Doing it for Harry – Tigers rallying around netminder

Medicine Hat takes commanding 3-0 series lead on Raiders

Harrison Meneghin makes one of his 21 saves on Wednesday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – On a night when the Medicine Hat Tigers had the offensive fireworks going at full force, their thoughts were still with their main man in the net.

On Wednesday, the Tigers had a great night rolling to a 6-1 win over the host Prince Albert Raiders in Game 3 of a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Art Hauser Centre. The win allows the Tigers to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven set. They will try to close the series out in Game 4, which is slated for Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Hauser.

Just 58 seconds into the opening frame, Tigers star 19-year-old left-winger Hunter St. Martin roofed home the first shot of the contest from the right faceoff circle to the top right corner of the Prince Albert goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. St. Martin’s tally brought the raucous atmosphere created by the standing room crowd of 3,185 spectators at the 2,591 seat storied and historic home rink of the Raiders to a hush.

Harrison Meneghin plays the puck behind his own net.

St. Martin would finish with one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. He had helpers on the Tigers second and fourth tallies of the night.

Tigers superstar 17-year-old left-winger Gavin McKenna would steal the show with his own three-point night coming off one goal and two assists to go with a plus-one rating. He tallied his marker on a “Michigan” lacrosse-type goal play 76 seconds into the third period during four-versus-four action to give the Tigers a 5-1 lead. That tally is making all the major sports networks in Canada and has gone viral on various social media platforms.

While seemingly all the Tigers had big nights, it is safe to say they are all happy for their 20-year-old star netminder Harrison Meneghin, who was making his first start after attending the funeral for his father, Derek, last Thursday in South Surrey, B.C.

Harrison Meneghin tracks play in his own zone.

Meneghin made 21 saves to pick up the win in goal. He dressed as the Tigers backup for their wins over the Raiders in Games 1 and 2 this past Saturday and Sunday respectively at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.

Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins, who is wearing a button with Meneghin’s #35 and the word dad on it, was beaming with pride for his veteran puck stopper.

“It is a pretty difficult circumstance for sure,” said Desjardins. “Nobody knows what to do with that.

“It is a really tough one. You know, his family is unbelievable. When I was at the funeral, I was pretty impressed, pretty amazed by them.

Harrison Meneghin (#35) is embraced by two teammates.

“With Harrison (Meneghin), he has been good for us all year. He has battled lots of things. There is nothing really to say except he has got outstanding character.”

Desjardins then paused before continuing.

“I know he is playing for his dad,” said Desjardins. “I know that.

“For him, it is great to have a good night.”

Meneghin’s efforts were not lost on arguably his most famous teammate in McKenna, who seems to make nightly highlight reels recording points in his last 48 games played between the regular season and post-season. McKenna admitted he has been amazed by what Meneghin has been able to do.

“It has been huge for him to even be in between the pipes playing,” said McKenna. “It is very special.

Harrison Meneghin gives a stick tap thank you to a group of Tigers fans.

“We know he has gone through a lot, and we want to be there for him whenever we can. Obviously, I think the rink for him we want it to be a getaway to kind of feel normal again. We want to just comfort him when he needs it.

“He has been doing a heck of a job playing.”

After St. Martin put the Tigers up 1-0, the opening frame was fairly evenly played with the visitors holding a 9-8 edge in shots on goal. The game’s complexion changed greatly in the second.

Just 82 seconds into the second, Tigers overage centre Mathew Ward came down the left wing on a one-on-one rush and wired a shot to the top left corner of the Prince Albert net to push the visitor’s lead out to 2-0. St. Martin, who picked his first assist of the night on Ward’s tally, said it was big for his squad to score early at the beginning of periods.

Hunter St. Martin had one goal and two assists for the Tigers.

“The start and end of periods are huge for momentum and the overall game feel,” said St. Martin. “It was huge.

“Wardo (Mathew Ward) got us started in the second. I got us started in the first. It is just huge getting that momentum at the start of the period, so that you kind of take the energy out of the building.”

Shortly after Ward’s goal, the Raiders had a big chance to break on to the scoreboard when rookie centre Ethan Bibeau received a backdoor feed at the right side of the Medicine Hat net. Bibeau put a shot on goal only to be robbed by a sprawling left pad save by Meneghin.

At the 14:04 mark of the second, Tigers rookie import defenceman Veeti Vaisanen roofed home a power-play goal close in from the left side of the Prince Albert net to the top left corner of the goal. Vaisanen’s tally put the Tigers up 3-0.

