DESJARDINS REACHES 400 WINS IN TIGER COLOURS
Medicine Hat, AB – After the Medicine Hat Tigers 6-3 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Dec. 10, Tigers Head Coach & General Manager Willie Desjardins (Climax, SK) has reached the 400 win mark in Tigers Coaching History.
Desjardins, 65, has spent 13 seasons with the Tigers Organization in two different tenures in the WHL, the first spanning from 2003 to 2010, where he won two league championships along with two trips to the Memorial Cup before embarking on his NHL Coaching journey which started with the Dallas Stars as an assistant coach from 2010 to 2011 before being hired as the Head Coach of the Vancouver Canucks for three seasons before becoming a Head Coach again with the Los Angeles Kings in 2018.
Desjardins’ coaching career saw plenty of opportunities to coach Team Canada at various international events including coaching the 2009 & 2010 World Junior teams that won both gold and silver medal. Mr. Desjardins also coached Canada at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, Korea leading them to a bronze medal as well as the 2018 Spengler Cup winning the gold medal.
Tigers Owner/Governor Darrell Maser says Desjardins has played a vital role in Tigers History.
“On behalf of the entire Medicine Hat Tigers organization, we’d like to congratulate Willie on winning his 400th game as Head Coach of the Tigers. It is a remarkable achievement for a man who has given everything he has into making the Tigers who we are today both on and off the ice.”
Desjardins started his WHL coaching career with the Saskatoon Blades on an interim basis winning 10 games before eventually coming on as the Tigers bench boss. He recorded his 400th win as in the Tigers 9-1 opening night win against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on September 24th and stands with a overall coaching record of 410-308-64.
The Tigers organization would like to congratulate Willie and his family for his dedication to the Tigers and the City of Medicine Hat since his first win as Tigers Head Coach on September 24, 2002 in a 4-3 win at Saskatoon to now continuing the Tigers tradition of excellence in hockey both on and off the ice.
In the coming days the Tigers will honour Desjardins’ 400th Tiger win at an upcoming home game.
