Tigers finish off Hurricanes, take WHL’s Eastern Conference title

For the first time since the era of Kris Russell, Derek Dorsett, Darren Helm and Matt Keetley, the Medicine Hat Tigers will play for a WHL championship.

On Wednesday in Game 4 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series, the Tigers built a 4-1 lead over the host Lethbridge Hurricanes at VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Medicine Hat held off a Lethbridge rally in the third period to prevail 5-3 before 5,024 spectators.

The win allowed the Tigers to sweep the best-of-seven set 4-0 and advance to the WHL Championship Series for the first time since 2007. Back in 2007, the Tigers captured their fifth WHL title with stars like Russell, Dorsett, Helm and Keetley on their roster.

Medicine Hat won that WHL crown in one of the most epic games in league history. That championship played against the Vancouver Giants went to a series-deciding Game 7 at the Tigers old legendary home rink – The Arena. Playing before a sellout crowd of 4,006 spectators, Brennan Bosch scored the winning goal in double overtime to give the Tigers a 3-2 victory.

In Wednesday’s clash in Lethbridge, the host Hurricanes got the quick jump. Just 2:32 into the opening frame, 19-year-old star left-winger Logan Wormald deked around Tigers star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin and put a backhand shot home to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. Wormald’s goal came off an offensive rush into the Medicine Hat zone.

Just over seven minutes later, the Tigers evened the score 1-1 on a short-handed goal by star overage centre Mathew Ward. Ward received a pass from star left-winger Hunter St. Martin to get a good chance to score on the Hurricanes net.

After receiving the puck, Ward put a toe drag on a Hurricanes back checker, went backhand to forehand and tucked home the equalizer past Hurricanes star netminder Jackson Unger.

With 5:50 remaining in the first and working on the power play, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna got the puck to offensive-defenceman Bryce Pickford. Pickford skated to the top of the right faceoff dot and roofed a shot to the top left corner of the Lethbridge net to put the Tigers up 2-1.

At the 12:20 mark of the second, Tigers 19-year-old defensive centre Misha Volotovskii potted this third of the post-season to push Medicine Hat’s advantage out to 3-1. Tigers right-winger Ethan Neutens took a shot from the left side of the Lethbridge net that hit the crossbar and shot out to Volotovskii at the right side of the goal. Volotovskii quickly potted the puck into an empty cage to give the visitors a two-goal edge.

With 2:08 remaining in the second, Ward scored on the power play for his second tally of the night to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead. Ward knocked home the rebound of a shot taken by Tigers star right-winger Ryder Ritchie.

Mathew Ward scored twice for the Tigers on Wednesday.

The Hurricanes didn’t go away without a fight. Just 92 seconds into the third period, 17-year-old centre Kash Andresen fired home a shot from the front of the Medicine Hat net to trim the Tigers edge to 4-2.

At the 6:17 mark of the third, Hurricanes right-winger Anthony Wilson, who just turned 20-years-old, tipped home a point shot from star defenceman Caden Price to cut the Tigers lead to 4-3.

The comeback for the Hurricanes was not to be.

With 37.7 seconds remaining in the third, Tigers overage captain Oasiz Wiesblatt cleared the puck out of his own zone to an open area of the ice down the left wing. McKenna jetted on to the loose puck and dumped it into an empty net to seal the 5-3 victory.

The 17-year-old Whitehorse, Yukon, product extended his consecutive games points streak between the regular season and post-season to 53 games collecting one goal and one assist on Wednesday. His streak extends back to November 6, 2024.

During the 53 games of the streak, McKenna has recorded 125 points coming off 46 goals and 79 assists. McKenna’s consecutive games points streak is the longest in the CHL since 2000 when you include play in both the regular season and post-season.

Pickford also finished Wednesday’s game with one goal and one assist. St. Martin and star defenceman Tanner Molendyk each collected two assists in the victory.

Meneghin stopped 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers. In 11 appearances in the WHL Playoffs, Meneghin has posted a 10-0 record, a 2.43 goals against average, a .889 save percentage and two shutouts.

Unger turned away 34-of-38 shots to take the campaign ending setback in goal for the Hurricanes.

During the regular season, the Tigers topped the Eastern Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 47-17-3-1 mark. In their last 47 games between the regular season and playoffs, the Tigers are an impressive 40-4-2-1. Medicine Hat has also won 10 straight games.

The Hurricanes finished sixth overall in the WHL with a 42-21-3-2 mark. Lethbridge entered the Eastern Conference final after getting past the Calgary Hitmen in a grueling Eastern Conference semifinal series that went seven games.

Gavin McKenna has points in 53 straight games.

The Tigers will have home ice advantage in the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series. They will face the winner of the Western Conference Championship Series being played by the Spokane Chiefs and the Portland Winterhawks. Spokane finished fourth overall in the WHL during the regular season with a 45-20-1-2 mark, while Portland was 12^th overall with a 36-28-3-1 record.

The Chiefs lead that best-of-seven set 3-0 after taking Game 3 on Wednesday at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland 8-5. Spokane will try to close out that series in Game 4 on Thursday set for 7 p.m. local time at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Going into the WHL final, it can be argued the Tigers are playing as good as they ever had. It will not be a surprise if they add more accolades to the rich history of their legacy franchise.

Raiders’ Hildebrand named WHL’s goaltender of the year

Max Hildebrand was named the WHL’s goaltender of the year.

Max Hildebrand continues to pile up the accolades.