Gavin McKenna had one goal and two assists for the Tigers.

Just 75 seconds later, Tigers right-winger Marcus Pacheco entered the Raiders zone on a two-on-one rush jetting down the left wing. Pacheco put a pass across the front of the Prince Albert net to star defenceman Tanner Molendyk, who quickly popped home his first of the post-season to push Medicine Hat’s advantage out to 4-0.

With 20.8 seconds remaining in the third, Raiders star defenceman Lukas Dragicevic deflected a puck home in front of the Medicine Hat that came via a point shot by standout rookie rearguard Daxon Rudolph to trim the Tigers lead to 4-1. For a moment, that looked to potentially set the stage for the Raiders to rally.

McKenna’s goal off the “Michigan” ended those hopes early in the third. Following his goal, McKenna had the puck on the left side boards of the Prince Albert zone and fed a pass to Tigers star right-winger Ryder Ritchie. Ritchie, who is a former member of the Raiders, jetted in alone and sniped a mid-height shot to the left side of the Prince Albert net to round out the 6-1 final score in favour of the visitors at the 5:12 mark of the frame.

Mathew Ward (#10) scored 82 seconds into the second period.

The Raiders elected to pull star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand after Ritchie’s tally. Hildebrand turned away 16-of-22 shots fired his way. Dimitri Fortin stopped all seven shots he faced in a relief effort.

“We had our chances early,” said Raiders interim head coach Ryan McDonald. “We created some chances.

“We just weren’t able to capitalize. They are a team that doesn’t need too many chances to put pucks in the back of the net. They capitalized on our mistakes and took advantage.”

The Raiders were without star left-winger Tomas Mrsic for a fifth straight contest having suffered a skate cut late in the first period of the Raiders victory in Game 5 in their first round series over the Edmonton Oil Kings. The Tigers were without star forwards Andrew Basha and Cayden Lindstrom.

Veeti Vaisanen had a big power-play goal for the Tigers.

Basha last played in the Tigers 4-0 home ice victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on December 28, 2024 and has been out with a lower body injury since that time. Lindstrom has been battling a back injury since December 16, 2023 and last suited up on April 5, 2024, when the Tigers fell 5-2 at home to be eliminated from the WHL Playoffs in Game 5 of a first round series against the Red Deer Rebels.

The Tigers topped the Eastern Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 47-17-3-1 mark. They took out the Swift Current Broncos in five games in a best-of-seven first round series. In their last 42 games between the regular season and playoffs, the Tigers are an impressive 35-4-2-1.

The Raiders won the WHL’s East Division title with a 39-23-5-1 mark. They overcame a 3-1 series deficit to down the Oil Kings 4-3 in the first round of the playoffs. McDonald said his Raiders will do their best to regroup to try and win a fourth straight elimination game on Thursday.

Lukas Dragicevic (#3) had the Raiders lone goal on Wednesday.

“It is sticking to the process and sticking to the game plan,” said McDonald. “The sun is going to come up tomorrow.

“We’ve been in this position before, and we will lean on the experience we just had. It is simplifying and sticking to our process.”

Since the WHL started in 1966-67, only three teams have rallied back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series to claim the set.

The Spokane Chiefs, who were guided by Mike Babcock as head coach, trailed the Portland Winterhawks 3-0 before rallying to take a first round series 4-3 in 1996. The Kelowna Rockets fell behind the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 in 2013 before rallying back to claim that first round series 4-3. The Saskatoon Blades fell behind the Red Deer Rebels 3-0 in an Eastern Conference semifinal series in 2023 and stormed back to take that series 4-3.

Ryder Ritchie had the Tigers sixth goal on Wednesday night.

The Raiders have rallied once from a 3-0 series deficit in their team’s history back in their junior A days. In the 1979 SJHL Playoffs, the Raiders trailed the junior A version of the Swift Current Broncos that existed at that time 3-0 in a best-of-seven second round series. The Raiders stormed back to take that series 4-3 and moved on to win the Centennial Cup as national junior A champions.

Desjardins is more concerned that this season’s Raiders squad rallied back to down the Oil Kings in round one. The Tigers bench boss said his squad has to focus even more to close out their series with the Raiders.

“There is no reason to look ahead,” said Desjardins. “That team came back from 3-1.

“They think they’re going to come back from 3-0. That is their plan. They are going to come hard.

The Tigers celebrate their victory on Wednesday night.

“They will give everything they’ve got to get it. Tomorrow is a tough one. We’ve got to be good.”

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