All over the map – Tigers best Raiders 6-4 in series opener

The Tigers celebrate a goal from captain Oasiz Wiesblatt.

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – Boring – Game 1 between the Medicine Hat Tigers and Prince Albert Raiders definitely was not.

The opening contest of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal between the two sides was all over the map on Saturday night. The host Tigers built a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes and held on to a 6-4 victory before 5,863 spectators at Co-op Place.

The two sides combined to go 4-for-6 on the power play, with the Tigers scoring on all three of their chances with the man advantage and the Raiders cashing in on 1-of-3 opportunities. Even with all the goals, there were some big saves. There were also a handful off good hits and there was even a classic positive boards-bounce goal that was common in the Tigers old home rink – The Arena.

Fans at Co-op Place cheer on the Tigers.

Overall, the coaches on both side had a lot of video to go over before the two squads reconvene for Game 2, which is set for Sunday at 6 p.m. local time at Co-op Place.

Game 1 began with Raiders 20-year-old star netminder Max Hildebrand putting on a show. The Tigers had the first seven shots on goal in the contest only to have Hildebrand slam the door on all those opportunities.

The stops saw Hildebrand stone Tigers veteran right-winger Marcus Pacheco from the right slot, make a glove stop on rookie left-winger Marcus Ruck and deny superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna on a backhander close in.

At the 10:06 mark of the opening frame, the Raiders took advantage of a break. A Tigers pass in the Medicine Hat zone got caught in the skates of an official and was recovered by Raiders rookie right-winger Riley Boychuk in the left corner of the zone.

Evan Smith had the first goal of Saturday’s game.

Boychuk centred a pass to 18-year-old centre Evan Smith, who sniped home a shot to put the visitors up 1-0.

After the Prince Albert goal, the Tigers continued to press. With 3:35 remaining in the first, Tigers rookie-right-winger Liam Ruck put home a shot from close in that just eluded Hildebrand’s glove to even the score at 1-1.

The second period was all Tigers as they outscored the Raiders 4-0 while holding a 20-4 edge in shots on goal. The hosts got rolling when captain Oasiz Wiesblatt tipped home a point shot from star defenceman Tanner Molendyk to put the Tigers up 2-1 while working on the power play.

Liam Ruck (#12) celebrates scoring the Tigers first goal.

The Tabbies pushed their advantage out to 3-1 just 2:27 later on a board bounce tally. Offensive-defenceman Bryce Pickford took a shot the right point that missed the net, but the puck deflected out to the left side of the Prince Albert net to Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna. McKenna capitalized on the positive bounce to give the hosts their two-goal edge.

That tally would allow McKenna to have points in his last 46 consecutive outings including action in the regular season and post-season.

Gavin McKenna scored on a positive board bounce goal.

With 5:10 remaining in the second, Tigers 19-year-old defenceman Josh Van Mulligen put a shot on goal that Hildebrand got a piece of, and it looked like initially he gloved it off the goal line. The officials went to a video review that determined the puck did indeed trickle over the goal line, which pushed Medicine Hat’s edge out to 4-1.

With 3:19 remaining in the second, Tigers star right-winger Ryder Ritchie roofed home a power-play goal from near the right faceoff dot to the top left corner of the Prince Albert net to allow Medicine Hat’s advantage to sit at 5-1.

After the second period ended, the Raiders elected to pull Hildebrand to rest him for Game 2. Hildebrand turned away 27-of-32 shots sent his way to take the setback in net. Dimitri Fortin played the third period in relief stopping 3-of-4 shots fired in his direction.

Daxon Rudolph (#10) had a power-play goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders proceeded to come with a big push back after the goaltending change. At the 5:15 mark of the third, breakout rookie defenceman Daxon Rudolph slipped home a power-play goal from the point to trim the Tigers edge to 5-2.

Prince Albert proceeded to score again to cut the Medicine Hat advantage to 5-3, when 17-year-old rookie left-winger Dayce Derkatch shoveled home a loose puck in the crease of the Tigers goal. 

At that moment, the Raiders were all of a sudden back in the game.

The Tigers appeared to get a dagger tally with 4:33 remaining in the third, when 19-year-old checking centre Misha Volotovskii tipped home a point shot from 18-year-old offensive-defenceman Jonas Woo. That marker pushed Medicine Hat’s edge out to 6-3.

Ryder Ritchie had a power-play goal for the Tigers.

The Raiders didn’t go away. Just 25 seconds later, Raiders breakout 19-year-old star right-winger Brayden Dube got on a partial breakaway and put a shot home to cut the Tigers lead to 6-4. Dube missed the Raiders last game with a lower body issue, but he appeared to be moving real well on Saturday night against the Tigers.

Prince Albert wasn’t able to get any closer from there.

Rookie netminder Jordan Switzer, who turned 18-years-old in January, stopped 16 shots to pick up his first career post-season win in net for the Tigers.

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

Brayden Dube scored the Raiders final goal on Saturday.

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 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.

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.

The Tigers salute their faithful at Co-op Place.

If Game 1 of this series is any indication, the series between the Tigers and Raiders will be an entertaining one. Now, we get to see what type of story gets written in Game 2.

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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