On Wednesday, the 20-year-old netminder of the Prince Albert Raiders was named the winner of the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s goaltender of the year. Hildebrand had a spectacular final campaign in the WHL posting a 33-16-5 record, a 2.87 goals against average, a .918 save percentage and three shutouts in 55 regular season contests.

The Martensville, Sask., product ranked second in save percentage among all qualified WHL goalies while tying for fourth in shutouts and finishing 10^th in GAA. He faced the most shots of any netminder (1,865) and made the most saves (1,713). Hildebrand was one of three goaltenders to play more than 3,000 minutes.

An Eastern Conference first team all-star, he played an enormous role in helping the Raiders finish first in the East Division with a 39-23-5-1 mark.

Hildebrand has also been named a finalist for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy given to the WHL’s player of the year and the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy given to the WHL’s humanitarian of the year.

He was a career member of the Raiders joining the club full time part way through the 2021-22 campaign. During his WHL career, Hildebrand appeared in 143 regular season games posting a 69-53-12 record, a 3.06 goals against average, a .905 save percentage and five shutouts.

In the 2025 WHL Playoffs, Hildebrand backstopped the Raiders into an Eastern Conference semifinals series, where they were swept by the Medicine Hat Tigers. Hildebrand played in all of the Raiders 11 post-season contests posting a 4-7 record, a 3.05 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and one shutout.

Also on Wednesday, Tri-City Americans centre Max Curran was named the winner of the Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Memorial Trophy at the WHL’s scholastic player of the year.

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What a rally! – Tigers claim 7-6 OT win over Hurricanes

Medicine Hat takes 3-0 lead in WHL Eastern Conference final

Oasiz Wiesblatt scored the OT winner for the Tigers.

A game that looked strongly like it could be a Lethbridge Hurricanes victory turned into what might be a nightmare for their star goaltender Jackson Unger.

On Tuesday in Game 3 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series, the host Hurricanes held leads of 3-0, 4-1, 5-3 and 6-5 over the Medicine Hat Tigers in a contest played before 4,794 spectators at VisitLethbridge.com Arena. With 70 seconds remaining in the third period and star netminder Harrison Meneghin pulled for an extra skater, Tigers offensive-defenceman Bryce Pickford put a seeing-eye shot from the right point through a screen to the top left corner of the Lethbridge net to force a 6-6 tie and overtime.

Just 2:41 into the extra session, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna intercepted a Hurricanes pass in the Lethbridge zone. He jetted down the right faceoff circle flanked on his left by Tigers captain Oasiz Wiesblatt on a contested two-on-nothing break.

Staring down the two most dangerous offensive players in the WHL, Unger basically had no chance.

McKenna put a pass over top an outstretched stick of a diving Hurricanes back checker across the front of the Lethbridge net to Wiesblatt at the left side of the goal. Wiesblatt made no mistake knocking in the backdoor tap to give the Tigers a 7-6 victory to account for his 14^th goal and fourth winning tally of the post-season.

Gavin McKenna had three assists for the Tigers.

After scoring the goal, Wiesblatt put on an exuberant celebration and proceeded to quickly exit the ice surface with the rest of his teammates right on his tail.

With the win, the Tigers take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven set over their Highway 3 rivals. The Tigers will attempt to close the series out in Game 4 set for 7 p.m. local time on Wednesday at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

McKenna finished the contest with three assists extending his consecutive games points streak between the regular season and post-season to 52 games. His streak extends back to November 6, 2024.

During the 52 games of the streak, McKenna has recorded 123 points coming off 45 goals and 78 assists. 

McKenna’s consecutive games points streak is the longest in the CHL since 2000 when you include play in both the regular season and post-season.

Star defenceman Tanner Molendyk had arguably the best night of any Tigers player on Tuesday. Molendyk, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators, recorded one goal, three assists and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus rating.

Ryder Ritchie, Liam Ruck, Mathew Ward and Kadon McCann all had singles for the Tigers. Ward also had a goal that was waved off after a video review in the second period due to a hand pass leading to the creation of that tally.

Noah Chadwick had a pair of goals for the Hurricanes.

Captain Noah Chadwick had a pair of goals for the Hurricanes, while Kooper Gizowski, Kash Andresen, Miguel Marques and Brayden Yager all had singles.

Meneghin stopped 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers. Unger turned away 38 shots to take the setback in net for the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead in the first period and went up 3-0 in the second before the Tigers got their first goal of the contest to make Lethbridge’s lead sit at 3-1. 

The hosts pushed their edge out to 4-1 before the Tigers closed the second frame scoring twice to cut Lethbridge’s advantage to 4-3 heading into the second intermission.

Lethbridge scored early in the third to assume a 5-3 advantage. Medicine Hat replied with a pair of goals to even the score at 5-5.

With 3:19 remaining in the third, the Hurricanes forecheck caused the Tigers to give up the puck to Yager positioned in front of the Medicine Hat net. Yager wired a shot to the left side of the Medicine Hat goal to put the Hurricanes up 6-5.

That set up the dramatics for Pickford to get the equalizer that forced overtime and for Wiesblatt to get the winner in the extra session.

Tanner Molendyk had one goal and three assists for the Tigers.

During the regular season, the Tigers topped the Eastern Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 47-17-3-1 mark. In their last 46 games between the regular season and playoffs, the Tigers are an impressive 39-4-2-1. Medicine Hat has also won nine straight games.

The Hurricanes finished sixth overall in the WHL with a 42-21-3-2 mark. Lethbridge entered the Eastern Conference final after getting past the Calgary Hitmen in a grueling Eastern Conference semifinal series that went seven games.

Medicine Hat will try to advance to the WHL Championship Series for the first time since 2007, which was the last time the Tigers won the league title.

