GAME DAY | ICE face Tigers for the first time this season
Cranbrook, B.C. – The Kootenay ICE (4-5-1-0) travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Tigers (5-3-0-0) Friday night, the first meeting of the season between the two Central Division rivals.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Mountain Time.
The ICE enter the contest on a two-game winning streak which includes victories over Everett and Moose Jaw. The Tigers have also won two in a row and Friday’s game concludes a five-game homestand for the club.
The ICE are led in points by 2001-born forward Peyton Krebs who has 10 in 10 games this season. There’s a four-way tie for second on the team which includes 1999-born forward Brett Davis (4G, 3A), 1997-born forward Colton Kroeker (3G, 4A), 1998-born forward Barrett Sheen (2G, 5A) and 1998-born defenceman Martin Bodak (0G, 7A).
The Tigers are led by 1998-born defenceman David Quenneville who has 14 points (2G, 12A) in seven games. He’s followed by 1997-born forward Mark Rassel with 12 (9G, 3A) and 1998-born forward Max Gerlach with seven (4G, 3A).
The ICE power play is ranked 18th in the WHL converting on 5-of-36 attempts (13.9%).
The Tigers have the third best power play percentage in the league going 11-for-31 (35.5%). Those numbers are aided by last game’s power play outburst, scoring on 5-of-7 PP attempts against the Saskatoon Blades.
The ICE are sixth in penalty kill percentage killing off 34-of-42 tries (80.9%). The Tigers are in the bottom half of the league successfully killing of 21-of-28 (75.0%) penalties.
The ICE went 0-6-1-0 against the Tigers last season being outscore 41-15 in those seven games. The last time the ICE defeated the Tigers was March 12, 2016, a 4-3 victory at Western Financial Place.
