What a battle! What a finish!

Raiders take conference title, Tigers rally falls short

The story lines were plentiful as the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series closed out.

In a battle of two powerhouse teams, the Prince Albert Raiders were out to show their time is now. The defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers were not ready to give up their crown.

Going into Game 6 of the best-of-seven conference title tilt at Co-op Place on Sunday, the visiting Raiders were in position to advance with a win. The host Tigers were looking to force the series back to Prince Albert for a series deciding Game 7 back in Prince Albert set for Tuesday.

The Tigers brought in Oasiz Wiesblatt, who was the captain of last year’s WHL championship team, to fire up the 5,181 spectators at Co-op place with the “Whose House, Our House” chant pregame. Wiesblatt just finished his first season of professional hockey playing with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.

When the dust settled, the Raiders prevailed 7-6 to take the series 4-2. They advance to the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series to take on the Everett Silvertips. That marks the first time the Raiders will play in the WHL final since they last won it in 2019.

Riley Boychuk had a pair of goals for the Tigers on Sunday.

The valiant Tigers took part in one last salute from their hometown crowd. Their overagers in right-winger Ethan Neutens, centre Andrew Basha and hometown product Josh Van Mulligen took a final bow. Basha finished the night with four assists, while Van Mulligen had one goal and once assist.

Medicine Hat’s Christian players did one final prayer at centre ice before departing to allow the conference trophy presentation to the Raiders. The Raiders had a quick moment with the Eastern Conference Championship trophy taking a team picture before departing to their dressing room.

The Tigers opened the contest with a big push. Early in the contest, Tigers star left-winger Markus Ruck started the contest in an uncharacteristic fashion throwing a rare bodycheck on Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett.

The hosts opened the scoring with 6:31 remaining in the first as star defenceman Jonas Woo wired home a mid range shot from the front of the Prince Albert net to the top left corner of the goal. That marked just the second time in the post-season the Raiders gave up the first goal of a game and both occurrences came at the hand of the Tigers. At the time of Woo’s goal, the Tigers were holding a 9-4 edge in shots on goal.

Josh Van Mulligen had one goal and one assist for the Tigers.

One of the many momentum changes occurred with 4:17 remaining in the opening frame. During a net scramble around the Medicine Hat net, Raiders standout right-winger Riley Boychuk found a loose puck at the left side of the goal and popped the puck home to even the score at 1-1.

The 1980s shootout then commenced in earnest at the start of the second period. Centre Noah Davidson scored on the power play just 75 seconds into the stanza to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

Prince Albert answered back quickly. Star centre Braeden Cootes tallied at the 3:47 mark of the second on the power play, and star defenceman Daxon Rudolph scored at the 5:39 mark of the frame at even strength to give the visitors a 3-2 lead.

At that point, the Tigers elected to pull starting netminder Jordan Switzer after turning away 10-of-13 shots. Carter Casey turned back 14-of-18 shots playing the rest of the way in relief. He ultimately took the loss in goal for Medicine Hat.

Daxon Rudolph had one goal and two assists for the Tigers.

Casey became Medicine Hat’s goalie of record on the scoresheet a short time after entering the contest. At the 8:31 mark of the second, Tigers standout right-winger Luke Cozens potted his first of the post-season to even the score at 3-3.

Momentum proceeded to jump behind the Raiders in a huge way. They closed out the second scoring three straight goals to go ahead 6-3 coming off the sticks of star 20-year-old centre Aiden Oiring on the power play, star right-winger Brayden Dube and standout 17-year-old rookie right-winger Jonah Sivertson. Dube’s tally came with 2:01 remaining in the second, and Sivertson’s came with 33.5 seconds remaining in the stanza.

During that goal surge, the Tigers appeared they might have lost star captain Bryce Pickford for the contest. With 2:46 remaining in the second, he was hit on his left side by Raiders feisty 16-year-old left-winger Connor Howe, while Howe’s stick also connected across the visor of Pickford’s helmet. No penalties were called on the play.

Pickford went down, and he then got up and proceeded to skate straight to the Tigers dressing room favouring his left shoulder. Miraculously, the rearguard returned for the start of the third period.

Noah Davidson had one goal and one assist for the Tigers.

His return seemed to inspire the Tigers. Kade Stengrim tallied at the 2:20 mark of the third, and Van Mulligen found the back of the net at the 6:59 mark of the stanza to cut the Raiders lead down to 6-5.