Chiefs rely on offence against Winterhawks

It appears the Spokane Chiefs seem set to ride a hot offence to a potential appearance in the WHL Championship Series.

The Chiefs jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Portland Winterhawks in the best-of-seven Western Conference Championship Series thanks to their ability to score. Last Friday at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, the Chiefs tried to burn out the goal lights at the rink downing the Winterhawks 10-4.

On Sunday in Game 2 at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, the Chiefs outgunned the Winterhawks 6-5 in overtime. At the 2:25 mark of the extra session, the Winterhawks coughed the puck up to Chiefs left-winger Chase Harrington in their own zone.

Harrington broke in alone on the Portland goal down the right wing and ripped home the winner for the Chiefs.

So far in the series, three Chiefs players have recorded five points over the first two games of the set. Star right-winger Andrew Cristall and import right-winger Assanali Sarkenov both have four goals and one assist. Star centre and captain Berkly Catton has one goal and four assists.

Harrington has two goals and two assists in the series. Star left-winger Shea Van Olm has one goal and three assists in the set.

Cristall tops all scorers in the WHL Playoffs with 33 points coming off 17 goals and 16 assists. Catton also has 33 points coming off eight goals and 25 assists, but Cristall leads the scoring race due to having a higher goal total.

For the Winterhawks, star centre Diego Buttazzoni is having a big series with three goals and three assists. Winterhawks star 20-year-old captain Kyle Chyzowski has one goal and three assists in the set.

The Chiefs finished fourth overall in the WHL during the regular season with a 45-20-1-2 mark. The Winterhawks placed 12^th overall during the WHL regular season with a 36-28-3-1 record.

Portland is appearing in the Western Conference Championship Series for a second straight year. The Winterhawks were swept 4-0 in last year’s WHL Championship Series by the Moose Jaw Warriors.

The Winterhawks will have an opportunity to get back in this year’s Western Conference final against the Chiefs. Due to scheduling around other events at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, the next three games of the Western Conference Championship Series are scheduled to be held in Portland.

Game 3 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. local time at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Rush NLL semifinal schedule set, other notes

The Rush celebrate a goal from last Saturday.

The Saskatchewan Rush will be playing post-season games in May for the first time since 2019.

On Sunday, the Rush finalized their schedule for their best-of-three NLL semifinal series against the Halifax Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds will host Game 1 of the series on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. local time at Scotiabank Centre.

The final two games of the series are set for the SaskTel Centre. Game 2 is slated for Saturday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 will be played on Sunday, May 11 at 6 p.m.

The Rush finished second overall in the NLL regular season with a 13-5 mark. The Thunderbirds were third overall at 11-7.

Last Saturday, the Rush defeated the visiting Georgia Swarm 13-9 in a single elimination NLL quarter-final contest. Also last Saturday, the Thunderbirds downed the visiting Calgary Roughnecks 16-12 in another single elimination NLL quarter-final.

The Rush last appeared in a post-season game in May back on May 3, 2019, when they fell 11-10 in overtime to the Colorado Mammoth.

The other NLL best-of-three semifinal sees the two-time defending league champion Buffalos Bandits, who topped the regular season at 13-5, take on the Vancouver Warriors, who finished fourth in the NLL regular season at 11-7. Game 1 of that series is set for Friday at 7:30 p.m. local time at the Keybank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

• Portland Winterhawks overager Tyson Jugnauth tops all defencemen in scoring in the WHL Playoffs. In Portland’s 16 post-season games, Jugnauth has posted 29 points coming off four goals and 25 assists.
• Spokane Chiefs netminder Dawson Cowan tops all puck stoppers in wins so far in the WHL Playoffs at 10. Cowan also had a 3.34 goals against average and a .872 save percentage in the post-season.
• There have been a total of seven shutouts so far in the WHL Playoffs. Medicine Hat Tigers netminder Harrison Meneghin and Victoria Royals goalie Johnny Hicks have each collected two shutouts.
• There have been four series-deciding Game 7s played in this year’s WHL Playoffs. A total of three series-deciding Game 7s were played combined in the 2023 and 2024 WHL post-seasons.

• On Wednesday, April 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a feature on Carter Beck, who is a star outfielder with the Saskatoon Berries of the Western Canadian Baseball League. Beck is a homegrown high-end player from Saskatchewan growing up in Carnduff, which is a town with a population around 1,200 located in the southeast corner of the province. Beck had a classic small town introduction to the sport watching his father, Blair, play senior baseball. The piece on Beck can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that is anchored by pictures of the Saskatoon Badgers Rugby Club taking part in a training session at the Indoor Training Centre. Last September, the Badgers claimed the division 1 provincial championship. It also includes photos from baseball, cricket, skiing and softball. That post can be found by clicking right here.

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

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Boudreau catches fire for Rush in 13-9 win over Swarm

Saskatchewan takes NLL quarter, advances to semifinal round

The Rush celebrate a fourth quarter goal by Jake Boudreau (#43).

Jake Boudreau admitted he might have let his defence slide to give his squad a boost offensively.

On Saturday, the 26-year-old transition player had the most memorable night of his young NLL career. The Brampton, Ont., product piled up four goals and one assist to power his Saskatchewan Rush to a 13-9 victory over the Georgia Swarm in an NLL quarter-final contest before a raucous 5,434 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

Boudreau, who is in third season with the Rush, was playing in his first career NLL post-season contest as Rush were making their first appearance in the NLL Playoffs since 2019. His main focus is on making stops on the defensive end, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to score all four of his goals in transition.

