GAME 71: MAR. 18 VS. LETHBRIDGE

@ HURRICANES: Tonight Medicine Hat will play game six of a seven game season series against their rival, the Lethbridge Hurricanes. This season has seen the Tigers pick up 3 points from the ‘Canes, an overtime loss on December 27^th and a 5-3 victory in their home opener back in September. The two clubs haven’t seen each other since the 2015 calendar, December 29^th, when the Tigers took a 5-3 loss.

 

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP:

• Medicine Hat continues to battle for the final playoff spot with 2 games remaining (including tonight), the Tabbies sit 2 points back of Edmonton, Medicine Hat is 7-2-0-1 down the stretch in their past 10 games
• Lethbridge heads into tonight having lost 3 of their last 5 games and 2 straight overall, they sport a 5-4-0-1 record over their past 10 games and will not be able to take over 1^st overall in the Eastern Conference as Brandon clinched on Tuesday
• Max Gerlach leads all Tigers in scoring against the Hurricanes with 4 points in 5 games this season, while Nick Schneider has faced the ‘Canes in all 5 games, sporting a 1-2-1-0 record and 0.853 save percentage

   

2015-16 WHL RANKINGS: Record (29-36-3-2).       Central Div. – 5th   Eastern Con. – 9th   Home – (16-16-1-2)   Away (13-20-2-0)      

 

TIGERS FAST FACTS:

• Tigers goalie Nick Schneider surpassed the 20 win plateau in the 4-3 victory last Sunday against Calgary for the first time in his career, Schneider is also 8 games away from 100 in his career, making him just the 15^th goaltender in Tigers history with 100 games played
• Brayden Burke leads the Hurricanes in scoring with 106 points, a breakout year, but has 10 points against the Tigers this season including 9 assists, Tyler Wong has a team high 6 goals against the Tigers this year
• Chad Butcher needs 1 more assist to reach 100 in his career, he would be the 61^st Tiger in franchise history to reach that mark

 

TIGERS VS: (BDN 1-3), (CGY 5-1), (EDM 6-0), (EVT 1-0), (KAM 2-0), (KEL 0-3), (KTN 5-1-1), (LETH 1-3-1), (MJ 2-2), (POR 0-1), (PA 1-2-1),   (PG 1-1), (RD 0-5-0-1), (REG 0-3-0-1), (SAS 2-2), (SEA 0-1), (SPO 1-0), (SC 1-3), (TRI 0-1), (VAN 0-2), (VIC 0-2)

 

MARCH 18^th TEAM HISTORY: In the final game of the 2000-01 season the Tigers took on the Hurricanes. In what was a dismal season for the Tabbies, Medicine Hat made a late push, heading into the game unbeaten in 6 games. The game saw 5 fights between the two rivals, Brett Schefflemaier added 13 more penalty minutes to finish the year with 279. The line of Joffrey Lupul, Chris St. Jacques and Ryan Hollweg combined for 12 points with Lupul recording a hat trick (28, 29, 30) and five points overall, on route to a 8-5 victory.

 

WHL PLAYOFFS: The 2015-16 edition of the WHL Playoffs will see the Hurricanes playing their first post season game in 6 years, while the Tigers 13 consecutive seasons in in the balance with a hard push to the end over the final months. This season’s edition of the Tigers joins the 1981-82 edition, at this present time, when they missed the playoffs by just 4 points, the closest race the Tabbies have had in their history.

 

WHO’S HOT: TIGERS: David Quenneville has 22 points in his past 21 games, Chad Butcher has 13 points over a 5 game point streak and Mason Shaw is also on a 5 game point streak, scoring 8 points. HURRICANES: Tyler Wong is on a 13 game point streak recording 21 points over that span, Giorgio Estephan has 10 points over his last 6 games and Stuart Skinner has won 5 of his last 6 starts

 

30 GOAL MARK: Max Gerlach has had a great season in his rookie year; currently leading the Tigers in goals scored and for a while, led all WHLers in power play markers. Last night Gerlach scored his 30^th of the season, becoming the 136^th player in franchise history to reach the mark in a single season. His 30 goals are the most by a Tigers rookie since Emerson Etem had 37 during the 2009-10 season.

 

2015-16 CLUB LEADERS:

Goals (30) Max Gerlach                Assists (45) Chad Butcher            Points (72) Chad Butcher

PIM (122) Connor Clouston      Plus/Minus (+6) Clayton Kirichenko   Wins (20) Nick Schneider

 

SPECIAL TEAMS:

• POWER PLAY: 60/296 – 20.3% (ranked 13th in WHL)
• AWAY–23/151 – 15.2% (ranked 20th in WHL)

• PENALTY KILL: 197/265 – 74.3% (ranked 21st in WHL)
• AWAY– 111/144 – 77.1% (ranked 13th 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:
Mar. 5 VS. Swift Current Broncos	5-3 LOSS	@ Lethbridge Hurricanes Fri. Mar. 18	7:00 PM (MT)
Mar. 9 VS. Prince Albert Raiders	4-3 WIN	VS. Lethbridge Hurricanes Sat. Mar. 19	7:30 PM (MT)
Mar. 11 VS. Kootenay Ice	6-3 WIN
Mar. 12 @ Kootenay Ice	4-3 LOSS
Mar. 13 @ Calgary Hitmen	4-3 WIN