Medicine Hat pushed for the equalizer, but the Raiders came up with a key insurance goal with 7:01 remaining in the frame. Raiders centre Evan Smith made a high looping pass out of his own zone down the right wing to Boychuk springing him into the Medicine Hat end on a two-on-two rush.

Boychuk made a toe drag move around a Tigers defenceman, slipped down, got up and fired a shot to the top right corner of the Medicine Hat net to push the visitor’s edge out to 7-5.

The Tiger truly did battle to the bitter end. With 6.9 seconds remaining in the third, star right-winger Liam Ruck one-timed home a shot from the front of the Prince Albert net converting a beauty setup pass from Basha to cut the Raiders lead to 7-6. Medicine Hat couldn’t come up with a miracle play to get the equalizer to force overtime.

Michal Orsulak stopped 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Cootes and Rudolph each finished with one goal and two assists. Rudolph leads the WHL post-season in scoring with 23 points coming off nine goals and 14 assists to go with a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department.

Braeden Cootes had one goal and two assists for the Raiders.

Woo, Davidson and Cozens each finished with one goal and one assist for the Tigers. Yaroslav Bryzgalov had a pair of assists for Medicine Hat. For the moment, Basha sits second in the scoring race in the WHL Playoffs with 21 points coming off three goals and 18 assists to go with a plus-one rating.

During the regular season, the Raiders topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Tigers finished second in the Eastern Conference, captured the Central Division title and finished third overall in the WHL during the regular season with a 50-10-5-3 mark. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. After losing a number of key players from their WHL championship club last season, the Tigers were not expected to do as well as they did at the start of the 2025-26 campaign.

The Raiders and Tigers met four times in the 2025-26 regular season. Each side claimed two regulation time wins including one victory at home and one the road. Each side scored 16 goals in those four head-to-head contests.

Jonas Woo had one goal and one assist for the Tigers.

In the Eastern Conference final, the Tigers were battling a big flu bug for the entire series. Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said at the end of Game 6 that his players who hit the ice for his team still were not at full strength, but he gave the Raiders credit for the series win. Desjardins said the Raiders are a really good team, and he wasn’t sure his squad would have won the series at full health but would have liked to have had that opportunity.

The Raiders will now face another tough foe in the Silvertips in the WHL Championship Series. The Silvertips swept the Penticton Vees 4-0 in the Western Conference Championship Series and will enter the WHL final after a long rest period. Game 1 of the WHL final is set for this coming Friday at the Angel of the Winds Arena with a start time still to be announced.

Everett topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-8-2-1 and was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Silvertips 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records. They are appearing in the WHL final for the first time since 2018, when they fell in the championship series in six games to the Swift Current Broncos.

Aiden Oiring scored for the Raiders on Sunday.

As for the now completed Eastern Conference final, it delivered the thrills that were expected and a memorable conclusion for both teams. The Raiders exited the series as a deserving conference champion, and the Tigers went down with the fight fitting a defending league champion.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Corkish hatty puts Raiders one win away from WHL final

Tigers fall 6-3 in Game 5 of Eastern Conference final

The Raiders celebrate a hat trick goal from Owen Corkish (#32).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Owen Corkish capitalized on his moment to be the x-factor for the Prince Albert Raiders.

On Friday night playing before a raucous sellout crowd of 3,299 spectators at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre, Corkish, who is an 18-year-old rookie left-winger, delivered his first WHL hat trick in either regular season or post-season play. The Cottage Grove, Minnesota, product’s three-goal night powered the host Raiders to a 6-3 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers in Game 5 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series.

With the Raiders clinging to a 4-3 lead late in the third period, Corkish fired home a shot from his own zone into an empty Tigers net with 2:31 remaining in the third period to complete his hat trick. Following that tally, hats rained down from the Raiders faithful at the Hauser in celebration of that goal.

Owen Corkish (#32) breaks away from Noah Davidson (#39).

“I just put one and one together and tried to go for it and see what happens,” said Corkish. “Fortunately, it went in.”

If there was going to be any other drama, Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube wrapped home an empty-net tally with 1:29 remaining in the third to round out the 6-3 final score in favour of the Prince Albert side.

With the win, the Raiders take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven set with the Tigers. They will try to close the series out in Game 6 on Sunday at 6 p.m. local time at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.

