Sexsmith gets Giant start

By DARREN STEINKE

Tyson Sexsmith will never forget the five-minute cameo he made with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
On March 5, 2005, Sexsmith, a goaltender with the Vancouver Giants, dressed as a Tigers backup for a home game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Matt Keetley was starting in goal at the time, and Sexsmith, then a 15-year-old, was on lone from the Giants because Tigers starter Kevin Nastiuk was recovering from a hand injury.
The match, won 5-2 by the Tigers, was best remembered for a line brawl which featured a goalie fight between Keetley and then Hurricanes starter Aaron Sorochan with just over four minutes to play in the game. Sexsmith was then put in to mop things up, and had to make one save in front of a raucous crowd.
“I remember Sorochan calling Keetley to centre ice,” said Sexsmith. “After the game, I remember (Tigers head coach) Willie (Desjardins) just saying to me they were going to be sending me into some tough competition against the Brandon Wheat Kings (because Keetley might have been suspended for the game).
“It turned out I didn’t have to play the next game. I went in for about the last five minutes of that (Hurricanes) game. The crowd gave me a loud cheer when I made a save.”
Tonight, Sexsmith will play his second career WHL game at The Arena as his Giants face the Tigers at 7:30 p.m. The match is billed as a heavyweight showdown between the top two teams in the league.
The Giants lead the WHL with a 15-1-1 mark, while the Tigers are second overall with a 14-5 record. The two teams are also ranked first and second respectively in the CHL rankings and the game will be televised on Shaw.
Sexsmith has been rotating starts in goal with Giants star Dustin Slade this season. The 17-year-old was the first goaltender selected in the 2004 WHL Bantam Draft, 14th overall.
This season, he has been living up to his status as a can’t miss prospect. The Priddis, Alta. product is undefeated in eight starts with a 1.46 goals against average and a .919 save percentage.
On Wednesday the Giants suffered their first regulation loss, falling 4-1 to the Rebels in Red Deer. Sexsmith says his team will be motivated to produce a better result tonight.
“It is definitely going to be a good game,” said Sexsmith, who played two games as a 15-year-old with the Giants before his Tigers cameo. “I think both teams are going to be ready to go.
“They (the Rebels) outworked us, and we don’t want that to happen again. We can’t lose two games in a row.”
For one of the few times this season, it is expected the Tigers will actually be the underdog team for a home game. Giants head coach Don Hay, a coaching legend in the WHL, just laughed off that assessment.
“Not many teams are favoured in this rink,” said Hay. “This is one of the toughest rinks in the league. We know it is a hostile environment. We are going to have to be prepared.”
While the match will be the Giants 18th game and the Tigers 19th match, Hay said the hype for the game is deserved. He said his team can feel the excitement of the city over the contest, since they arrived in town early Thursday morning.
“It is what it is all about,” said Hay. “It is exciting for the fans. It is exciting for the players. It is exciting for the league.
“When you have number one and number two going against each other, you can feel the excitement in the air. It is going to be a real exciting environment to be in.”
The one thing the game probably won’t feature is a goalie fight. Sexsmith just laughed at the notion of possibly having the chance to trade punches with 17-year-old Ryan Holfeld, who is expected to start for the Tigers. Associate player Alex Wright is expected to back up Holfeld as Keetley is day-to-day with a knee injury.
“We will see what happens,” said Sexsmith. “It gets rough out there.”


-Medicine Hat News