GAME 5 - 2ND ROUND - HITMEN LEAD BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 3-1

AGAINST THE HITMEN: The Medicine Hat Tigers are 1-3 so far versus the Calgary Hitmen in the Best-of-Seven WHL Eastern Conference Semi-finals (1-1 at home, 0-2 in Calgary). The Hitmen have outscored the Tigers 16-7 and outshot Medicine Hat 107-88. Leading the way for the Tigers in scoring are forwards Tristan King (1G, 2A) and Zdenek Okal (1G, 2A), each with three points, while Emerson Etem has chipped in with two goals. Goaltender Tyler Bunz (1-3-0) has allowed 15 goals (3.67 G.A.A.) on 106 shots (.860 Save %) in four starts. Medicine Hat is 3 for 18 on the power play (16.7%), while killing off 13 of 19 Calgary power plays (68.4%).

GAME FOUR RECAP: Zdenek Okal scored the Tigers lone goal in a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Hitmen. Goaltender Tyler Bunz (5-5-0), who made several spectacular saves, stopped 23 of 26 shots in the loss.

VS CALGARY:

• #1 - Medicine Hat 2 @ Calgary 5
• #2 - Medicine Hat 0 @ Calgary 4
• #3 - Calgary 3 @ Medicine Hat 4
• #4 - Calgary 4 @ Medicine Hat 1
• #5 - Medicine Hat @ Calgary; Friday, April 9 (7:00 pm) 
• #6 - Calgary @ Medicine Hat; Sunday, April 11 (6:00 pm) * If necessary,
• #7- Medicine Hat @ Calgary; Tuesday, April 13 (7:00 pm) * If necessary.

DID YOU KNOW?
Emerson Etem is ranked 8^th amongst CHL Skaters by Central Scouting for the upcoming 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Tigers Goaltender Tyler Bunz is ranked 10^th amongst CHL goaltenders. Former Tigers Head Coach Ron Kennedy was honored by the Austrian Erste Bank Hockey League by renaming their League MVP trophy to the ‘Ron Kennedy Trophy'. Kennedy passed away on July 9, 2009. Most recently he was coaching Innsbruck of the Austrian league when a brain tumour forced him to resign in December 2008. Kennedy was head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers for two seasons from 1988-90, posting a record of 73-65-6.

1^st ROUND PLAYOFF RECAP: The Medicine Hat Tigers defeated the Kootenay Ice FOUR games to TWO in the 1^st round of the Best-of-Seven WHL Eastern Conference Quarter-finals (3-0 at home, 1-2 in Cranbrook), while winning four straight games to close out the series after losing the first two in Cranbrook, BC. The Tigers outscored the Ice 20-15 despite Kootenay outshooting Medicine Hat 162-152 in six games. Leading the way for the Tigers were forwards Emerson Etem (4G, 3A) with seven points, while Bretton Cameron (1G, 5A) and Linden Vey (1G, 5A) each had six points. Goaltender Tyler Bunz (4-2-0) allowed 13 goals (2.32 G.A.A.) on 153 shots (.915 Save %) in six starts, while Deven Dubyk allowed one goal on eight shots in one relief appearance. Medicine Hat was 3 for 32 on the power play (09.4%), while having killed off 27 of 31 Kootenay power plays (87.1%), while scoring two shorthanded goals.

SUBWAY CENTRAL DIVISION CHALLENGE CUP STANDINGS: In Head-to-Head games versus Central Division opponents, the Medicine Hat Tigers (21-7-2-2) finished 2nd in the Central Division Cup standings with a winning percentage of .719 , while the Calgary Hitmen (24-6-0-2) captured their second straight Central Division Challenge Cup with a winning percentage of .750 against their division rivals this season. Visit www.whl-central.com for more details.

PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE: Heading into the series, Medicine Hat Tigers has a combined 255 games of playoff experience. Veterans Linden Vey (22 GP), Wacey Hamilton (22 GP) and Mark Isherwood (22 GP) lead the way. Goaltender Tyler Bunz has posted four straight playoff victories. The Tigers have eight players (Etem, Dubyk, MacKay, McKay, Kessy, Bredo, Busenius, Sohn) who played in their 1^st career WHL post season games during the 1^st round. Matt MacKay, Emerson Etem, Kale Kessy, Tristan King and Matthew Konan recently scored their first career post season goals. Only Bretton Cameron and Mark Isherwood were part on the Tigers roster during the 2007 WHL Championship, but neither saw any game action.