Jake Boudreau had four goals and one assist for the Rush.

“It was definitely my best game scoring wise,” said Boudreau. “I wouldn’t say it was my best game defensively.

“Getting a goal from the back end is just huge for the team, so that was pretty nice.”

With the win in the single elimination round of the NLL Playoffs, the second seeded Rush advance to play a best-of-three semifinal series against the third seeded Halifax Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds advanced to the semifinal round downing the sixth seeded Calgary Roughnecks 16-12 in a quarter-final contest on Saturday in Halifax. The Thunderbirds were 11-7 in the regular season, while the Roughnecks were 10-8.

Boudreau said his team is pumped to be advancing on in the post-season.

Jake Boudreau (#43) reacts to scoring an empty-net goal.

“It feels good,” said Boudreau, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 200 pounds. “It would have sucked to work hard all year and lose tonight.

“You could kind of tell we played with everything we had tonight. We want to enjoy the fruits of our labour. They are still not ready to be picked yet.”

Star forward Austin Shanks had two goals and two assists for the Rush. Captain Ryan Keenan and Clark Walter both had two-goal nights for the Rush, while Zach Manns, Mike Messenger and Jake Naso all had singles. Robert Church had three assists for Saskatchewan.

Fans at the SaskTel Centre cheer on the Rush.

Captain Jordan MacIntosh had two goals and two assists for the Swarm, and Lyle Thompson contributed one goal and three assists for the Georgia side. 

Brendan Bomberry and Bryan Cole both had a pair of goals for the Swarm, while Jacob Hickey and Shayne Jackson had singles.

Frank Scigliano stopped 39 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Rush, who were 13-5 in the regular season. Brett Dobson turned away 47-of-58 shots to take the setback in net for the Swarm, who were 9-9 during the regular season.

Brendan Bomberry scored twice for the Swarm.

The Swarm jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter. The Rush closed the frame with a run of four straight goals to hold a 4-2 advantage after 15 minutes.

Saskatchewan would never trail or be tied again for the rest of the contest. Including play in the regular season and post-season, the Rush are 10-1 when their opponents score the first goal of the game.

During the four-goal surge, Boudreau scored his first goal of the night on the Rush’s second tally. 

Working a transition two-on-one rush, Boudreau received a pass from defender Matt Hossack and buried a backdoor chance at the right side of the Georgia net to force a 2-2 tie at that time.

The O16 Electric Crew performs during a quarter break.

“We had a little bit of a slow start, but I thought we were actually getting some pretty good looks on offence,” said Rush co-head coach and general manager Derek Keenan. “Their goalie made a couple of saves.

“Then, we got going there and got our legs underneath us. The one and dones in the first round of the playoffs, they are stressful. We have a pretty young group.

“Fortunately, we have a number of veterans that have been here before. For the most past, we had probably more than two-thirds of our team that haven’t been here and haven’t been to the playoffs in these stressful situations. I think it took us a little while to get our legs underneath us.”

Austin Shanks (#33) had two goals and two assists for the Rush.

The Rush pushed their lead out to 6-3 by the end of the second quarter before running into a little adversity at the start of the third quarter. First, Thompson scored 46 seconds into the third quarter to trim the Rush advantage to 6-4.

Just 22 seconds after Thompson’s goal, Walter was given a major penalty for cross checking. Cole scored quickly in the power play for the Swarm to cut the Rush lead to 6-5. Just 20 seconds after Cole’s tally, Shanks netted a short-handed goal for the Rush to push their edge out to 7-5.

After Swarm defender Jeff Henrick was penalized for holding inside the final two minutes of Walter’s major, MacIntosh scored during four-on-four play to slice the Rush lead to 7-6 with 10:06 remaining in the third quarter.

Frank Scigliano makes one of his 39 saves for the Rush.

A short time later, the Swarm had a huge chance to pull even on the scoreboard. Thompson put a midrange shot net that rebounded out to the right of the Saskatchewan goal to Jackson.

Jackson put a diving shot toward a seemingly open part of the Rush net only for Scigliano to flash up his stick to deny the scoring chance.

“We faced some adversity tonight too,” said Keenan. “We had a few penalties and the five-minute major.

“We got through that kind of unscathed. We got one and only gave up one. All in all, we stuck with our game plan.”

The Rush proceeded to go on a three goal surge that allowed them to control the contest the rest of the way. Walter scored with 37.6 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give Saskatchewan an 8-6 advantage.

Captain Ryan Keenan had a pair of goals for the Rush.

Just 85 seconds into the fourth quarter, Ryan Keenan put home a backdoor chance at the right side of the Swarm net on a five-on-three power play to push the Rush lead out to 9-6. Bourdreau completed the surge scoring a power-play goal on a transition breakaway to make the Rush lead sit at 10-6.

“We knew they were going to run,” said Boudreau. “That is our game is running, so we kind of took that personal.

“We made sure we were fast, and I think they kind of tired out as the game went on. You could kind of see us pushing forward, and they kind of dozed off a little bit, and that was basically the game.”

Boudreau scored his third goal on another transition breakaway into an empty-net and completed the game’s scoring with a transition breakaway tally with 5.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Rush faithful do their chest thump celebration after a goal.

While offence took centre stage in Saturday’s contest, Derek Keenan praised the work put in by the goaltenders on both sides in Scigliano and Dobson.

“You’ve got to get saves,” said Derek Keenan. “Our goaltender was really good, and their goaltender was really good as well.

“All in all, it was a good effort by our whole team.”

Scigliano, who has played in the NLL since 2012, thought the Rush had a good outing to open the 2025 post-season.

