Tigers win fourth straight, last two without McKenna

Oasiz Wiesblatt scored his 30th goal of the season on Saturday.

Adversity seems to be firing up the Medicine Hat Tigers.

On Saturday night, the Tigers won their fourth straight game blanking the Wheat Kings 5-0 before 3,264 spectators in Westoba Place in Brandon. The last two victories in Medicine Hat’s current streak have been accomplished without having superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna in the lineup.

The 17-year-old, who is the best player not only on the Tigers but in the entire WHL, has been serving a three game suspension for receiving a slashing major and a game misconduct in the Tigers 5-3 win over the Oil Kings in Edmonton last Sunday. McKenna has one game remaining on his suspension that will be served when the Tigers host the Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday (7 p.m. local time, Co-op Place).

With 4:39 remaining in the win over the Oil Kings, McKenna was hit high by Oil Kings 20-year-old defenceman Josh Mori near the Edmonton bench. The two spun towards the ice and McKenna swung his stick, with two hands, breaking his stick on Mori’s while the rearguard fell to the ice in a heap.

Mori left that game, but has played in all of Edmonton’s ensuing contests since the McKenna slash.

The incident has sparked lots of talk about the abuse McKenna has taken from opposing teams especially against the Oil Kings, who play a high tension and agitating style of hockey. Feisty overage centre Marshall Finnie often plays the role of top agitator on the Edmonton side.

The Tigers were also without standout defenceman Jonas Woo and Bryce Pickford, who are listed as week-to-week with upper body injuries. Tigers 19-year-old star left-winger Andrew Basha is out indefinitely with a lower body injury and last played in a 4-0 home ice win against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Ryder Ritchie had a goal in the Tigers win on Saturday.

Star centre Cayden Lindstrom, who turned 19-years-old in early February, is with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets as he rehabs a back injury. Lindstrom, who was selected in the first round and fourth overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, is skating under the watchful eye of the NHL club. He hasn’t played a game in the 2024-25 campaign.

Still, the Tigers are overcoming all of these obstacles. With their win over the Wheat Kings, the Tigers continue to lead the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 41-17-3-1 mark, and they currently sit second in the overall WHL standings.

Medicine Hat opened the scoring at the 10:03 mark of the opening frame, when captain Oasiz Wiesblatt potted his 30^th goal of the campaign. That marked the first time in his WHL career the 20-year-old centre cracked the 30-goal plateau for one season.

The Tigers offence blew open the contest scoring three goals in the first 9:58 of the second to surge ahead 4-0. Mathew Ward, who is an overage centre, started the surge scoring on a spin-a-round shot from the point.

Star 18-year-old right-winger Ryder Ritchie picked up the second tally of the surge firing home a shot from inside the right faceoff circle to the top left corner of the Brandon net after a toe-drag move. The tally was Ritchie’s 25^th goal of the campaign.

Rookie right-winger Liam Ruck, who recently turned 17-years-old, completed the surge potting home a rebound from the front of the Brandon net that came from a shot by 18-year-old rookie winger Carter Cunningham. Ruck’s tally was his 19^th goal of the campaign.

Marcus Pacheco, who is a 19-year-old right-winger, rounded out the game’s scoring potting the Tigers final goal with 3:43 remaining in the third period.

Tigers star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin had an outstanding outing making 26 saves for his third shutout win of the season. Meneghin made a number of spectacular saves in the contest.

Harrison Meneghin made 26 saves in a shutout victory.

The Wheat Kings started 19-year-old star netminder Carson Bjarnason, who turned away 20-of-24 shots sent his way. Ethan Eskit played the third period in relief turning away 7-of-8 shots sent in his direction.

Brandon fell to 32-19-4-3 to sit one point behind the Prince Albert Raiders (33-20-5-1) for first in the WHL’s East Division. The Wheat Kings have one game in hand on the Raiders.

The Wheat Kings return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Red Deer to face the 23-28-5-2 Rebels (7 p.m. local time, Peavey Mart Centrium).

The Tigers are looking to continue their roll and keep building momentum over their final six regular season games heading into the WHL Playoffs.

Broncos rally to 4-3 OT win over Raiders

Hunter Mayo had a dream night for a defenceman.

