TIGERS WHL PREVIEW


Saturday, September 25, 2010 — THE MEDICINE HAT NEWS A Day He’ll Never Forget


Desjardins looking forward to NHL but can’t help think back to where he created a legacy


DARREN STEINKE dsteinke@medicinehatnews.com


Willie Desjardins remembers when it hit him. During the lunch hour on July 13 at the lounge in the basement of The Arena, Desjardins was seated beside Dave Andjelic, the Medicine Hat Tigers director of marketing and public relations. The wall of the lounge contained various pictures and stories from the team’s two WHL championship wins under Desjardins and moments from various games and times during his eight years with the team. As Andjelic made the announcement that the head coach and general manager was leaving to become the associate coach of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, the man who holds the career record for most regular season wins as the Tigers head coach couldn’t help but choke up a bit. “That was tough,” said


Desjardins, who had a 323-176- 60 career regular season record guiding the Tigers. “I was having lots of mixed emotions, I guess, right then. “I wasn’t excited about leaving at that time, because during that moment, I was going over everything that happened here and how great it was. During that time, it was tough.” While Desjardins had


experienced excitement about the new opportunity he was about to take on, it was hard to bring up that excitement at that press conference. During his eight years with the Tigers, Desjardins really came to identify with the community of Medicine Hat, which made saying farewell tough. “I don’t think there are going to be many people in their lifetime that get to experience what I got to experience in Medicine Hat,” said Desjardins, who was also on the coaching staff of Canada’s world junior teams the past two years. “It wasn’t just a place to coach. It was way more than that for me.” The memories Desjardins


carries with him are many. One of those fi rst memories occurred during the fi rst training camp he oversaw with the team back in 2002 with regards to the strength of Derek Boogaard, who is now an enforcer with the NHL’s New York Rangers. During a scrimmage,


Boogaard hit a prospect player so hard he caused the youngster to be taken to hospital by an ambulance. Desjardins gave Boogaard, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 258 pounds, the rest of training camp off after that hit. Boogaard often joked that training camp was easiest one he had ever attended. “He is the only guy I have ever sat out of a training camp,” said Desjardins. “I think we had our


old guys and our young guys on the ice at the same time. “Not that he would try to hurt anybody, because that wasn’t want he was trying to do, (but) if he just went the wrong way and ran into somebody by accident, then he certainly could have hurt him.” Some of the more recent memories came from going to some of his former players weddings this past summer. The bench boss attended the weddings of Cam Barker, Matt Keetley and David Schlemko this past off-season. He enjoyed seeing his players enjoy a special day outside of hockey. “It is really great to get invited,” said Desjardins. “It was great that they would invite me. “Those guys were all special


players to me, because they were all special in different ways. It just takes a lot to be a player. “It takes a lot of courage and a lot of effort in good times and bad times. They just all impressed me with the way they persevered.” During the day to day activity at the rink, Desjardins also remembers a lot of fun times. One of the team’s traditions included dunking players with a large Gatorade bucket of ice water on birthdays. When Desjardins turned 50


in February of 2007, he wasn’t immune to this treatment as Derek Dorsett, who now plays with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, got the bench boss with the bucket. Desjardins chuckles when


retold this story claiming he doesn’t remember it happening. He then admitted he didn’t mind being a victim to this sort of prank, if it kept the players loose. “They were a good group, and


they were a fun group to coach,” said Desjardins. “They had fun, and that is what we wanted. “We wanted to have fun at the


rink. We were all in it together. There was nobody that was better than anybody else. We did what we could to be successful.” Other good memories include


working with team owners Darrell and Brent Maser and various coaches like Shaun Clouston, Darren Kruger and Bryan Ellerman, as well as the offi ce staff. While unforgettable moments


are numerous, one of the obvious big highlights was Brennan Bosch scoring the winning goal in double overtime in Game 7 of the 2007 WHL championship series. Bosch’s goal delivered the Tigers to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants in what goes down as the greatest game ever played at The Arena. Following the goal, Desjardins


didn’t jump on to the ice right away with the other


7


NEWS PHOTO IAN SORENSEN - Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins keeps a close eye on his team prior to the 2010 WHL playoffs.


Tigers players and coaches to celebrate. He sat down on the team’s bench with sons Brayden and Jayce, who were both stick boys with the club. Jayce is still one of the team’s stick boys. At that moment, Desjardins said he felt exhausted, but he was happy to take in the experience where he was. “I just get goose bumps thinking about it,” said Desjardins. “That game was kind of the climax of that playoff run. “There were ups and downs in the playoffs. To start against Red Deer (in the fi rst round), we lost in the fi rst game. We lost the fi rst game against Vancouver in that series. “It was just kind of a battle


throughout. I was amazed at how the players in that series persevered. I was just really proud of them.”


NEWS PHOTO IAN SORENSEN - Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins lays down the law to his team during practice at The Arena last season.


DYLAN B SENIU


DYLAN BUSENIUS


POSITION: D HT: 6’1.5” WT: 183 D.O.B JAN/30/1993 HOMETOWN: SHERWOOD PARK, AB 09/10 SEASON: MEDICINE HAT TIGERS LEAGUE: WHL GP: 39 G: 00 A: 07 PTS: 07 PIM: 12 DRAFT: eligible 2011


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POSITION: LW HT: 6’2” WT: 192 D.O.B jan/14/1991 HOMETOWN: Edmonton, ab 09/10 SEASON: spruce grove saints LEAGUE: ajhl GP: 33 G: 12 A: 18 PTS: 30 PIM: 66 DRAFT: Free agent


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