Matt Hossack (#94) defends against Lyle Thompson (#4).

“I think it was an exciting week,” said the 33-year-old Scigliano, who is still searching for his first NLL title win in his career. “You kind of prepare for this all year.

“I kind of said to the boys earlier the regular season kind of flew by. We had a lot of success. In a single elimination game, anything can happen, so there is kind of a lot on the line.

“We played a pretty complete game for the most part. There were a couple of hiccups, but I thought we did our job tonight. You see the results on the scoreboard.”

The Rush faithful get the rally towels going on Saturday night.

The other best-of-three semifinal series sees the top seeded Buffalo Bandits, who were 13-5 in the regular season, take on the fourth seeded Vancouver Warriors, who were 11-7 in the regular season. The Bandits, who are the two-time defending NLL champions, slipped past the eighth seeded San Diego Seals in a quarter-final on Friday night in Buffalo 5-4. San Diego had a 9-9 record in the regular season.

The Warriors downed the fifth seeded Rochester Knighthawks 15-10 in a quarter-final on Saturday in Vancouver. The Knighthawks were 10-8 during the regular season.

The dates and times of the two best-of-three semifinal series are still to be announced.

Before Saturday, the Rush’s last post-season win came back on June 9, 2018, when they won the NLL title with a 15-10 victory in a series-deciding Game 3 at the SaskTel Centre over the Knighthawks in the NLL Championships Series.

The Rush celebrate their win on Saturday night.

Boudreau wants to see the Rush make their current post-season run a long one. After posting respective 8-10 records in each of the three previous regular seasons during a reloading period, Boudreau believed his squad was ready to take off in the current campaign.

“I came around three years ago, and a lot of the guys came the same year as me or after,” said Boudreau. “We always kind of said in 2025 we should be pretty primed.

“To have it kind of come to fruition and we still have more lacrosse to play, it is awesome. You can’t (be satisfied). The celebration will be done in the morning.”

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

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Rush host Swarm in do-or-die NLL quarter-final

Saskatchewan back in post-season after six years out

The Rush celebrate a goal during a game on January 25.

The Saskatchewan Rush ended a post-season drought with a memorable regular season.

Now, they will try to ensure the appearance in the NLL Playoffs isn’t a brief one.

The Rush finished second overall in the NLL regular season standings with a 13-5 mark, which is their best regular season record since going 14-4 in their NLL championship campaign in 2018. They last appeared in the NLL post-season in 2019, when they fell 11-10 in overtime to the Colorado Mammoth on May 3 of that year.

Saskatchewan opens the 2025 NLL Playoffs on Saturday hosting the seventh seeded Georgia Swarm (9-9) in a single elimination quarter-final contest at 7:30 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

“It has been a long stretch without the playoffs,” said star forward Robert Church. “We’ve had some rough years, but we’ve been building back towards this and getting back to a championship caliber team.

Zach Manns led the Rush in scoring with 74 points.

“I think that is what we have in this room. The boys, we just got together and kind of just saw everyone. I think everyone is excited.

“For a lot of guys, it is their first time in playoffs, so they’re real fired up.”

The Rush’s NLL post-season absence started in 2020 and 2021 when the NLL Playoffs were cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Saskatchewan was 7-3 in the 2020 regular season before that campaign was stopped.

The Rush posted respective 8-10 marks over three straight NLL regular seasons from 2022 to 2024 to just miss making the playoffs in each of those campaigns. The current campaign has been the breakout season where the work in the reload is paying off.

“I think we’re a very talented team, a deep team,” said Rush co-head coach Jimmy Quinlan. “We have a lot of buy in.

Robert Church had 73 points in 14 games for the Rush.

“They’re all selfless individuals, and I think we’re fortunate to have the veterans we have that kind of lead them. I thought the last few years we had to learn how to win, and now we’re kind of understanding what it takes. It doesn’t really matter too much what goes on in a game.

“We kind of right now have that mentality of staying the course. It has got us to where we are, and we’re going to continue that this weekend.”

Zach Manns topped the Rush in scoring during the regular season with 74 points coming off 35 goals and 39 assists. Church had 73 points coming off 33 goals and 40 assists even with missing four games due to injury this season. Captain Ryan Keenan also had 73 points coming off 26 goals and 47 assists, while Austin Shanks had 72 points coming off 35 goals and 37 assists.

Rush star goalie Frank Scigliano had a great season posting an 11-4 record, 9.40 goals against average and an 80 per cent save percentage.

The Rush look to get a boost from their home crowd.

Lyle Thompson topped the Swarm in scoring with 94 points coming of 42 goals and 52 assists. Forwards Shayne Jackson and Andrew Kew each recorded 74 points for Georgia. Jackson recorded his 74 points on 32 goals and 42 assists, while Kew had his 74 points coming off 28 goals and 46 assists.

Brett Dobson has carried the load in goal for the Swarm posting a 9-8 record, an 11.82 goals against average and a 76 per cent save percentage.

The Swarm roster also contains Lyle Thompson’s brother and gritty transition player Jeremy Thompson, who used to be a fan favourite when he played for the Rush. Jeremy was a member of the Rush’s 2016 and 2018 NLL championship teams and the 2015 NLL title winner when the franchise was still located in Edmonton.

Frank Scigliano had a big season in goal for the Rush.

The NLL Playoffs got underway on Friday when the top seeded and two-time defending champion Buffalo Bandits slugged out a 5-4 victory over the eighth seeded San Diego Seals. The Bandits posted a 13-5 record in the regular season and downed the Rush 9-7 on March 1 at the SaskTel Centre in the only head-to-head meeting between the two sides to gain the standings tiebreaker for first place. The Seals posted a 9-9 mark in the regular season.

