Power play unit needs to be firing
Get a chance, get it back. That’s Joe Frazer’s power play mantra, and it’s effective simplicity has been paying dividends for the Medicine Hat Tigers.
“When we have the puck we’ve just got to execute the game plan,” said Frazer. “The main thing is we’ve got to get the puck back. So we always stress get a chance, get the puck back, get a chance. The more chances we get the more likely the puck is going to go in.”
The 26-year-old assistant coach has been working with Medicine Hat’s power play since joining the team’s staff in the 2014-15 season. But this year’s unit has been distinctively different, from its simplistic approach to its devastating payoff. The Tabbies finished the regular season with a 29.4 per cent success rate on the power play — just two per cent shy of the Regina Pats for the best in the league. What’s more, they held one of those top two power play spots for almost the entirety of the season, hovering right around 30 per cent the whole time before kicking off the post-season with a 28 per cent man advantage in a fourgame sweep of the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Entering tonight’s Game 7, the Tabbies’ power play has clicked in six of 24 chances this second-round series against Lethbridge, and it’ll be counted on again in the series finale.
“We definitely have focused on it more than we ever have in the past, whether that be meetings or one-on-one for little details and in-game adjustments,” said Tigers forward Mason Shaw, who logged 26 power play points in the regular season. “I think everything is clicking right now.”
Much like the shape and success of the team, Frazer says it all seemed to stem from last season’s wild finish. While the Tigers ultimately came up short in their bid to extend a 13-year playoff streak in a memorable tiebreaker loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings, Frazer says the road to Game 73 helped shape the future of the team and its power play.
“It all started last year in the second half. I think the last 1520 games it was starting to click. Then just talking to the guys in the summer, they were really excited about how much potential we have as a power play,” said Frazer. “They brought that energy into this year. It started off well, so that always helps, and the confidence just kept growing.”
Tigers defenceman David Quenneville, a centerpiece of the team’s power play, says Frazer has spent countless hours working to create, implement and enforce what has evolved into one of the WHL’s most threatening special teams units. And he added that dedicated approach has instilled a blue-collar belief across the bench —hard work pays off.
“I think the biggest thing that sticks out in my mind with Joe is that he’s not worried about us making fancy plays, it’s the habits,” said Quenneville. “It’s us working hard to make retrievals and find ways to really pick apart the other team — not necessarily always with our skill, but with hard work and wanting it more.”
Frazer added Medicine Hat’s leadership group has been an equally important factor in helping groom the team’s younger players for success. Captain Clayton Kirichenko and overage forwards Steven Owre and Chad Butcher have all played pivotal parts on the power play — combining for 91 points with the man advantage in the regular season. But as Frazer points out, their work off the ice may be just as important.
“We’ve got a lot of great leadership here who are really helping the young guys learn our culture and how we want to play. It all starts with our leadership group and they’ve been outstanding,” said Frazer. “You can’t win without everyone buying in.”