One-goal loss in Calgary
Injuries have plagued the Medicine Hat Tigers since the pre-season, but they’ll get a boost in the coming days with the return of rookie forward Josh Williams.
The 16-year-old Langley product suffered a broken collarbone while competing with Team Canada at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in early November, but the fifth overall 2016 bantam draft pick says the end of his recovery is finally in sight.
“It’s coming along pretty well. I’m right on schedule so hopefully I’ll be back pretty soon,” said Williams, who has missed 25 games with the injury. “I just started to practice with the team … It feels a lot better than sitting up there and watching practices. Just getting out with the guys again feels really good.”
The Tigers have been dealt a handful of significant blows throughout the season, from a torn ACL to 19year-old Minnesota Wild draft pick Mason Shaw in the pre-season, to Hayden Ostir’s broken finger and just this week an upper body injury to Linus Nassen that will leave the Swedish blueliner on the shelf for sixto-eight weeks.
Williams will come as a welcome return to Medicine Hat’s offence after putting up five points through the first 14 games of his rookie season. But as Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston points out, there’s more to his recovery than simply returning to physical form. The 6foot-1, 185-pound winger suffered the broken collarbone after taking a hit from behind in practice with Team Canada, and Clouston says feeling comfortable in the corners again can take time.
“You’ve got to be mentally ready to go out there and battle, and coming off an injury, that’s challenging. Usually what it takes is some conditioning, some practice to try and get your timing, the passing and stickhandling and shooting. Also the final step will be some contact. You don’t want the first heavy contact to be during games.” Clouston added they won’t be rushing Williams, or any of their injured players back to the ice, as preventing re-injury is always the highest priority. “I think we’re a lot smarter than we were 20-30 years ago. All the teams with all the players want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to get the player to 100 per cent before returning,” said Clouston. “We feel good, Josh feels good. We want to make sure that he gets cleared by the doctor, that there’s a significant amount of healing and no risk of reinjuring that break.”
The Tigers (21-15-3-0) return to the Canalta Centre Friday to host the Edmonton Oil Kings at 7:30 p.m.