GAME 37: DEC. 31 VS. MOOSE JAW

@ WARRIORS: Tonight will mark the first meeting of the season between the Warriors and Tigers and comes on the final day of the 2015 calendar. Moose Jaw will be without their leading scorer and team captain Brayden Point, as he is over in Finland with Team Canada for the World Juniors. Warriors forward Jiri Smejkal is also in Finland, representing his country, the Czech Republic. Last season Tigers goaltender Nick Schneider went 2-0-0-0 vs. Moose Jaw with a 1.50 GAA and 0.941 SV % and Chad Butcher led the team in scoring with 4 points in 4 games.  

 

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP:

• Tonight marks the first time the Tigers will see their former teammate Dryden Hunt, who was dealt to the Warriors prior to the season starting. In 34 games with Medicine Hat last season, Hunt had 36 points and added 7 more in 10 games during the playoffs
• Tigers forward Matt Bradley has points in 6 of his last 7 games, including a 3 game goal scoring streak. Over the 7 games Bradley has recorded (5G, 3A)
• Max Gerlach and Chad Butcher are also is riding a short 3 game point streaks, having recorded 4 points and 3 points respectively over that span

 

2015-16 WHL RANKINGS: Record (12-20-3-1).        Central Div. – 5th     Eastern Con. – 10th    Home – (7-10-1-1)   Away (5-10-2-0)         

 

TIGERS FAST FACTS:

• Moose Jaw is the only team in the WHL to have not scored a shorthanded goal this season, despite being short a man 133 times so far, last year the Warriors had 7 shorties all year
• Medicine Hat is 5-4-1-0 in their last 10 games after winning 4 of 5 before losing their last two games against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Moose Jaw however is coming off a split of their two games after the holiday break, beating Swift Current and losing to Brandon
• Tigers forward Max Gerlach scored his 20^th goal of the season Sunday, marking the most for a US born rookie Tiger player since Emerson Etem in 2009-2010

 

TIGER RECORD: The Medicine Hat Tigers have had good teams throughout their 45 year history and in year 46 with their new home built and a fresh young crop of players set to make their mark, the Tabbies record falls short of the playoffs by just 6 points heading into tonight. However over the past 15 seasons, the Tigers have only been under .500 after 35 games 5 times. Three of those times came in the early part of the new millennium as the 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons all saw a sub .500 records with the lowest win total coming in 2000-01. The next time for the Tabbies was during the 2012-13 season when Medicine Hat went 15-18-2-0 over 35 games. The Tigers would end the season 36-33-2-1 and make the playoffs as the 7^th seed. While this season has boasted more losses at the 35 game mark than 2001, the opportunity for playoffs is still in the sights.  

 

MILESTONES APPROACHING: The Tigers have some milestones approaching over the next few weeks; take a look at who’s close to reaching a big moment in their WHL career:

• Chad Butcher needs 3 games to reach 200 in his career and will become the 80^th player in franchise history to do so
• Mark Rassell needs 4 games to reach 100 in his career becoming the 247^th player to do so in Tigers history
• Cole Sanford needs 3 assists to pass Jay Bouwmeester for 50^th all time in franchise history
• Ty Stanton needs 2 games to reach 200 in his career and will become the 79^th player in franchise history to do so
• David Quenneville needs 3 games to reach 100 in his career and will become the 246^th player to do so in Tigers history

 

2015-16 CLUB LEADERS:

Goals (20) Max Gerlach                       Assists (26) Chad Butcher      Points (36) Chad Butcher

PIM (83) Connor Clouston              Plus/Minus (+5) Connor Clouston     Wins (7) Nick Schneider

 

SPECIAL TEAMS:

• POWER PLAY: 28/157 – 17.8% (ranked 18th in WHL)
• AWAY – 8/77 – 10.4% (ranked 22nd in WHL)

• PENALTY KILL: 116/155 – 74.8% (ranked 21st in WHL)
• AWAY – 68/87 – 78.2% (ranked 14th in WHL)

 

TIGERS ROSTER MAKEUP: The Tigers currently have 22 players on the roster – 2 Goaltenders, 7 Defenseman, 13 forwards

AGE BREAKDOWN: 3 – 20 year olds, 5 – 19 year olds, 7 – 18 year olds, 5 – 17 year olds, and 2 – 16 year olds

 

NHL DRAFTED / SIGNED PLAYERS: Matt Bradley (Montreal Canadiens), Nick Schneider (Calgary Flames)

 

ATB FINANCIAL – TIGERS BROADCAST:Listen to legendary Bob Ridley broadcast all Tigers games on CHAT 94.5 FM. Bob Ridley has called all but one Tigers’ Game in Team history since the Medicine Hat Tigers came into the league in 1970.

 

TIGERS SCHEDULE:

LAST FIVE REGULAR SEASON	RESULTS:	NEXT FIVE:	TIME:
Dec. 15 @ Edmonton Oil Kings	5-4 WIN	@ Moose Jaw Warriors Thurs. Dec. 31	6:00 PM (MT)
Dec. 18 VS. Calgary Hitmen	2-0 LOSS	VS. Edmonton Oil Kings Sat. Jan. 2	7:30 PM (MT)
Dec. 19 @ Calgary Hitmen	7-5 WIN	VS. Moose Jaw Warriors Tues. Jan. 5	7:00 PM (MT)
Dec. 27 VS. Lethbridge Hurricanes	5-4 OTL	@ Saskatoon Blades Fri. Jan. 8	6:05 PM (MT)
Dec. 29 @ Lethbridge Hurricanes	5-2 LOSS	@ Prince Albert Raiders Sat. Jan. 9	6:00 PM (MT)