Go east, Silvertips — far east

In Medicine Hat, Alberta – the “Oasis of the Plains” – it takes 15 minutes to get from one side of town to the other.

The Saskatchewan River splits Medicine Hat into north and south halves before it meanders into the grassy hills.

It is a quiet, polite Canadian city of 50,000 nestled on the prairie in the middle of nowhere. It has a mild climate, a low cost of living and a large population of retirees.

To Hatters, as Medicine Hat folks call themselves, the golf courses are good, but the Tigers are better.

“We are totally committed,” said Chris Czember, owner of the bar Who’s on 3rd. “It is impossible to get a ticket to one of these games here.”

The city is half the size of Everett, and its hockey arena is, too.

The arena, home of the Western Hockey League’s Tigers, is a 4,000-seat building on the Saskatchewan. During Tiger season, season ticket holders hold all but a few dozen of those seats.

Czember said that this year Tiger fans cut the Silvertips a break for being the new kids on the block.

“We felt sorry for you guys being the new guys in the league,” he said Wednesday, getting a big rise from his regulars listening in on his side of the phone call. “Now we can hate you, though.”

For the next 10 days or so, Medicine Hat and Everett will be battlegrounds for the WHL championship series.

Because there are 782.4 miles between the two arenas, it’s especially important for Everett fans to size up where the Silvertips will be spending half of that time.

Jamie Horner of the southern Alberta tourism bureau warned that Medicine Hat is a friendly city, but the Silvertips and their fans should expect “a good ribbing.”

The Tigers have been in Medicine Hat for 33 years, to the Silvertips’ one year in Everett. Hatters aren’t about to be intimidated by Everett’s rookies.

“Being that they’re an expansion team, there isn’t really a whole lot known about them,” said Horner, getting the ribbing off to a good start. “And being a hockey town, Medicine Hat is quite appalled that they would have made it this far already.”

When the Silvertips’ bus pulled into Medicine Hat on Wednesday, it was snowing. But that’s not normal. Winter is considered over in that part of Canada.

“It’s been quite nice – 30 degrees Celsius,” Horner said enthusiastically.

Being a considerate Canadian, she paused for a moment to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit for her American friends. It’s about 86 degrees, she added.

Medicine Hat was named from the Indian word saamis, which means “the place where the medicine man lost his hat.”

Other than its distinctive name, the city is known for its clay pottery museum and having the world’s largest teepee – a 20-story structure brought to the city from Calgary after the 1988 Winter Olympics.

On weekends, the city’s population rises substantially with British soldiers on liberty from a nearby training base. The Brits are identified by their haircuts, accents and “heavy spending.”

Over the years, Medicine Hat developed its own gas and electric utilities, making its utility rates the cheapest in Canada.

Big crime in Medicine Hat is different than Everett’s. Horner took no time at all when asked to name the worst crime she could remember.

“I guess a lady got her purse stolen last night,” she said, laughing. “It was on the news.”

The running joke about Medicine Hat is not that it’s called The Gas City, which it is. Or that its citizens are called Hatters, which they are.

“It’s that 90 percent of people from Medicine Hat used to be Saskatchewan people,” Horner said.

But then, the Saskatchewanians will say: “If it wasn’t for us, there wouldn’t be a city.”

“Nobody wants to live in Saskatchewan,” Horner said. “The taxes are higher, and the health care is better here.”

You know – like Californians.

At the Somewhere Else Pub on a hill above the hockey arena is Medicine Hat’s answer to Cheers, where everyone knows your name, manager and co-owner Brent Close said.

He thinks his pub is as cozy and friendly as the city itself. At the Somewhere Else, it’s not uncommon to see a Tigers coach unwinding after the game with a bottle of Molson Canadian beer.

But don’t mistake the Hatters’ laid-back friendliness for submissiveness. The Tigers won the WHL’s Central Division with a 40-29-9-3 record. They were the WHL’s highest-scoring team during the regular season, with 277 goals.

Defensively, they ranked 16th in the 20-team league, with 216 goals allowed.

The Silvertips only met the Tigers once this season. The Everett boys won 3-1.

In the playoffs, the Tigers defeated Swift Current, Brandon and Red Deer – other places in Canada – to advance to the league championship series, which opens Friday night.

Back at the Somewhere Else, Close summed up Tiger territory.

“There’s not many hockey towns like this one,” he said. “We love our hockey.”

And then he wished the Silvertips well.

Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.

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