The single elimination quarter-final round has the potential to favour lower seeded teams that just snuck into the playoffs, because you need to be hot just for one game to move on. Shanks believes his squad is ready to handle the winner takes all contest.

“I think we played really well with our backs against the wall,” said Shanks. “We kind of try and put some pressure on ourselves, and that is all this is.

“It is one game. We’ve said it all year that we have to play 60 minutes, and there is no better test than tomorrow night.”

Ryan Keenan had 73 points this season for the Rush.

The NLL post-season will be a new experience for numerous Rush players. The Rush only have four holdovers from their last NLL championship team in 2018 including Church, Keenan, Mike Messenger and Matt Hossack.

Keenan was in his second season with the Rush when they captured the NLL title in 2018. He admitted the team’s post-season drought gave him a little more appreciation for how hard it is to make playoffs and how hard it is to win in the post-season after experiencing early career success.

“I mean those years the talent was just off the charts,” said Keenan. “It was kind of just an expectation to win every game and win it at the end of the year.

“It became more challenging, but this year, the success has just come down to just the hard work part of our game and loving that grind aspect of it. That comes with a young group who is hungry and wants to win.”

Austin Shanks had 72 points for the Rush this season.

Shanks, who is 31-years-old, is one of the veterans who is hungry to win a league title which has eluded him in his career. He signed with the Rush this past off-season after spending four campaigns with the Halifax Thunderbirds.

Back in 2018, Shanks began his NLL career with the Rochester Knighthawks, who fell to the Rush in the best-of-three NLL final 2-1. 

The Rush claimed a 15-10 victory in a series-deciding Game 3 on June 9 of that year at the SaskTel Centre. Shanks hasn’t forgotten what it was like being on the losing end of that contest.

“It has been eating at me for seven years,” said Shanks. “I got a taste my rookie year, and I didn’t get that trophy.

“I’ve been playing to win championships. That is all I want to do, and to have a chance to do that again is cool. There is a lot of work to do.

The Rush aim to celebrate a playoff win on Saturday.

“This is just round one.”

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Tigers vs. Raiders series will always be special to me

Good strides made by me away from game

Yours truly up in the press box at Co-op Place on April 13.

It is amazing what type of journey can happen when you are linked with two teams that get there are things bigger than hockey and sports.

It becomes extra special when fans of both teams pick up on that too.

The WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Medicine Hat Tigers and Prince Albert Raiders has been done for over a week. The WHL record books will show the Tigers, who were second overall in the regular season standings at 47-17-3-1, swept the Raiders, who were eighth overall at 39-23-5-1, in the best-of-seven set 4-0. The Tigers finished off the sweep with a 3-0 victory in Game 4 at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre on April 17.

In a few hours, the Tigers will open the best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who finished sixth overall at 42-21-3-2. The two sides go at it on Game 1 at 7 p.m. local time at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.

The best-of-seven Western Conference Championship Series will also get going in a few hours between the Spokane Chiefs, who finished fourth overall at 45-20-1-2, and the Portland Winterhawks, who were 12^th overall at 36-28-3-1. Those sides go at it in Game 1 at 7 p.m. local time at the Spokane Veteran Memorial Arena in Spokane, Wash.

The Raiders and Tigers faceoff on April 12 at Co-op Place.

Back on April 11 or one day before Game 1 of the series between the Tigers and Raiders took place at Co-op Place, I arrived in Medicine Hat for the first time since July of 2019. 

That day I put together a fairly emotional post about being back in “the Gas City” for the first time since what is known as the summer of the suicides in that centre. Those all occurred during all the restrictions that were in place due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The suicides made national news, and I remember seeing names of six to seven men come up who took their lives, and I pretty much new them all. 

A lot were alums of the Medicine Hat Junior B Cubs Hockey Team. The pressures of that time in the pandemic played a part in what happened.

Out of the suicides in 2020 in Medicine Hat, Mitch Serr and Mike Engel were two that I built tight friendships with when I lived in the Hat from 2004 to 2014. We shared lots about our personal lives with each other.

Myself, centre, hanging with Emma Bennett, left, and Collin Gallant.

When I put together that column on April 11, I needed to get what I was feeling out there, because it was affecting me. 

I also know how passionate the fans of both the Tigers and Raiders can be, and I was in a place where I didn’t really want to deal with fan beaks.

Actually, the fans on both sides were outstanding. I found when I went to Co-op Place and the Art Hauser Centre they knew what the deal was for me. 

I had friends at Co-op Place come visit me and pass on a thank you for writing that column, because it helped them in their journeys dealing with the suicides in the summer of 2020.

At the Hauser, the fans and friends that I talked to were really understanding. They were open to listening more, if I needed to talk more.

All of that right there is the bigger than hockey and sports thing.

Harrison Meneghin plays the puck for the Tigers on April 16.

The folks with the Raiders and Tigers were outstanding. 

I was actually hoping to get out to Medicine Hat earlier to deal with the emotional front, and my original plan was to work a Tigers game where the Raiders weren’t involved. I was concerned about dragging them into my emotional side thing.

Now that the series is done, I feel it was a blessing that the Raiders were there on my first trip back to the Hat. 

Over the course of the series, I had so many good visits with general manager Curtis Hunt, interim head coach Ryan McDonald, assistant coach Mark Odnokon and athletic therapist Duane “Puff” Bartley. They were all a huge help.

