Tigers vs. Raiders series will always be special to me

Good strides made by me away from game

Yours truly up in the press box at Co-op Place on April 13.

It is amazing what type of journey can happen when you are linked with two teams that get there are things bigger than hockey and sports.

It becomes extra special when fans of both teams pick up on that too.

The WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Medicine Hat Tigers and Prince Albert Raiders has been done for over a week. The WHL record books will show the Tigers, who were second overall in the regular season standings at 47-17-3-1, swept the Raiders, who were eighth overall at 39-23-5-1, in the best-of-seven set 4-0. The Tigers finished off the sweep with a 3-0 victory in Game 4 at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre on April 17.

In a few hours, the Tigers will open the best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who finished sixth overall at 42-21-3-2. The two sides go at it on Game 1 at 7 p.m. local time at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.

The best-of-seven Western Conference Championship Series will also get going in a few hours between the Spokane Chiefs, who finished fourth overall at 45-20-1-2, and the Portland Winterhawks, who were 12^th overall at 36-28-3-1. Those sides go at it in Game 1 at 7 p.m. local time at the Spokane Veteran Memorial Arena in Spokane, Wash.

The Raiders and Tigers faceoff on April 12 at Co-op Place.

Back on April 11 or one day before Game 1 of the series between the Tigers and Raiders took place at Co-op Place, I arrived in Medicine Hat for the first time since July of 2019. 

That day I put together a fairly emotional post about being back in “the Gas City” for the first time since what is known as the summer of the suicides in that centre. Those all occurred during all the restrictions that were in place due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The suicides made national news, and I remember seeing names of six to seven men come up who took their lives, and I pretty much new them all. 

A lot were alums of the Medicine Hat Junior B Cubs Hockey Team. The pressures of that time in the pandemic played a part in what happened.

Out of the suicides in 2020 in Medicine Hat, Mitch Serr and Mike Engel were two that I built tight friendships with when I lived in the Hat from 2004 to 2014. We shared lots about our personal lives with each other.

Myself, centre, hanging with Emma Bennett, left, and Collin Gallant.

When I put together that column on April 11, I needed to get what I was feeling out there, because it was affecting me. 

I also know how passionate the fans of both the Tigers and Raiders can be, and I was in a place where I didn’t really want to deal with fan beaks.

Actually, the fans on both sides were outstanding. I found when I went to Co-op Place and the Art Hauser Centre they knew what the deal was for me. 

I had friends at Co-op Place come visit me and pass on a thank you for writing that column, because it helped them in their journeys dealing with the suicides in the summer of 2020.

At the Hauser, the fans and friends that I talked to were really understanding. They were open to listening more, if I needed to talk more.

All of that right there is the bigger than hockey and sports thing.

Harrison Meneghin plays the puck for the Tigers on April 16.

The folks with the Raiders and Tigers were outstanding. 

I was actually hoping to get out to Medicine Hat earlier to deal with the emotional front, and my original plan was to work a Tigers game where the Raiders weren’t involved. I was concerned about dragging them into my emotional side thing.

Now that the series is done, I feel it was a blessing that the Raiders were there on my first trip back to the Hat. 

Over the course of the series, I had so many good visits with general manager Curtis Hunt, interim head coach Ryan McDonald, assistant coach Mark Odnokon and athletic therapist Duane “Puff” Bartley. They were all a huge help.

On the Tigers side, I have great visits with Dr. Bill Ruzycki, owner Darrell Maser, iconic retired play-by-play voice Bob Ridley, head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins, associate coach Joe Frazer, assistant coach Josh Maser, athletic therapist and equipment manager Mikki Lanuk, staffer Scott Goldade and office staffer Val Welling. They were all a huge help.

On the more humorous side, it was cool to visit with video coach Jayce Desjardins now that he is all grown up. I mentioned my memories of him were being a little guy and getting into mischief at the Tigers old long time legendary home rink in The Arena.

Max Hildebrand protects the net for the Raiders on April 16.

While in the Hat, I was also able to visit a number of long time friends including Randy Noble, Colin Gallant and Emma Bennett. Noble is battling cancer, and I stopped by to visit him in hospital twice. He was in really good spirits in the second visit, so that was great to see.

Gallant, Bennett and I were the crew from the Medicine Hat News that were dispatched to Vancouver in 2007 to cover the Tigers playing in that year’s Memorial Cup. 

Gallant, who still works for the News, recalled we filled four broadsheets for about 10 straight days. It was so cool we got to have a reunion.

As for the series on ice, I think the one game that really hurt the Raiders was not being able to take Game 2 at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat on April 13. 

The Tigers claimed that contest 5-4 in overtime with super-rookie right-winger Liam Ruck tipping in the winner on the power play at the 8:50 mark of the extra session. Ruck deflected home a point shot from offensive-defenceman Bryce Pickford.

Games 3 and 4 in Medicine Hat saw emotion kind of speed up the Tigers. Tigers 20-year-old star netminder Harrison Meneghin attended the funeral for his father, Derek, on April 10 just two day before the series with the Raiders began. Meneghin’s first two starts were against the Raiders in Games 3 and 4.

Harrison Meneghin, left, and Max Hildebrand embrace on April 17.

Talking to a few long time Raiders fans at the Hauser, they said you could tell Meneghin was playing for his father, and the Tigers players were playing for their goalie. The Tigers posted a 6-1 victory in Game 3 and the 3-0 win in Game 4.

In Game 4, Raiders 20-year-old star netminder Max Hildebrand made 54 saves to keep his team in the game. 

He had one of the best single game performances I have seen in 26 seasons covering the WHL. 

You saw why he was a nominee for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL player of the year, the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as WHL goaltender of the year and the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s humanitarian of the year.

While the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Tigers and Raiders will likely be another set in the mass amount of post-season series that have been played in the WHL since the circuit began in 1966-67, it will always have a special place in my heart for the happenings away from the game.

I have to pass on a big thanks to everyone who helped as I navigated life away from the game and got to a more healed up place. I still miss my buds who have passed away.

Yours truly at the Art Hauser Centre on April 17.

They will always be part of my memories in the Hat, and wherever I go in that centre, good ones pop up about them along with many others.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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