Tigers draw defending WHL champion Wheat Kings first

The Medicine Hat Tigers will host the reigning WHL champions in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals starting next Friday at the Canalta Centre.

The Brandon Wheat Kings clinched the conference’s first wild card spot with a 3-1 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday, while the Tabbies will finish second as their loss Wednesday and a 6-2 Regina win over Swift Current gave the Pats the regular season banner.

Games 1 and 2 of the series are at Canalta Centre March 24 and 25, 7:30 p.m. both nights, before the best-of-seven series shifts east.

While the Tigers still have two regular season games left, forward Mark Rassell says it’s sure to be a solid matchup, especially after their closely matched season series.

“They’re a good team. Obviously they have the playoff experience of winning a championship last year so we know it’s going to be a tough test but I think we can do it,” said Rassell, whose Tigers have clinched the Central Division banner and are 49-201-0. “I think it’ll be a good series.”

The Wheat Kings (31-29-7-3) are pushed out of their home at the Keystone Centre to make way for the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, a common playoff occurance for the franchise. The Wheaties will host their home games at Dauphin’s Credit Union Place, roughly 170 kilometres north of Brandon. While it adds to the road trip, Rassell says the Tigers are trying to see it as a positive.

“It’ll be interesting. A smaller rink in a tiny little town, but we can almost use that to their advantage where Brandon doesn’t really get to play a home game,” said Rassell. “Every game in the series is going to be a road game for them.”

Medicine Hat took the season series over Brandon by a 31-0-0 margin, with their most recent victory coming in the form of a Michael Bullion shutout on Tom Lysiak’s jersey retirement night. The Tigers outscored the Wheaties 17-12 across the four games, with Chad Butcher netting a teamhigh six points in the process and Rassell following up at four.

Their most memorable matchup came on Jan. 28 when Mason Shaw was forced to leave the Canalta Centre after taking a skate to the face and James Hamblin required stitches in his eyebrow after being hit into the boards. Medicine Hat won the game 6-4.

The Wheat Kings boast a top NHL draft eligible player in Nolan Patrick. While he was injured for a significant portion of the early schedule, Patrick enters the final weekend of the regular season with 20 goals and 25 assists in 32 contests. But the real thorn in Medicine Hat’s paw has been forward Reid Duke. The 21year-old centre has proven to be a handful each and every time he faces off against the Tigers, collecting three goals while helping generate many more opportunities series.

Medicine Hat closes out the regular season this weekend with a home-and-home series with the Lethbridge Hurricanes — starting tonight in Lethbridge at 7 p.m. before shifting to the Canalta Centre Saturday at 7:30 p.m. — while the Wheat Kings will end their schedule with a pair of games against the Regina Pats.

“We just want to get our confidence up after that debacle on Tuesday,” said Rassell, referring to his team’s 8-3 loss to the Red Deer Rebels. “We want to play the right way and hopefully get some wins. We’re lurking on 50 wins here so that would be a nice milestone to get, but at the end of the day the wins and losses don’t really matter this weekend. It’s just about playing the right way and getting our confidence up.”