Newest Tiger Christensen brings dominance to the dot
Logan Christensen wasted no time making an impact with his new team, and he’s been doing it all over the ice.
The newly acquired Medicine Hat Tigers centre scored in his debut with the team during Friday’s win in Regina then added an assist in Saturday’s shootout loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors, but his value extends well outside the offensive zone.
Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston says Christensen boasts the skillset of a natural centre, and his plus-50 career faceoff percentage makes him a perfect fit down the middle behind fellow centremen Ryan Chyzowski and James Hamblin.
“I think he’s going to be good on draws,” said Clouston, who acquired Christensen from the Saskatoon Blades in exchange for Gary Haden Thursday. “He’s going to be a real solid addition. He’s a smart player, he’s going to compete at both ends of the ice.”
While the Tigers have several players capable of filling the centreman position, Christensen’s number’s in the dot speak for themselves. The 19-year-old Lundar, Man. product has racked up 430 wins for a career faceoff percentage of 50.1, including 7of-13 while playing between Elijah Brown and Bryan Lockner Saturday.
“They’ve got a lot of good centres so to be able to come in and fill that position is awesome,” said Christensen, who spent his first two seasons with Saskatoon on the wing before transitioning into a defensive centre role. “When I first got drafted I played a little bit of wing. Mostly wing and a little bit of centre. My coach just saw me more as a defensive guy, I don’t really like getting scored on, so he kind of slowly pushed me into the centreman position.”
While the news of the trade came as a bit of a surprise, Christensen says he was welcomed to his new team by longtime friend Hayden Ostir and quickly found himself feeling at home with the Tigers.
“They’re great guys. The only guy I really knew coming in was Ostir, so he kind of introduced me to a few of the other boys and they’ve all been great,” said Christensen. “We played spring hockey together, Team Manitoba, and we lived together for a year in BC.”
Hamblin says he has been impressed with Christensen’s efforts through his first two games, from his ability to contribute offensively to his overall work ethic.
“He’s been awesome. He’s just a hard-working, gritty guy,” said Hamblin. “He put the puck in the net last game, that was awesome to see, and he’s been working really hard. We’re excited to have him.”
Christensen joins the team at an opportune time with four players missing from the lineup due to injury. Forwards Baxter Anderson and Henrik Rybinski, as well as defencemen Joel Craven and Trevor Longo were all on the shelf for this weekend’s games, but Clouston says they could return to the ice as early as Friday.
“Hopefully by Friday we get one or more back,” said Clouston. “There’s the potential for everybody to be available by Friday, but we’d expect at least a guy or two.”