The Brandon Wheat Kings were a very different team the last time they beat the Medicine Hat Tigers on March 8, 2023. Yet for all the turnover both teams have gone through since then, the Wheat Kings have had difficulty beating Medicine Hat in each of their meetings.
That’s a streak the Wheat Kings will look to halt on Saturday night when they host the Tigers for the first time this season. The deck may seem stacked against them with so many regulars out of the lineup, but they’re a determined bunch nonetheless.
“It’s our one and only game this weekend, so we need to be prepared and ready to come out to play,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “Our first ten minutes against them in our last number of games have been disappointing and almost over before the game started. For us, we need to come out ready to play.”
So far, the teams have met only once this season, a 6-1 Tigers win in Medicine Hat on October 11 just as the injury train was really getting rolling for the Wheat Kings. That loss, and their four losses last year, featured the Wheat Kings getting into too much penalty trouble.
“They have a high-octane power play and we got into penalty trouble early,” Murray said. “Part of that is guys standing still and then taking lazy hooking or holding penalties. We need to be skating, we need to be playing with pace, they have some guys that really get around the ice well.”
Sometimes hockey can be weird. The Wheat Kings and Tigers hold similar records, and the Wheat Kings have found ways to win against some teams that have given the Tigers trouble this season. Medicine Hat isn’t invincible, as evidenced by their 8-6-0 record, but they’ve lately given the Wheat Kings more trouble than teams higher up the standings.
“You have to be disciplined in every area of your game, from systems to staying out of the penalty box,” said Murray. “The teams that have had success, Red Deer and Calgary, they play them hard and play them heavy while at the same time not crossing that line where we’re in the penalty box.”
While the Wheat Kings don’t want to cross any lines (and don’t have enough healthy bodies to afford extended stints in the sin bin), Murray acknowledged his players could take the Tigers’ streak of success against them a little personally.
“Take pride in it,” Murray said. “We talked about the exact same thing yesterday, about our lack of success against that team. We need to get over this mental block we have and get ready to play. They’re a really good team, you have to respect them, but when you put another team on a pedestal, you don’t give yourself a chance.”
Murray added that Dominik Petr is tracking to return to the lineup for Saturday night, the absence of Jaxon Jacobson means their lineup is more or less right where it was against Calgary on October 26. He also said Medicine Hat has been fighting some injury woes of their own.
