Tigers get to see new-look Broncos
It’s been three months since the Medicine Hat Tigers last crossed paths with the Swift Current Broncos, and a lot has changed.
The Broncos completed five trades since their last meeting with the Tabbies and enter this weekend’s home-and-home set against Medicine Hat with plenty of new faces on their roster. While they’ve built up somewhat of an allstar team in the process — with three of the Western Hockey League’s top six scorers on their roster — Tigers captain Mark Rassell says there’s something to be said about a cohesive, uninterrupted unit as well.
“We know that when it’s a bunch of friends playing together, we’re willing to compete together as a group,” said Rassell, whose Tigers kick off the home-and-home set tonight in Swift Current at 6 p.m. before returning home Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. finale. “That’s our strategy versus theirs.”
The list of Swift Current’s newest Broncos includes a few Tigers rivals in former Lethbridge Hurricanes goaltender Stuart Skinner, centre Giorgio Estephan and winger Tanner Nagel.
While the Broncos earned an Edmonton Oilers draft pick with the acquisition of Skinner, Tigers defenceman David Quenneville says his presence in the opposing net could leave the Tigers feeling a bit more comfortable against a team they’ve yet to beat this season.
“They’re a fantastic team but at the same time we’ve played Skinner well,” said Quenneville, whose Tigers trail Swift Current 0-2-0-0 in the four-game season series. “We’ve gotten to Skinner a lot in the four years I’ve been here. We know how to score on him, we know his weak spots and we can expose him. As long as we shoot the puck and get him working early I think we can have some more success on him.”
But the Tigers will still need to contain Swift Current’s prolific scoring trio of Glenn Gawdin, Aleksi Heponiemi and Tyler Steenbergen. While they’ll need to do it with a depleted blue line — with defencemen Linus Nassen, Kristians Rubins and Joel Craven all nursing upper body injuries — Quenneville says he believes their young group has what it takes.
“We’ve had that depth and guys have stepped up to really elevate their game,” said Quenneville. “Everyone has done that and I think that’s a big part of why we’re starting to trend back in the right direction after that tough (0-4) B.C. swing.”
“We’ve had a ton of injuries. It’s been crazy with the amount of guys going out left and right but at the same time we have that D depth.”
While there’s no understating the benefits of having players like Nassen and Rubins in the lineup, the Tigers have managed to hold a five-point lead atop the Central Division with a 4-4-2-0 record over the past 10 games thanks to the young men who have stepped up to replace them.
“It’s huge to have (Trevor) Longo coming up for the rest of the year, (Daniel) Baker is up for the time being and Cowboy (Cole Clayton) all of our D-men have been stepping up huge for us,” said Rassell. “Guys who were battling for spots in the lineup at the start of the year are now on our second or third D pairing playing big minutes for us.”