Before looking forward to Game 6, Corkish said his hat trick performance in Game 5 ranks up there with the biggest hockey games he has ever had.

Owen Corkish sets to score his long distance empty-net goal.

“It is definitely one of them,” said Corkish. “I’m fortunate enough to have the night I had with the guys around me.

“I couldn’t have done it without those guys. We have such a tight group and such an amazing group that it could have been any one of those guys tonight. I’m just proud to be a part of this group.”

The Raiders came storming out of the gate. At the five-minute mark of the opening frame, standout 17-year-old right-winger Jonah Sivertson had the puck in the left corner of the Medicine Hat and passed it to linemate Alisher Sarkenov in front of the goal. Sarkenov quickly blasted the puck home to put the host side up 1-0.

Prince Albert outshot Medicine Hat 16-3 in the opening 20 minutes, but the Tigers were able to force a 1-1 tie before the stanza came to a close. With 2:50 remaining in the first, Tigers star 19-year-old defenceman Jonas Woo popped home a puck close in at the left side of the Prince Albert net for the equalizer.

Jonas Woo scored the Tigers first goal on Friday.

“We let them get off to a great start, which we can’t do in their building,” said Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins. “We were so lucky to come out 1-1.”

While 18-year-old rookie netminder Carter Casey came up big in the opening frame, he couldn’t keep the Raiders at bay forever.

Just 22 seconds into the second period, Corkish tipped home a point shot from Raiders captain Justice Christensen to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. Raiders 16-year-old rookie right-winger Ben Harvey then tapped home a puck at the right side of Medicine Hat net to push Prince Albert’s advantage to 3-1 at the 8:57 mark of the frame. Harvey converted a beauty setup pass from linemate Maddix McCagherty from the left side boards in the Medicine Hat zone.

Alisher Sarkenov scored the Raiders first goal on Friday.

With 6:24 remaining in the second, Corkish picked up his second goal of the contest banging home the rebound of his own shot in front of the Medicine Hat net. Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald was pleased with the play of the line of Corkish, 20-year-old star centre Aiden Oiring and Dube calling them dynamic. Dube finished with an assist to go with his goal, while Oiring had one helper.

“I thought their line did a great job tonight,” said McDonald. “They were on the right side of pucks.

“They checked really well. They got their offensive chances, and they capitalized on them and really used their speed tonight.”

The Tigers proceeded to battle back in the third. 

Just 1:55 into the frame, a shot from Tigers 19-year-old left-winger Cam Parr deflected off the skate of 20-year-old right-winger Ethan Neutens into the Prince Albert net to cut the Raiders lead to 4-2.

Ethan Neutens scored for the Tigers on Friday.

At the 9:19 mark of the third, Tigers right-winger Carter Cunningham put a shot on goal from the left side of the Raiders net that was stopped by Raiders star import netminder Michal Orsulak. The puck rebounded to the right side of the net to Tigers 20-year-old rearguard Josh Van Mulligen. Van Mulligen fired home the rebound to trim the Raiders advantage down to 4-3.

While the Tigers have posted their share of comeback victories this season, they weren’t able to rally back any further on this night. The tallies by Neutens and Van Mulligen set the stage for the Raiders two empty-net markers to close the contest out.

Desjardins was pleased to see his squad battle back to make the contest a one-goal game again in the third.

“We got the first one,” said Desjardins. “You knew you had a chance.

Ben Harvey had a goal for the Raiders on Friday.

“Then, we got the second. We had some looks to get the third as well. We just didn’t get it.

“They bent a little bit, but they didn’t break. They stayed with their game plan, and they were able to pull it out.”

McDonald was happy to see there was no panic coming from his Raiders side after the Tigers pulled to within 4-3.

“They’re a good team,” said McDonald. “You can’t give them chances.

“They have the ability to put them in the back of the net. I really liked our guys’ calmness tonight. They got those two in the third, and guys were even keel.

“We just continued to go about our business and continued to win our battles and lock it down.”

Brayden Dube had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

Orsulak stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Casey turned away 41-of-45 shots to take the setback in net for the Tigers.

Prince Albert also held a 49-21 advantage in the faceoff circle.

During the regular season, the Raiders topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Tigers, who are the defending WHL champions, finished second in the Eastern Conference, captured the Central Division title and finished third overall in the WHL during the regular season with a 50-10-5-3 mark. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Tigers enjoy a goal from Josh Van Mulligen (#22).

