Medicine Hat Tigers Number 1

[Tiger9]

Medicine Hat Tigers Number 1 in CHL Mosaik MasterCard Top 10 Rankings
Created: Jan 11, 2006


The Canadian Hockey League today announced the thirteenth CHL Mosaik MasterCard Top 10 Rankings for the 2005-06 season. The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League's Top 10 teams are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts..


CHL Mosaik MasterCard Top 10 - Week Number 13

Rank Team Last Week Weeks in Rankings
1 Medicine Hat Tigers (29-9-0-6) 5 8
2 Peterborough Petes (29-8-1-0) 2 13
3 Kootenay Ice (31-12-0-2) 3 9
4 London Knights (27-9-0-2) 4 12
5 Calgary Hitmen (30-10-1-0) 8 12
6 Moncton Wildcats (30-10-0-2) 9 9
7 Chicoutimi Sagueneens (30-11-1-2) 1 12
8 Quebec Remparts (30-11-0-0) 7 4
9 Vancouver Giants (29-10-0-4) 6 3
10 Kitchener Rangers (24-12-1-1) 10 2

[The_Vulk]

After all those 'rebuilding years', it is nice to see the Tigers and their fans being rewarded with such great hockey.

[RunTheGoalie]

They arent even the best team in their division, let alone the country.

[Tiger Trauma]

Go Tigers Good job...A strong win vs a very tough team...is a great way to start the road trip

[C.F]

The past two Giants vs Tigers games could have gone either way. It seems as though the Tigers have been getting all of the bounces. :dead:

Non the less, another exciting game between 2 elite teams in the league. The two teams are even in every category, I would love to see them battle it out in a playoff series.

[C.F]

They arent even the best team in their division, let alone the country.
The Tigers know how to score goals.

[RunTheGoalie]

And the Hitmen know how to stop them.

Even without the best goaltender in Canadian hockey.

What's your point?

[tiger fan 4 life]

Calgary and Medicine Hat are both elite teams. Looking forward to a defense vs. offense Eastern final!!!!

[Rebel66]

They arent even the best team in their division, let alone the country.

As these ranking are purely speculative you could very well be right. However, Calgary and Med. Hat are very close to the same quality imo, just for different reasons. I'd take great defence and goaltending in the long run though so the Hitmen get my vote, unfortunately! :dead:

[CatFan]

Yes the Hitmen are a great defensive team, but guess what so are the Tigers. They went 8-2 without their 2 best defencemen!! Our goals against are right up there with the leaders. No, Keetley is no Justin Pogge, but he hasn't had that much experience as a starter either. I don't put much stock in the national rankings, as most of the time they don't make much sense, but I still enjoy being ranked #1 for what it is worth. As for who is better, the Hitmen or the Tigers? Well, I guess we will see come playoff time, won't we??

[bandwagonboy]

After all those 'rebuilding years', it is nice to see the Tigers and their fans being rewarded with such great hockey.

Thank you. I for one couldn't be happier with this club. No matter how deep they go in the playoffs I couldn't be prouder and more suprised. They were figured to be a solid second place team and I figured they'd probably net 80 points or so. Helm is a huge shocker, I believe he's already more than equaled his last season total. Had you told me that the tigs were going to be ranked 1st in the country and be tied 1st overall in points in the WHL, and if you had told me that Helm would be 4th in the league in scoring I would have politely asked you to put the crack pipe down. Again, I couldn't be more proud.


They arent even the best team in their division, let alone the country.

Is there perhaps a phantom team in the central division that only you know about? Because certainly there's no other way you'd be making bold statements like that. The Tigs and the Hitmen are both very good clubs and there is no way to definitvely say that one club is better than the next. Both teams play great defence. The tigers are still 4th overall in goals against and they've been without their two best defencemen for the last month. Both have great goaltenders. The only place where one team stands above the other is with the forwards. The tigs are the most dangerous club in the league up front and the hitmen aren't even average up front (at least goal scoring wise). Goaltending and defence does win championships but the Tigers have that in spades as well. The only place where you could argue the hitmen are stronger than the tigs is between the pipes. Sure Pogge is the best goaltender in the world in his age group right now. But if Keetley gets hot at the right time he could negate that advantage. Pogge might be better, but the difference between Pogge and Keetley is not as dramatic as the difference between the Tiger forwards and the Hitmen forwards. As for Calgary's defence, there are no two hitmen D-men that I would trade for Russell and Barker. And apparently Sutter would agree with that.

I think that anyone who believes they know which team is better is deluding themselves. These teams are very even and the only way to know who is better is a seven game playoff series.

[RunTheGoalie]

Hmmm. Did I ever touch a nerve with the overly defensive Tiger fans. ;)

Calgary: 32-11
Medicine Hat: 31-15

The Tigers are ahead in the standings only becuase of more games played, and the losers point.

The Hitmen have the 2nd best record in the country, behind only Peterborough.

I am, of course, not suggesting that the Tigers arent a great team, but they are not #1 in the country. Truth be told, I dont see much difference between Medicine Hat and Vancouver. Somehow one is ranked #1 and the other #9. Go figure.

[Beaner]

I am, of course, not suggesting that the Tigers arent a great team, but they are not #1 in the country. Truth be told, I dont see much difference between Medicine Hat and Vancouver. Somehow one is ranked #1 and the other #9. Go figure.

Heh, maybe its because the ranking system has nothing to do with stats and records but is just an opinion of a group of people forced to rank the top ten teams from 3 different leagues into some sort of overall top ten list, and keep all 3 leagues happy by having them all represented.

I take that list for what it's worth, nice to be on it, but it really means nothing. It's hard enough ranking the top teams in WHL all by themselves, without throwing in a bunch of OHL/QMJHL teams.

[bandwagonboy]

No nerve hit. Consider the exceptional run the tigs have been on, and consider that they've had injuries and they've been missing their two best players and the two Psurny brothers for much of that run. The tigers are a deeper club than the hitmen and the only place where Calgary stands above Medicine Hat is between the pipes.

[RunTheGoalie]

And the Hitmen were missing the best junior goalie in the world and their top scorer to the WJHCs, two more key players to the U-18s, and lost another key scorer to injury, yet matched Medicine Hat win for win.

I would not agree that Medicine Hat is deeper. Merely different.