Tigers Shut out Warriors 4-0

Bretton Cameron was scratched due to injury I assume. Although I heard rumours about a flu grasping hold on a couple players.

I thought Tyler Bunz had a strong game tonight earning his second shutout. He looked real confident out there. His body language gave the impression that he wasn't letting anything past him even more so towards the end of the game.

The Warriors had their chances but couldn't capitalize. The warriors had the Tigers on the ropes at times, however I thought the Tigers defenders were doing an excellent job at whacking away rebounds and tieing guys up.

The Tigers defenseman stepped up at key opportunities to score some timely goals. 3 of the 4 Tiger goals were scored by tigers D-MEN.

I thought that Taylor Gal, and Matt MacKay have struggled as of late. They need to pick up their game to provide that depth the Tigers boasted earlier in the season

I thought the Warriors were really throwing their weight around especially in the second period. Kale Kessey took notice and laid out a Moster hit on a warrior defender and then a fight with Dylan McIlrath.


I thought the Tigers played slightly above average overall. They played a very solid first period. I thought the Warriors won the second period and had about 3-4 prime scoring chances in the third period.

The next 2 Tiger Home Games are against the Ice. You could say this is a do or die for Home Ice. A pair of tiger wins against Kootenay would put them 1 point back with the Ice holding 1 game in hand.

The tigers might as well pretend that this is game 6 with kootenay having a 3-2 series lead. Because its a fight for home ice and the Tigers might very well be in this position later down the road.

Pair of Weekend Games

While the Tigers remained Idle during the week. The rebels have managed to catch up in the standings. Red Deer defeated Prince George last night and is now tied with us in 5th place with 74 points each. Red Deer has 1 game in hand.

Tigers vs Moose Jaw
Two struggling teams will take to the ice Saturday in Medicine Hat when Moose Jaw pays a visit. Moose jaw is holding on to the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Warriors are 3-6-0-1 in their last 10 games. They are on their last game of a 7 game road trip which saw them take on the 5 U.S division teams.

I understand that Moose Jaw has a very quick group of forwards, and a pretty good top 2 lines. Sometimes they have difficulty in putting together a full 60 minute effort every game


Tigers Vs Kootenay
The Tigers take on the Kootenay Ice on Sunday. I haven't decided yet but I'm leaning towards skipping the game in favor of watching the Canadian Olympic team take on the U.S.A.

From what I understand Kootenay has developed a bad habit as of late having slow starts out of the gate. The Tigers will need to try and pounce early. Todd Mathews Their starting goaltender is very capable of stealing games.

Injury Situation
The whl website lists both Bretton Cameron and Wacey Hamilton as day-to-day, with shoulder and leg injuries.

Scoreboard Watching

It looks like the Rebels are really making a push to pass the Tigers in the standings.
The rebels are 2 points back with 3 games in hand.

The rebels have a game tonight in Saskatoon a win would tie them with the Tigers in the Standings. The rebels play the Tigers one more time in the regular season

There is still an outside chance of the Tigers catching up to Kootenay in the standings, but they would need to win all 3 games outright against the Ice, and then hope the Ice loose their 2 games in hand.

edit: The rebels got squashed 8-1 by Saskatoon. They remain 2 points back with 2 games in hand.

Wheat Kings Down Tigers 5-1

I didn't hear what happened to Bretton Cameron but he was a scratch for tonight's game. Apparently Wacey Hamilton left the game in the third period with a leg injury

I wasn't expecting the Tigers to win tonight but I'd hope they'd at least make it entertaining. The Tigers appeared to gain a little bit of momentum near the end of the second period, however Brandon scored a quick goal to start the third and they didn't look back.

Willie was trying all sorts of line combos trying to get something going. I thought Brandon completely controlled the game, with the exceptions of 5-6 minutes near the end of the second period Someone call Austin Powers because someone has stolen the Tigers mojo.


I noticed a couple bad habits that they seem to be developing. On the powerplay one person is hanging on to the puck too long letting the other team get their box set after every pass.

Their passing decision have been just terrible. In the offensive zone the unforced errors they are committing is very frustrating to watch.

That's also their third straight game with a too many men on the ice penalty. Something which the Tigers had been fairly good at avoiding.

I think when a team is really struggling offensively they just gotta start throwing everything at the net, looking for rebounds and make it hard for the goalie to see the shot. Eventually something will give way. As a team their confidence looks a little lost. The important thing is to look back after every shift and ask yourself did I keep my feet moving, and give my best effort?

Their are only 10 games left in the regular season.

Broncos Defeat Tigers 4-1

I didn't watch the game, but it was an even 1-1 game until, the broncos broke out of their scoring slump and potted 3 goals in the third period.

That makes just 1 Tiger win in their last 6 games, and it wont get any easier for them Sunday when the Wheat Kings pay a visit. Brandon has been on a hot streak lately earning at least 1 point in each of their last 10 games.

Brandon has a fast aggressive team that keeps coming at you. When they smell blood they will sometimes doubleshift their top 2 lines for extreme pressure. The tigers will get their chances only if they use their quick neutral ice transition game. The Tigers will have to try and limit the panic in their own zone by making sure the puck gets chipped out passed their blueline, and making sure 2 forwards are always helping out backchecking. Adding a few PP goals wouldn't hurt either.