The Raiders and Tigers met four times in the 2025-26 regular season. Each side claimed two regulation time wins including one victory at home and one the road. Each side scored 16 goals in those four head-to-head contests.

The winner of the Eastern Conference final will face the Everett Silvertips in the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series. The Silvertips swept the Penticton Vees 4-0 in the Western Conference Championship Series. Everett was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Looking towards Game 6, Desjardins wants his team to be better in a couple of areas.

Fans at the Art Hauser Centre cheer on the Raiders.

“We’ve got to be more aggressive,” said Desjardins. “They’ve got lots of speed and the worst thing with speed is to back up.

“You’ve got to be aggressive on speed and gap up and handle it. We’ve got to be better in the faceoff circle too. They were really good in the faceoff circle.

“Give them credit, but they’ve got to win another one.”

The Raiders celebrate their win on Friday.

While the Raiders will try to clinch the series and the Eastern Conference title on Sunday, Corkish said his squad has to focus on business as usual on the ice.

“I think there is nothing we’ve got to overcomplicate,” said Corkish. “I think we’ve just got to simplify our game and keep doing what we’re doing, and it is going to turn out good.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Rudolph’s house – D-man’s four points powers Raiders victory

WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series tied 2-2

Daxon Rudolph (#10) his second of two goals on Wednesday.

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – Co-op Place was Daxon Rudolph’s house.

The Prince Albert Raiders star defenceman had a monster game when his team needed it the most. On Wednesday playing in Game 4 of a WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series, Rudolph had a pair of power-play goals and two assists to power his Raiders to 6-3 victory over the host Medicine Hat Tigers to the disappointment of most of the 5,324 spectators in attendance at Co-op Place outside of a sizable contingent of Raiders supporters.

With the win, the Raiders even the best-of-seven series at 2-2. Game 5 is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. Prince Albert picked up the victory after dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker in overtime to the Tigers in Game 3.

Daxon Rudolph had two goals and two assists on Wednesday.

“Obviously, we didn’t get the result we wanted last night, so we knew tonight was going to be a big one,” said Rudolph, who turned 18-years-old in early March. “We had to even the series up before heading home.

“We gave it our all out there. For myself, I felt really good from the get go. I happened to put a couple in the net and help others as well.

“It felt good for myself and then the team holding out to get the win.”

It was obvious early in the contest that Rudolph had a good jump. In the opening moments of the first period, he went coast to coast on a rush and was stoned by a left pad save from Tigers sophomore netminder Jordan Switzer.

Rudolph, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 202 pounds, wasn’t going to be kept off the scoreboard for long. At the 10:16 mark of the first, the Lacombe, Alta., product fired home a point shot through a screen to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.

Daxon Rudolph has 19 points in 13 games in the WHL Playoffs.

Tigers 20-year-old right-winger Ethan Neutens said his squad likely didn’t do the best job of tracking the Raiders rearguard.

“I think he (Rudolph) is a good player,” said Neutens. “All credit to him, and their team.

“They’ve got a good power-play unit. They are a skilled team. They are fast, and I think we just didn’t do as good of a job as we usually do or can of containing him.

“I think moving forward we have to realize that those are the type of players that we have to contain to help us be successful in our game.”

Daxon Rudolph is a top prospect for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.

Just 84 seconds after Rudolph’s first tally, Raiders 19-year-old centre Evan Smith fired home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0.

Medicine Hat put a halt to the Raiders momentum eight seconds later on a positive break goal from 17-year-old centre Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll. Gordon-Carroll was attempting to one-time a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle, but he partially fanned on the attempt.

Raiders star rookie import netminder Michal Orsulak misjudged what turned out to be an off-speed shot and the puck went between his legs into the Prince Albert net to cut the visitor’s lead to 2-1. That just set the stage for Rudolph to have his next big moment in the contest.

The Raiders contigent at Co-op Place salutes their team.

Just 25 seconds into the second period and working on the power play, Rudolph burst into the Medicine Hat zone on a rush, used a Tigers defender as a screen and wired a bullet to the top right corner of the Medicine Hat net to push the Raiders lead out to 3-1.

“He (Rudolph) is just a good hockey player,” said Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins. “He is going to score.

“He could have had three in the first game (in Medicine Hat on Tuesday). He had so many chances the first night. He just didn’t score.