The 20-year-old rearguard with the Swift Current Broncos scored the overtime winner, picked up an assist and was a plus-four in the plus-minus department in his team’s wild 4-3 comeback victory over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday night. The Broncos erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to the delight of most of the 2,510 spectators at the InnovationPlex.

After the two sides played through a scoreless first period, Raiders star 20-year-old right-winger Rilen Kovacevic had the only goal in the second frame giving the visitors a 1-0 edge.

At the 9:13 mark of the third while working on the power play, Raiders breakout star 19-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube potted his 27^th goal of the campaign to increase his squad’s advantage to 2-0.

Broncos 19-year-old right-winger Rylan Gould scored 45 seconds later to cut the Raiders edge to 2-1.

Prince Albert would score their second power-play goal of the contest coming off the stick of rookie right-winger Riley Boychuk, who turned 17-years-old in late January, to push their edge out to 3-1 with 6:55 remaining in the third.

With 3:49 left in the third, Broncos 19-year-old defenceman Grayson Burzynski scored to trim the Raiders lead to 3-2. Mayo picked up an assist on that tally.

Broncos 20-year-old centre Carlin Dezainde proceeded to pot his 31^st goal of the campaign with 57.8 seconds remaining in the third to even the score at 3-3. Swift Current netted that goal with netminder Reid Dyck pulled for an extra attacker.

In overtime, Mayo roofed the winner to the top right corner of the Prince Albert net with 1:24 remaining in the extra session to deliver the Broncos to a 4-3 victory.

Dyck stopped 33 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Broncos, who improved to 31-25-1-1. Swift Current’s magic number of standings points needed to clinch a berth in the WHL Playoffs shrank down to 10.

Max Hildebrand turned away 24 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders record moved to 33-20-5-1 to sit one point ahead of the Brandon Wheat Kings (32-19-4-3) for first place in the WHL’s East Division. Prince Albert is two standings points away from clinching a berth in the WHL Playoffs.

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they host the 15-37-5-2 Regina Pats (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Broncos get back at it on Wednesday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Warriors wipe out 12-game skid with 6-2 win over Blades

After failing to collect a victory in the month of February, the Moose Jaw Warriors are one-for-one in the win department for the month of March.

On Saturday before 2,981 pumped spectators at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, the host Warriors dumped the visiting Saskatoon Blades 6-2. The win ends a 12-game skid for the Warriors, who dropped 11 games in regulation and one contest in overtime over that stretch.

Before Saturday’s victory, the Warriors last win came back on January 31, when they came up with a 4-3 victory on home ice after a tiebreaking shootout against the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Warriors 20-year-old import left-winger Krzysztof Macias recorded a hat trick in the win over the Blades on Saturday, while 19-year-old defenceman Aiden Ziprick picked up three assists. Moose Jaw netminder Matthew Hutchison had an outstanding night stopping 36 shots in the win for a Warriors side that sits last in the WHL with a 12-41-5-2 mark.

Macias and Warriors captain Lynden Lakovic scored to give the host side a 2-0 edge in the opening frame. Blades 18-year-old right-winger Hunter Laing scored before the first period ended to cut the Warriors lead to 2-1.

Macias added his second of the contest at the 1:33 mark of the second to put Moose Jaw up 3-1. Blades rookie defenceman Jordan Martin, who turned 18-years-old in January, tallied a goal at the six-minute mark of the second to trim the Warriors lead to 3-2.

Macias scored on the power play to complete his hat trick before the second ended to push the Warriors lead out to 4-2.

Moose Jaw rounded out the game’s scoring in the third with a power-play goal from 19-year-old left-winger Pavel McKenzie and Lakovic potting a marker into an empty net for his second goal of the contest. Lakovic had an assist for a three-point night, and McKenzie had two helpers to go with his goal in a three-point night.

Ethan McCallum turned away 16-of-21 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades.

The Blades fell to 30-20-3-4 with the loss, and their magic number of standings points to clinch a berth in the WHL Playoffs is seven. Saskatoon is five points behind the Prince Albert Raiders (33-20-5-1) for first place in the East Division and four points back of the Brandon Wheat Kings (32-19-4-3) for second place.

The Blades have two games in hand on the Raiders and one game in hand on the Wheat Kings.

Saskatoon returns to action in Sunday hosting the 33-22-2-2 Edmonton Oil Kings (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Warriors are off until this coming Friday when they host the Regina Pats (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

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