On the Tigers side, I have great visits with Dr. Bill Ruzycki, owner Darrell Maser, iconic retired play-by-play voice Bob Ridley, head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins, associate coach Joe Frazer, assistant coach Josh Maser, athletic therapist and equipment manager Mikki Lanuk, staffer Scott Goldade and office staffer Val Welling. They were all a huge help.

On the more humorous side, it was cool to visit with video coach Jayce Desjardins now that he is all grown up. I mentioned my memories of him were being a little guy and getting into mischief at the Tigers old long time legendary home rink in The Arena.

Max Hildebrand protects the net for the Raiders on April 16.

While in the Hat, I was also able to visit a number of long time friends including Randy Noble, Colin Gallant and Emma Bennett. Noble is battling cancer, and I stopped by to visit him in hospital twice. He was in really good spirits in the second visit, so that was great to see.

Gallant, Bennett and I were the crew from the Medicine Hat News that were dispatched to Vancouver in 2007 to cover the Tigers playing in that year’s Memorial Cup. 

Gallant, who still works for the News, recalled we filled four broadsheets for about 10 straight days. It was so cool we got to have a reunion.

As for the series on ice, I think the one game that really hurt the Raiders was not being able to take Game 2 at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat on April 13. 

The Tigers claimed that contest 5-4 in overtime with super-rookie right-winger Liam Ruck tipping in the winner on the power play at the 8:50 mark of the extra session. Ruck deflected home a point shot from offensive-defenceman Bryce Pickford.

Games 3 and 4 in Medicine Hat saw emotion kind of speed up the Tigers. Tigers 20-year-old star netminder Harrison Meneghin attended the funeral for his father, Derek, on April 10 just two day before the series with the Raiders began. Meneghin’s first two starts were against the Raiders in Games 3 and 4.

Harrison Meneghin, left, and Max Hildebrand embrace on April 17.

Talking to a few long time Raiders fans at the Hauser, they said you could tell Meneghin was playing for his father, and the Tigers players were playing for their goalie. The Tigers posted a 6-1 victory in Game 3 and the 3-0 win in Game 4.

In Game 4, Raiders 20-year-old star netminder Max Hildebrand made 54 saves to keep his team in the game. 

He had one of the best single game performances I have seen in 26 seasons covering the WHL. 

You saw why he was a nominee for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL player of the year, the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as WHL goaltender of the year and the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s humanitarian of the year.

While the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Tigers and Raiders will likely be another set in the mass amount of post-season series that have been played in the WHL since the circuit began in 1966-67, it will always have a special place in my heart for the happenings away from the game.

I have to pass on a big thanks to everyone who helped as I navigated life away from the game and got to a more healed up place. I still miss my buds who have passed away.

Yours truly at the Art Hauser Centre on April 17.

They will always be part of my memories in the Hat, and wherever I go in that centre, good ones pop up about them along with many others.

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2024-25 WHL campaign was a good one for Raiders

Harrison Meneghin, left, and Max Hildebrand embrace.

The faithful in “Hockey Town North” gave their Prince Albert Raiders a well deserved sendoff last Thursday at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.

The Raiders had just seen their 2024-25 campaign come to an end after being blanked by the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 3-0 in Game 4 of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The victory allowed the Tigers to sweep the set 4-0.

That contest saw Raiders star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand depart with one last gem seen by the standing room crowd of 3,208 spectators at the 2,591 seat facility. He was sensational making 54 saves keeping the Raiders in that contest. The truth in the WHL is most players end their careers with a loss, but Hildebrand added the exclamation point on a memorable campaign.

Hildebrand had a spectacular regular season posting a 33-16-5 mark, a 2.87 goals against average, a .918 save percentage and three shutouts. In the Raiders 11 games in the post-season, he posted a 3.05 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and one shutout.

Thanks to his work in the regular season, Hildebrand is a nominee for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL player of the year, the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as WHL goaltender of the year and the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s humanitarian of the year. In the history of the Raiders dating back to their start in junior A in 1971, Hildebrand had one of the best seasons a Raiders goalie ever had.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.

Hildebrand’s last stand – netminder makes 54 saves as Raiders season comes to a close

Tigers advance with 3-0 win in Game 4 to sweep series

Harrison Meneghin, left, and Max Hildebrand embrace.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Max Hildebrand went out in a blaze of glory.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to help his Prince Albert Raiders keep their 2024-25 campaign alive. The Raiders 20-year-old star netminder had a spectacular end to his WHL career stopping 54 shots before a standing room crowd of 3,208 spectators at the 2,591 seat storied and historic Art Hauser Centre on Thursday night.

The Raiders ultimately got overwhelmed by the speed and the skill of the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers and fell 3-0 in Game 4 of a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Tigers were able to sweep the series with the victory 4-0. They will play the winner of the other Eastern Conference semifinal that is currently tied 2-2 between the Calgary Hitmen and Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Max Hildebrand leads the Raiders on to the ice.

While the Tigers celebrated advancing to the Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time since 2014, Hildebrand turned out one of the best goaltending performances this season in the WHL. Raiders interim head coach Ryan McDonald was not surprised to see Hildebrand come up with another big game.

“He (Hildebrand) is the ultimate competitor,” said McDonald. “I’ve been working with Max for four years watching his work ethic and his attention to detail.

“He is a tremendous teammate and a tremendous leader. He is a Raider through and through. His battle out there and his compete are second to none.”

Max Hildebrand makes one of his 54 saves for the Raiders.

Hildebrand had a spectacular regular season posting a 33-16-5 mark, a 2.87 goals against average, a .918 save percentage and three shutouts. In the Raiders 11 games in the post-season, he posted a 3.05 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and one shutout.