Josh Van Mulligen had a pair of assists for the Tigers.

“He is a good player. You have to be aware of that. I don’t think we played our best coming back and finding guys.”

Rudolph would pick up his first assist of the night on the Raiders next tally at the 4:15 mark of the second. He got the puck to defensive partner and Raiders captain Justice Christensen at the left side boards in the Medicine Hat zone.

Christensen fired a shot that rebounded out to the right side of the net to Tigers 20-year-old star centre Aiden Oiring. Oiring popped the puck home into an empty cage to put the Raiders advantage out to 4-1.

At that point, the Tigers elected to pull Switzer, who turned away 12-of-16 shots to take the setback in net. Carter Casey played the rest of the way in relief turning away 18-of-20 shots sent his way.

The Tigers celebrate a goal from Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll (#11).

Casey would fall victim by a great play from Rudolph just 2:18 after entering the contest. Working the puck in the Medicine Hat zone, Rudolph took a pass from Christensen and jetted down the right side boards low to the right side of the Tigers net.

The skilled blue-liner put a pass across the face of the cage to Raiders standout left-winger Maddix McCagherty. McCagherty tapped the puck into the empty side of the net to make the visitors lead sit at 5-1.

Gordon-Carroll admitted that Rudolph was on a roll on Wednesday.

“Obviously, he (Rudolph) is a great player,” said Gordon-Carroll. “A great player is going to make plays.

Aiden Oiring does a fly by after scoring a goal for the Raiders.

“He has a big game tonight, so we got to go out next game and focus on him.”

Rudolph said all players want to have big outings in the playoffs. After Tigers star right-winger Liam Ruck scored the overtime winner for his side in Game 3, Rudolph said he was inspired to try to have a difference-making performance in Game 4.

“I think that kind of brings the best out of everyone,” said Rudolph, who is a top prospect for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft set for June 26 and 27 in Buffalo, New York. “I saw an interview of Liam (Ruck) last night saying everyone wants to be a big player in a big moment.

“It is no different for me just like he said. Everyone wants to step up in the playoffs, and I think it is a big part of who I am. When it really matters, I think I step up really well and can play some of my best hockey.”

Maddix McCagherty had a goal for the Raiders.

The Tigers attempted to battle back as Neutens scored 25 seconds after McCagherty’s tally to trim the Raiders edge to 5-2.

Max Heise tallied for the Raiders at the 9:07 mark of the third, and Gordon-Carroll picked up his second of the contest with 4:40 remaining in the stanza to round out the 6-3 final score in favour of the Raiders.

Orsulak stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Christensen and star centre Braeden Cootes each finished with two assists for Prince Albert. Local product and 20-year-old defenceman Josh Van Mulligen had a pair of helpers for the Tigers.

Medicine Hat late scratched Ruck before Wednesday’s game and also scratched import defenceman Niilopekka Muhonen with undisclosed ailments.

Max Heise had a third period goal for the Raiders.

Still, Wednesday night was a night that belonged to Rudolph. Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said his star defenceman was on point in all facets of his game.

“Offensively, he chips in with his goals and assists and a big time shot on the power play to get us started,” said McDonald. “He just continues to elevate his game as it goes on.

“He defends extremely hard. Anytime things might have got hairy for us out there, he was able to calm it down, him and his partner (Christensen) and continue to get pucks going in the right direction.”

During the regular season, the Raiders topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Justice Christensen had two assists for the Raiders.

The Tigers, who are the defending WHL champions, finished second in the Eastern Conference, captured the Central Division title and finished third overall in the WHL during the regular season with a 50-10-5-3 mark. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Raiders and Tigers met four times in the 2025-26 regular season. Each side claimed two regulation time wins including one victory at home and one the road. Each side scored 16 goals in those four head-to-head contests.

The winner of the Eastern Conference final will face the Everett Silvertips in the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series. The Silvertips swept the Penticton Vees 4-0 in the Western Conference Championship Series.

Heading back to the Hauser for Game 5, Rudolph said the series is at a new beginning.

“Obviously, they took one in our barn, so we knew we had to get one here in their rink,” said Rudolph, who has eight goals and 11 assists in 13 post-season contests. “It is important to tie this one up and have a fresh start heading back home.

The Raiders head to their dressing room all smiles after their win.

