GAME 4 - 2ND ROUND - HITMEN LEAD BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 2-1

AGAINST THE HITMEN: The Medicine Hat Tigers are 1-2 so far versus the Calgary Hitmen in the Best-of-Seven WHL Eastern Conference Semi-finals (1-0 at home, 0-2 in Calgary). The Hitmen have outscored the Tigers 12-6 and outshot Medicine Hat 81-69. Leading the way for the Tigers in scoring is Tristan King (1G, 2A) with three points, while Emerson Etem has chipped in with two goals. Goaltender Tyler Bunz (1-2-0) has allowed 12 goals (3.87 G.A.A.) on 81 shots (.852 Save %) in three starts. Medicine Hat is 2 for 12 on the power play (16.7%), while killing off 8 of 13 Calgary power plays (61.5%).

GAME THREE RECAP: Emerson Etem scored twice including both the game tying and game winning goals as Medicine Hat defeated the Hitmen 4-3 in overtime. The Tigers went into the third period trailing 2-0. Mark Isherwood and Linden Vey also scored for the Tigers, while goaltender Tyler Bunz (5-4-0) stopped 31 of 33 shots, including all four Hitmen shots in overtime, for his first playoff overtime win.

VS CALGARY:

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

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.

2009-10 REGULAR SEASON VS CALGARY HITMEN

• Medicine Hat 0 @ Calgary 2 (Feb 6 2010) Final
• Calgary 4 @ Medicine Hat 1 (Feb 4 2010) Final
• Calgary 4 @ Medicine Hat 6 (Dec 19 2009) Final
• Medicine Hat 6 @ Calgary 5 (Dec 12 2009) Final SO
• Medicine Hat 2 @ Calgary 3 (Nov 13 2009) Final SO
• Calgary 5 @ Medicine Hat 4 (Sep 25 2009) Final SO

DID YOU KNOW?.  Medicine Hat Tigers have qualified for the WHL Playoffs for the eighth consecutive season. Coming into the 2^nd round of the 2010 WHL Playoffs, General Manager and Head Coach Willie Desjardins has coached the Tigers in 102 WHL Playoff games, winning 63 games and 14 of 19 series. The Tigers failed to advance to the second round only once in the past eight post-seasons. The Medicine Hat Tigers and the Calgary Hitmen last met in the playoffs during the 2007 WHL Eastern Conference Championship, which the Tigers won FIVE games to ONE.

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.

How the 2 teams match up