Medicine Hat, Alta.- Andrew Basha and Cayden Lindstrom stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their teammates in a hallway deep within Co-op Place.
The lights were blacked out in the rink, but thousands of phone lights illuminated a roaring crowd, their whoops and clattering cowbells shaking the stands above the players as the opening notes and thudding bass of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ brought the atmosphere to a fever pitch.
But this time, they wouldn’t be watching from the stands.
For Lindstrom, this marked the end of more than a year of working toward a return to the ice. For Basha, the wait was about four months, though no less frustrating.
“The boys are kind of talking about how loud it’s been, but when we came out and saw the lights and stuff, I was, you know, just kind of revving for that first shift,” Basha grinned postgame.
The highly-touted NHL prospects had supported their teammates the best they could through the playoffs- beating their palms against the glass after a big goal and running down to the bench to embrace their friends after key wins- but the joy Tigers’ success also held an undercurrent of despair and uncertainty.
“It was tough,” Basha admitted. “Just kind of trying to almost put on a mask. Deep down, I could have ran through a wall for this entire playoff run. If we ever got down a goal or something, I was just kind of shaking. But ultimately, I knew how special of a group we have… Probably the closest group I’ve ever been a part of.”
As the Tigers’ top line peeled off the ice shortly after registering the first shot of the WHL Championship Series, Lindstrom chased down a loose puck and centered it for Florida Panthers prospect Hunter St. Martin, who fired the puck low for Basha to lift it over the blocker of Dawson Cowan.
The celebration was almost better than the goal.
While the cheers nearly blew the roof off the rink, Basha barrelled down the ice with his arms outstretched as if he was going to embrace the entire crowd.
“Doesn’t get much better than that,” Basha said. “I’ve never seen this place like that. It was unbelievable. So, you know, we rallied behind them and used their energy.”
After the final buzzer signalled the end of a 4-1 win for the Tigers, Head Coach Willie Desjardins had plenty of praise for the duo.
“I thought it was really exciting scoring the first shift,” Desjardins said. “I thought that was about as good as you could start. For sure, it’s going to be exciting having them in the lineup. They’re two real quality players, great skill. So it’ll be exciting. It’s really hard for them to come in and have sat out as long as they have, so it’s pretty amazing they did as well as they did.”
The 2006 WHL Coach of the Year and two-time champion will still approach their deployment with a sense of caution- particularly with Lindstrom, who just resumed skating with the Tigers two weeks ago.
“We’ll have to evaluate every game,” Desjardins said prior to Game 1. “It’s not that he’s full bore. You’ve missed that kind of time, you’re going to work through it. We’ll evaluate his, you know, ability to play after every game. But saying that, if we get in one game, I’m excited to get him one game. He’s such a great athlete, you know, a real character person.”
Lindstrom, who was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets with the fourth overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, had piled up 27 goals and 19 assists for 46 points in 32 games prior to his injury last season.
He’s spent much of 2024-25 rehabbing in Columbus and leaned on his family and WHL teammates from afar for support.
“There’s been times where I would just go week by week, some days I would feel not very good. Other days, I’d feel great,” Lindstrom said. “The more positive I got, the more I kind of see myself coming to play. So I try to stay positive as much as I can, and just self-talk and just a good mindset about it all. Just taking it as a learning experience and just kind of building me as a person.
“Feels great, honestly. It just feels (great) to be with the boys and being able to battle with them through this.”
Basha, a wildly energetic winger, described his winter as ‘slow.’
It’s not a word many would associate with the 19-year-old, but that was the situation he found himself in after undergoing surgery for a worsening ankle injury.
Basha had been averaging above a point-per-game (9G-20A) in his first 20 games of the season after signing his three-year, entry-level contract with the Calgary Flames, who had selected the hometown product in the second round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
But instead of riding that momentum, he was relegated to four months of recovery and no guarantee he’d be able to return to the Tigers in the regular season or playoffs.
“He said from the day he was going to get operated on, he was going to come back. I agreed with him just so he wouldn’t keep talking,” Desjardins smiled. “But I didn’t think there was any chance he’d be back. Like, none. And he kept saying it, and every day he went in working with the Flames. I know how impressed they were with how hard he tried and what he did. So it was pretty impressive that he was able to make it back, because that was a lot of hard work for him.”
While the linemates may not be expected to play the hardest minutes in the remainder of the 2025 WHL Championship Series, they’ll embrace every opportunity they get in hopes of helping Medicine Hat claim its first Ed Chynoweth Cup since 2007.
The Tigers are back in action for Game 2 against the Spokane Chiefs on Sunday, May 11, at 7:00 p.m. MST.
TSN will carry the game for Canadian viewers, while fans in the United States and around the world can stream the series on Victory+.