“(It is) a best-of-three series now. It all starts at zeros again, and we’ll keep battling.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Power of the Hauser – Raiders roll to 8-3 win over Tigers

Prince Albert claims opener of Eastern Conference final

The Raiders and their fans enjoy a goal from Brayden Dube (#15).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The Prince Albert Raiders could feel the power of the Art Hauser Centre.

On Friday night, the Raiders were once again out to show home ice advantage is a real thing, when they skate in their storied and historic rink in Game 1 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series against the defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers. In that clash, the Raiders scored first, led 2-1 after the first period, went ahead 4-1 at one point in the second before cruising to an 8-3 victory.

The victory came before a raucous sellout crowd of 3,299 spectators at the 2,580 seat facility.

“I thought we played well,” said Raiders captain Justice Christensen, whose squad will host the Tigers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Hauser. “We got to our pace and our hunt like we wanted to do early.

Part of the Hauser’s sellout crowd cheer on the Raiders.

“We scored some big goals there at some key times, and then we just continued to build. Overall, I was just happy with the game.”

Christensen, who has been a full-time member of the Raiders since the start of 2022-23 campaign, said the enthusiasm of the fans gave his team a boost. Throughout the day on Friday, it snowed steadily in “Hockey Town North” creating large snow banks and road conditions that were far from optimal. When looking out at the crowd at the Hauser, it appeared there were very few unused tickets, and Christensen said the players picked up on that.

“The atmosphere is great,” said Christensen, whose team is 6-0 at home in the current WHL post-season. “There is a lot of energy, and they are behind us.

Brock Cripps had three assists for the Raiders on Friday.

“Coming out to that kind of energy gives us a lot of energy, and it was a lot of fun to play in front of.”

During the pre-game, Raiders long time anthem singer and billet mom Carole Ring raised her microphone to the crowd to let the fans sing a large part of the national anthem. When the game got going, the Raiders hit the scoreboard first at the 6:39 mark of the first period.

On a Tigers rush up ice, Raiders 20-year-old star centre Aiden Oiring knocked the puck off the stick of a Tigers player at centre ice to Raider 18-year-old import left-winger Alisher Sarkenov. Sarkenov quickly got the puck back to Oiring to start a rush into the Medicine Hat zone.

Brayden Dube had the Raiders first goal on Friday.

Oiring passed the puck to star 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube on the right wing. Dube blew past the Tigers defence to get in alone on Medicine Hat rookie standout netminder Carter Casey. The Raiders forward tucked a backhand home five-hole on Casey to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

So far in this year’s WHL Playoffs, the Raiders have scored first in all 10 games they have played.

With 4:23 remaining in the first, the Tigers answered back. Tigers star left-winger Markus Ruck entered the Prince Albert zone on a two-on-one break jetting down the left wing. He blew a shot to the top right corner of the Prince Albert net past Raiders star rookie import netminder Michal Orsulak to even the score at 1-1.

Before the opening frame ended, Christensen fired home a point shot for his first goal of the post-season to put the Raiders up 2-1 heading into the first intermission.

Markus Ruck had the Tigers first goal on Friday.

Prince Albert kept rolling in the second, when head-turning 16-year-old rookie left-winger Ben Harvey put home a shot from the left point to push the Raiders lead out to 3-1 just 2:43 into the frame. With 6:07 remaining in the second, the Raider struck on the power-play when star centre Max Heise one-timed home a shot from the front of the Medicine Hat net to give the hosts a 4-1 advantage. At that point, it seemed like nothing could stop the noise at the Hauser hitting louder and louder heights.

“I had chills going out there tonight,” said Heise. “It is pretty cool to see this community and this town rally around our team.

“It is really special, and all the boys in there get fired up for it.”

Justice Christensen scored his first goal of the 2026 post-season.

The Tigers attempted to push back. With 3:02 remaining in the second, Tigers sophomore 17-year-old centre Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll redirected home a puck to the back of the Prince Albert net to trim the Raiders lead to 4-2 heading into the second intermission.

The Raiders proceeded to open the third with power-play goals coming off the sticks of Oiring and Sarkenov to surge the host side’s lead out to 6-2. Tigers captain Bryce Pickford off a mid-range shot to trim the Raiders edge to 6-3.

Prince Albert rounded out the game’s scoring with Oiring netting his second of the contest and Evan Smith potting home a single.

Max Heise (#14) does the fly by after scoring on the power play.