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Scoreboard Watching
The Home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs seems to be slipping away pretty fast. Kootenay has 3 points and 3 games in hand on that last spot. (The Tigers still get to play the Ice 3 times)

Furthermore adding Fuel to the Fire, the Red Deer Rebels have gained a ton of ground on the Tigers. The rebels are 4 points back with 3 games in hand.

As of right now it is impossible to predict who they will play in the first round of the playoffs. If the Tigers play well down the stretch it will probably be kootenay. However if the Tigers play mediocre or poor, it could easily be Brandon, saskatoon or calgary.

Blades Defeat Tigers 5-3

Frustrating game to watch. It seemed like it was just an off night for the forwards, even Linden Vey had a rare bad game. There were a ton of missed passes and they shot themselves in the foot taking unnecessary penalties. Actually I thought the Defensman played pretty well, but the forwards with a couple exceptions played pretty poor.

I was disappointed that Kale Kessey's ice time has been reduced. He rises up the the challenge in physical contests. What happened when he was given a shift on the top line? they scored a goal.

They should bring back that that infamous powerplay when they made that run to the memorial cup, or just start loading up on point shots with traffic because their powerplay has been painful to watch.

These guys look a little worn out to me.....

Tigers Defeat Raiders Handily 6-0

Thoughts
I thought the Tigers looked rather good in the first period. Everyone was working really hard, and for a change they were rewarded with 3 goals in the first period. After that they just set it on Cruise Control. I was especially pleased with Linden Vey's backchecking. Every shift he is the first forward back in the zone.


Tyler Bunz with his first shutout in the whl. Hopefully its a first of many.
I have been pleased with the Performance of Cole Grbavac. A good majority of the battles are won by putting yourself in good body position, and I thought Grbavac displayed that skill off tonight.

I thought the Veteran Players played pretty well. I bet Willie called that Timeout in the third to remind the players that Bunz was still looking for his first shutout.

Tristan King had a very nice goal whacking the puck out of mid-air and into the net. I thought he had a bit of a rough game he got hammered pretty good a couple times, and almost looked like he was being keyed on.

Joey Frazer put the "How do you do" on Raiders Defencemen Brenden Wall, that move was just sick.

Fights
Thomas Carr dropped Yaworski in a second period scrap. Yaworksi got into another fight but I couldn't see anything from my angle, it looked like a lengthy bout. I'll have to watch it on hockeyfights.com when they put it up.

Refs
Gotta give praise where its do and I thought referee Trevor Hanson did a tremendous job. He was communicating with the players, and didn't call penalties for the sake of calling penalties. The other ref in the game was average IMO.

Hitmen Defeat Tigers 2-0

The Tigers just couldn't get anything past Martin Jones, he is playing like a brick wall that absorbs every puck thrown at him.

The Tigers outshot Calgary 11-2 in the third period, but Jones made every stop look routine. It looks like the Tigers used all their goals up beating up on Edmonton and Prince Geeorge last week.

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With the loss tonight it puts the Tigers 2 points behind calgary, and Calgary has 4 games in hand.

If Calgary keeps up their .685 winning percentage the Tigers would have to go undefeated to close the season to catch and pass them. It basically means that the Tigers chance of winning the division is now very faint. (We can Hope that Calgary goes on a losing streak)

It now looks like its more of a question of trying to take Home Ice Advantage from kootenay. Kootenay is essentially just 2.5 games in front of the Tigers, and the Tigers still get to play them 3 times.

Hitmen Defeat Tigers 4-1

I saw quite a few scouts in the stands tonight. I thought it started out as a playoff type game, but the refs called 3 penalties early which I thought were unnecessary. I really disliked the officiating tonight, oddly enough it didn't really effect the outcome of the game. The Hitmen were the better team and deserved the win.

I thought the Tigers were the better team in the first period, but then after that the Hitmen Took control of the game. Whatever their coach said to them in the first Intermission worked. The Hitmen simply outworked the tigers from there on out. I was also impressed with their defensive coverage.

I thought the Bubnick, Shattock, Broda line played a real strong game, I also liked the play of Tyler Fiddler and Kris Foucault, I thought they won a lot of 1on1 puck battles.

I also thought the Hitmen showed a lot of team spirit in the hockey game. When one of their players blocked a key shot on the Penalty Kill their bench erupted in cheers.

For the Tigers I didn't like the play of King, or Kundratek. Kundratek kept getting caught pinching in, and King kept trying to stick handle in the opponents feet. I thought Emerson Etem was also a bit invisible tonight.


An Intersting note: With the Hitmen winning tonight there is a 3 way tie for first in the division. However Calgary and Kootenay have 3 and 4 games in hand. You can never count the tigers out, but unless Kootenay or Calgary falters a bit the tigers might be starting the playoffs on the road.

Linden Vey Player of the Month

Tigers' Linden Vey Named Husky WHL Player of the Month


He was also named the Tigers fans choice player of the month as well as Tiger of the Week


CALGARY, AB. - The Western Hockey League announced today that forward Linden Vey, of the Medicine Hat Tigers, has been named the HUSKY WHL Player of the Month for January.

The 18-year-old forward from Wakaw, Saskatchewan, notched 25 points through the month of January finding the net eight times and accumulating 17 assists to go along with a +4 rating. Vey led all WHL players in scoring through January, picking up points in 13 of his 15 games played, six of which were multi-point nights, including two five-point games, elevating him to the Tigers' scoring lead this season

http://www.tigershockey.com/home/index.php