pull it off.
The 50-50 was at a record $9491 dollars, which wasn't the season high. The season high was 10,515 but that was only after the previous game prize of $2700 went unclaimed.
Post-Game Ceremony
Their were some 67 alumni at the game and the Tigers honored them one by one, after a small slideshow of pictures. (I think half of them play for the Calgary dinos)
Bob Ridley was the MC, and WHL Commissioner Ron Robison also spoke and made a great impression calling Tiger Fans the greatest fans in the WHL, and spoke about some of the records that are held by Tigers Players.
Brennan Bosch the Game 7 WHL championship double overtime hero also spoke on behalf of the alumni.
Their were some videos of some historical and memorable moments from the past 45 years from the Tigers franchise. Also included were small snippets from current NHL'ers as well as Willie Desjardins, and Trevor Linden on what playing/coaching here meant to them!
At the end a new banner was raised. A banner commemorating the past 45 years of tiger hockey at The Arena. It was a very fun night and hopefully their are at least a couple more months of hockey left in the old barn!
Playoff Opponent
After a 72 game season it is still unknown. The Tigers await the fate of the Hitman vs Kootenay game sunday. If the Hitman fail to get 2 points the Tigers will play Kootenay. If the Hitman beat Kootenay, they will play Kootenay in the playoffs, and the Tigers will face Red Deer.
4 comments:
I liked that they 3rd and 4th line got a lot of time. Loved that both goalies saw ice time - classy move. And some guys really stepped up, like Staples, and played their hearts out. Could not be a better type of emotion to bring into playoffs.
Also classy of the organisation to honor the old tigers and have a bunch of free stuff. They made it a great atmosphere. We are the best fans and we do have the best team.
Would have liked to see them wear retro jerseys for the last game, lucky the refs were out to lunch, cox should have got pinched for being the third man in trying to rescue Sanford. Quite an honorable ceremony after the game we have enjoyed our old barn immensely!!
If that doesn't motivate the boys nothing will.
Hopefully Hunt is ok.
Agree the retro jerseys should have been used.. at least the alumni from their era could have worn them...maybe something to consider for the opening ceremonies?
Nice ceremony, one small nugget of advice is they should move the starting time of that game maybe to 6 PM? I saw many fans with younger ones leaving before it ended with worn out kids in tow on a night I personally didn't want to see end.
Saw a classy move by a Blades player later in the game...puck went into their bench and this player (#26, #28 something like that, grabbed it knocked on the glass and tossed it to a youngster on the other side.
...this countered an old bag lady who grabbed a T-shirt tossed into the crowd and ignored the youngster standing right next to her she grabbed it from.
..and oh yeah one more thing..WTH who are these meatheads getting on the team when the score is 6-0..hoping these people were just over-served at beer stands. .if not get yourselves checked people!!!
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