“I thought Prince Albert was better than us tonight,” said Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins. “I thought they worked hard.

“I thought they won a lot of one-on-one battles. We knew it was going to be a tough building coming into, and we were right. It was a tough building, and it didn’t go the way we wanted.”

Orsulak stopped 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Casey turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Tigers.

Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll had the Tigers second goal on Friday.

Raiders standout 16-year-old rookie defenceman Brock Cripps picked up three assists on Friday, while star centre Braeden Cootes and star defenceman Daxon Rudolph each had a pair of assists.

Also in the contest, the Raiders were 3-for-4 on the power play, while the Tigers didn’t see any time playing with the man advantage. Medicine Hat was without star defenceman Jonas Woo and 20-year-old right-winger Ethan Neutens with undisclosed ailments, and they are basically day-to-day.

The Raiders topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL during the regular season with a 52-10-5-1 mark. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Ben Harvey had one goal for the Raiders on Friday.

The Tigers, who are the defending WHL champions, finished second in the Eastern Conference, captured the Central Division title and finished third overall in the WHL during the regular season with a 50-10-5-3 mark. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

During the 2025-26 regular season, the Raiders and Tigers met four times. Each side claimed two regulation time wins including one victory at home and one the road. Each side scored 16 goals in those four head-to-head contests.

Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald, who was born and raised in Prince Albert, loved the energy his team’s fans brought in Game 1 on Friday.

“This place is electric,” said McDonald. “I said in the pre-game media that I don’t think four feet of snow could have kept Raider fans out of this rink for this game tonight.

Raiders G Michal Orsulak pounces on a puck in a crowd.

“Our crowd and our fan base is extremely passionate, and they really rally our group.”

While the Raiders got a lift from their fans, Desjardins, who has seen pretty much everything in his coaching career, was not shaken by what happened on Friday. He said that before the Eastern Conference final with the Raiders started he had it in his mind that every game was going to be a hard game.

“Once a game is done, it is just done, and you move on to the next one,” said Desjardins. “It is just real simple.

“It doesn’t matter if you win. It doesn’t matter if you lose. They can win, and I believe we can win in this building.”

Aiden Oiring had two goals and an assist for the Raiders.

Desjardins said the Raiders a high-quality opponent, and with that said, he wouldn’t waiver in the belief he has in his player.

“I just think they’re a really good hockey team,” said Desjardins. “I have to believe that we’ll find a way to be better.

“We weren’t good enough tonight, and it is pretty simple. They were just a better team tonight.”

Looking towards Game 2 on Saturday, Heise said his Raiders just have to keep up the strong effort like they had in Game 1.

“We’ve seen these guys before a lot,” said Heise. “They’re really fast off the transition.

“We’ve got to get pucks under and just keep playing physical on them. They are a really good team over there. You’ve got to give them credit.

The Raiders salute their fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

“They’ll capitalize on chances too, so we’ve got to be stronger in the D-zone.”

NOTES – The Raiders had another huge 50/50 pot for Friday’s game with online sale combined with sales in the building. The take home prize was $98,450 and will go to the person with ticket number B-144538.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Biggest win of the season

Blades down Tigers 3-2 after tiebreaking shootout

The Blades celebrate their win over the Tigers on Friday.

If the Saskatoon Blades need a boost in the “believe” department, they got it against one of the best the CHL has to offer.

On Friday night playing before 4,263 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the host Blades found themselves trailing the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 2-1 late in the third period of a WHL regular season contest. The Tigers came into the contest sitting third overall in the WHL, leading the circuit’s Central Division and were rated fifth in the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings that were released on Tuesday.

Inside the final minute of the third, the Blades were working the puck in the Medicine Hat zone with star netminder Evan Gardner pulled for an extra skater. The Blades worked the puck down to star 17-year-old centre Cooper Williams, who was positioned off the right of the Medicine Hat net just above the icing line.

Cooper Williams scored with 55.8 seconds remaining in the third.

Williams ripped a shot from that spot past Tigers 18-year-old rookie netminder Carter Casey with 55.8 seconds remaining on the clock to force a 2-2 tie and overtime.

The two squads proceeded to skate through a five-minute three-versus-three overtime still locked in a 2-2 tie causing the contest to go to a tiebreaking shootout. Blades 18-year-old centre Hayden Harsanyi scored in the second round of the shootout and Gardner turned away all three shooters he faced to deliver the Blades to a 1-0 victory in the tiebreaking session and a 3-2 win in the contest overall.

