Rassell, Quenneville add another unique chapter as teammates
Medicine Hat Tigers veterans Mark Rassell and David Quenneville spent the year rewriting franchise history, so it seems only fitting they share one final milestone to close out the regular season.
With an assist in Friday’s road game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Quenneville matched his captain’s 80 points to make them the first forward and defenceman duo to share Medicine Hat’s point-scoring lead in the franchise’s 47-year history.
“That’s pretty incredible hearing that. I know not playing the last two games, I figured Quenner, with how good he’s been lately, would pass me. But he’s been a pretty nice guy, stopping at 80 so we could share,” said Rassell, who scored 50 goals and added 30 assists as Medicine Hat’s captain this year. “We talked about it before, the point race. It’s obviously a friendly competition and I think a tie is the perfect way to end it. We both had really good years, but Quenneville is a defenceman and that’s unbelievable. He absolutely ran away with the defensive scoring race... It’s an honour to be part of that club and share that title with him.”
It’s only the second time in franchise history that two players have tied for the team lead in points — centres Chris St. Jacques and Ben Thompson each recorded 73 in the 2000-01 season — and the third time in which a forward and defenceman have finished in the top two. In 1994-95, Sergei Klimentiev finished second in scoring behind centre Stacy Roest, and in 2006-07 Kris Russell led the team with 69 points from the back end to close out his career with 197 — a record Quenneville surpassed this season.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Quenneville, who stretched Medicine Hat’s defensive scoring record to 214 points while leading all WHL blueliners in scoring and earning a place on the first all-star team. “Both me and Mark had really good years but I think the biggest thing we look at as an organization and as players is that we’ve gotten better every single year.”