Experience gap could yet pay off for Brandon
The Brandon Wheat Kings have been here before. The reigning WHL champions escaped a 2-0 deficit in the first round of last year’s postseason before punching their ticket to the Memorial Cup, and most would agree their biggest edge in their Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Medicine Hat Tigers lies in a wealth of playoff experience.
“It kind of seems like a thing of ours, going down 2-0 in the first series,” said Wheat Kings forward Tyler Coulter. “We’ve done it before and we’ll just try and do it again in Game 3.”
“We’ve been in this position before and we know how to handle it,” added Brandon’s Connor Gutenberg. “I think we’re not too worried. Obviously we have to get the next game but I think we know what to do.”
But on the other side of the puck, the opposite seems to ring just as true. In the first two games of the series, seven of Medicine Hat’s 12 playoff rookies notched their first career points in the postseason — combining for a total of 19 in the two games — while goaltender Michael Bullion was triumphant in his playoff debut and tacked on another big win Saturday.
Tigers forward Max Gerlach says there’s no question, their lack of playoff experience is a driving force behind the Tigers this postseason. After surging up the standings only to fall short in a playoff tiebreaker at the hands of the Edmonton Oil Kings, the Tigers have a different kind of experience, one fueled by a longing for this very chance.
“Narrowly missing the playoffs last year, we came back this year really hungry for an opportunity. We all want to win. We’re playing for each other and we want everybody to succeed. You can see that with everybody stepping up and playing well. It’s all these guys in the locker room who haven’t played in the playoffs, they want to show they can thrive in this environment, and we all want to do it for each other.”
Defenceman David Quenneville agreed.
“I think that itch and drive helped us so much throughout the regular season to be able to be focused on what our goal was, which was to get to the post-season and win a banner,” said Quenneville, who had just one game of playoff experience before Friday’s series opener against Brandon. “Both those things have been accomplished and now day-by-day we’re battling through the post-season.”
And day-by-day, Medicine Hat is gathering more playoff experience of its own, and who better to take it from than the reigning champions?
“I think that can go a long way,” said Quenneville. “It’s really important to know that you’ve had the toughest battles and you’ve won.”