The win allowed the Blades to improve to 24-16-3-1 to sit fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Tigers saw their record move to 32-7-3-3 to remain third overall in the WHL and second overall in the Eastern Conference.

Hayden Harsanyi had the shootout winner for the Blades.

The Blades victory over the Tigers was both a gutty and surprising one. Saskatoon’s odds of pulling out the upset were hampered due to entering the contest having four defencemen out of the lineup due to injury.

The hosts were missing Derek Thurston and Jordan Martin due to upper body injuries and Isaac Poll and Kaden Allan due to lower body injuries. In order to take the ice with six defencemen, the Blades had to dress a pair of 16-year-old associate player call ups.

Julian Revel skated in his fourth game with the Blades having been brought in from the Edge School Under-18 Prep team in Calgary. Luke Dumas suited up in his second game for the Blades after being brought in from the Northern Alberta Xtreme Under-18 Prep team located in Devon, Alberta, which is just southwest of Edmonton.

Ethan Neutens scored to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers were missing a key member of their roster as captain Bryce Pickford was out with an upper body injury. Aside from Pickford’s absence, the Tigers had everyone else on their roster ready to be utilized.

While the Blades were incredibly short staffed on defence, they played the Tigers pretty much even up throughout the night on Friday.

The Tigers opened the game’s scoring at the 8:50 mark of the opening frame. Medicine Hat 20-year-old right-winger Ethan Neutens deflected home a point shot from rookie import 18-year-old left-winger Yaroslav Bryzgalov to give the visitors a one-goal edge.

While the visitors got the opening tally, they weren’t able to build their lead. The Tigers held an 11-10 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes. Casey and Gardner locked things down in their respective nets resulting in Medicine Hat going into the first intermission holding just the one-goal edge from Neutens’ tally.

Hunter Laing scored the Blades first goal in the third period.

The netminders on both sides continued to shine in a scoreless second period that saw the Tigers hold an 11-5 edge in shots on goal. With about 7:40 remaining in the frame, Blades 19-year-old right-winger Hunter Laing appeared to pop home the equalizer, but the play had been blown dead with a scrum around the Medicine Hat net.

With about 30 seconds remaining in the second, 18-year-old centre Kazden Mathies had a pair of chances in close in front of the Medicine Hat net, but he was denied by Casey.

Just before the midway mark of the third period, the Blades were finally able to break through on to the scoreboard to force a 1-1 tie. Laing had the to the right of the Medicine Hat net just above the icing line close to the right side boards. He slipped home a shot to the short side over top of Casey’s shoulder for the equalizer.

Andrew Basha gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead with 8:01 left in the third.

After Laing got the Blades on even terms, it appeared Tigers 20-year-old star centre Andrew Basha delivered what could have been a dagger moment in the contest. With 8:01 remaining in the second, Basha fired a shot from the left side boards in the Saskatoon zone that Gardner got a piece of, but the puck fell into the crease and slowly slid across the goal-line into the Saskatoon net to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

That set the stage for the dramatics where Williams netted the equalizer inside the final minute of the third and the Blades proceeded to get the win after the tiebreaking shootout.

Gardner stopped 27 shots over 65 minutes and all three shooters he faced in the shootout to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Casey turned away 29 shots over 65 minutes and one of two shooters in the shootout to take the extra time setback in net for the Tigers.

Evan Gardner came up with a big performance in goal.

Both teams entered the contest having solid success on the power play only to come up empty in that department. The Blades failed to score on five opportunities with the man advantage, and the Tigers were unable to score on three of their own power-play chances.

The Tigers return to action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the 34-6-4 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre). The Raiders, who are rated second in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, hold a two point lead over the Tigers for first in the Eastern Conference and second overall in the WHL. Prince Albert has a game in hand on Medicine Hat.

The Blades get back at it on Sunday when they travel to Edmonton to take on the 30-9-3-2 Oil Kings (4 p.m. local time, Rogers Place). The Oil Kings are rated sixth in the CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Blades were in good spirits after their win over the Tigers.

Throughout the 2025-26 campaign, the Blades have had a season that has been a bit all over the map. On Friday, they showed they can rise to the occasion and pick up wins over the elite in the WHL and by extension the CHL.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.