Tigers sign top prospects
The Medicine Hat Tigers firmed up the future of their power play on Sunday afternoon at the Canalta Centre.
Top prospects Cole Sillinger and Dru Krebs finished off an impressive performance at Medicine Hat’s annual orientation camp by signing their names to a pair of standard Western Hockey League player agreements. While they won’t be eligible to compete for a fulltime spot until next season, Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston says the staff is already excited about what the dynamic duo could bring to the man advantage.
“They can play with their heads up, they can move, they can look off plays to create openings and find the seams. I know Joe (Frazer, assistant coach) is pretty excited thinking about the power play down the road, for sure,” said Clouston. “Both these guys look like they’d be close to playing this year, but we’ve got to wait for another year. There’s lots that has to happen between now and then, but I think both these guys have shown they’ll be ready to play.”
Sillinger and Krebs were signed the way they were drafted, in quick succession. After going 11th and 38th overall, respectively, in last month’s WHL bantam draft, the pair of future Tigers signed their contracts with minutes of each other.
“It’s an amazing feeling. Coming into camp I was kind of hoping for this day and everything is so surreal with the facilities and everything. It’s just awesome,” said Sillinger. “It’s probably the best feeling I’ve had, ever in my life. This is the next chapter in my life and just feeling and knowing I’m going to be a Tiger, it’s awesome.
Sunday’s signings also came just a few hours after the pair put on a shared spectacle at the Family Leisure Centre. Sillinger and Krebs made their presence known together on an extended power play opportunity in Sunday’s scrimmage at the Family Leisure Centre — creating a slew of scoring chances with some pre-packaged chemistry that Krebs says can only grow from here.
“We have formed something that will go on for quite a bit throughout our careers,” said Krebs, adding he can’t wait to move toward a full-time place on the roster alongside Sillinger. “It’s an extremely big honour. It’s a really cool step in my career, only good things going forward.”
Sillinger said he’s spent many games on the opposite side of the puck from Krebs, which made the chance to compete alongside him all the sweeter this weekend. “We’ve been battling each other forever now and it was good to finally get to know him as a person and build more chemistry with him, it was good,” said Sillinger, adding he hopes to make an immediate impact with the Tigers next season. “It’s not going to be easy coming in at 16, but I think I can come in here and be a factor for the team and help out. I know they have big expectations and always set the bar high.” Clouston added Sillinger has already proven himself a capable asset for the foreseeable future with a dizzying checklist of high calibre abilities, while Krebs will provide a creative and confident presence on Medicine Hat’s back end for years to come.
“It’s really exciting. I think we felt very fortunate (Sillinger) was available where he was in the draft. He’s a very talented hockey player so we were expecting good things this weekend, and everything we expected was there and them some. He’s got great hands, a hard shot, great vision. We’re just really, really excited to have Cole on board,” said Clouston. “I think Dru will be able to contribute at both ends of the ice ... You want to make sure you’ve got good puck-moving defencemen. We want to play an up-tempo style of game and the defencemen are very important with that.”