Thanks to his work in the regular season, Hildebrand is a nominee for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL player of the year, the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as WHL goaltender of the year and the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s humanitarian of the year. Legendary Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said Hildebrand definitely made things tough on his team.

Max Hildebrand had a sensation 2024-25 campaign for the Raiders.

“He (Hildebrand) was unbelievable tonight, and he has been unbelievable through the playoffs,” said Desjardins, who club took Game 3 of the series one night earlier 6-1. “I think he was a guy that got caught a little bit too.

“He played so much, and I think he was a little bit tired. But saying that, he rebounded hard after Game 3. Playing Game 4, he was unbelievable.

“He is a great goaltender. Obviously, he is up for player of the year and goalie of the year. It was good for us to find a way though.”

Tigers overage captain Oasiz Wiesblatt said his team had to keep getting as many shots on goal as they could on Hildebrand in order to get the goals they needed. Wiesblatt said you have to give Hildebrand credit for how well he played.

Max Hildebrand, centre, is consoled at game’s end.

“He was red-hot fire the whole series,” said Wiesblatt. “When you play a goalie like that, I think you just have to contest and put pressure on him.

“I thought he did a great job holding P.A. in the series. You kind of just have to keep attacking and not settle down. I thought we did a good job.”

The Hildebrand show hit top gear out of the game keeping the contest scoreless after 20 minutes, where the Tigers outshot the Raiders 17-6 in the opening frame. Hildebrand turned away Tigers star right-winger Ryder Ritchie with a pad save, swallowed up a shot by star defenceman Tanner Molendyk who attempted a between the legs shot and denied Ritchie again with a glove stop.

“Obviously, their goalie is unbelievable,” said Molendyk. “He is the backbone to their team.

“We were told to get pucks on net, and I think we did a good job of that.”

Tanner Molendyk (#24) had the Tigers first goal on Thursday.

The Tigers broke through on the scoreboard at the 4:03 mark of the second. While working on the power play, Molendyk floated a seeing-eye shot from the left point to the top right corner of the Prince Albert net to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna picked up an assist on Molendyk’s tally. With that helper, McKenna now has recorded points in his last 49 consecutive games including action in the regular season and post-season.

At the 10:40 mark of the second, Tigers captain Oasiz Wiesblatt fired a shot from the right wing boards to the top left corner of the Prince Albert goal to push the visitors’ edge out to 2-0. Wiesblatt’s tally was his 10^th of the post-season.

Oasiz Wiesblatt had one goal and one assist for the Tigers.

Medicine Hat outshot Prince Albert 27-6 in the second period, but Hildebrand ensured the visitors were only able to get two goals in the frame.

Just 59 seconds into the third, Tigers star 19-year-old left-winger Hunter St. Martin scored by roofing a shot off a rush down the left wing to the top right corner of the Prince Albert net to give the visitors a 3-0 advantage.

While they seemingly never had the puck, the Raiders did put in a good effort and had their chances to score. With about 7:10 remaining in the third, Raiders star 20-year-old right-winger Rilen Kovacevic won a race to a loose puck to the left side of the Medicine Hat net and centred a pass to breakout star left-winger Brayden Dube.

Hunter St. Martin had the Tigers third goal on Thursday.

Dube wired a shot on goal, but it was turned away by an arm save from Tigers star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin. The puck rebounded to the right side of the Medicine Hat goal, and Dube got to the puck only to put a second shot wide of the mark.

Inside the final two minutes of the third, Raiders breakout rookie defenceman Daxon Rudolph, who turned 17-years-old in March, wired a shot on goal from the top of the right faceoff circle but was denied on a glove save by Meneghin.

Meneghin stopped all 18 shots sent his way to pick up the shutout victory in net for the Tigers.

Wiesblatt was pumped his Tigers could finish the series with the Raiders at the Hauser, because his older brother, Ozzy, helped the Raiders win a WHL championship in 2019. Oasiz was able to check out some of Ozzy’s games in that 2019 post-season run including the first two games of the WHL final at the Hauser.

Harrison Meneghin made 18 saves for the shutout victory.

“This place has a special place in my heart,” said Wiesblatt, who had an assist to go along with his goal. “I came here before I started in the WHL.

“I kind of really got a taste of playoff hockey and how crazy fans can kind of be. It was really cool to come down here. P.A. has great fans.

“They are a great fan base, and they’re really loud. This place is a hard place to play in. There is a lot of history involved in it.”

Molendyk got to play a part in knocking the Raiders out of the WHL Playoffs for a second straight year. A year ago, Molendyk helped the Saskatoon Blades take out the Raiders in five games in a first round series. The rearguard who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators said the emotions of beating the Raiders weren’t the same as a year ago.

Gavin McKenna had an assist in the win for the Tigers.

“It is different,” said Molendyk. “It is not as much of a rivalry as it is with Saskatoon.

“It is always fun coming in here. It is always packed. The crowd is always into it.”

The Raiders were without star left-winger Tomas Mrsic for a sixth 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.

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 out with a back injury since December 16, 2023.

The Tigers celebrate their win on Thursday night.

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 43 games between the regular season and playoffs, the Tigers are an impressive 36-4-2-1.

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.

Overall, McDonald thought his squad put together a pretty memorable campaign.

The Raiders give a final salute to their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this group,” said McDonald. “I liked the way that we continued to learn and work and improve throughout this season to the division championship, to coming back in the first round, and continuing to battle right until the bitter end against a really good team.”

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

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