WHL Eastern Conference final tied at 1-1
heading to the Hat
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| Markus Ruck (#26) is all smiles after scoring the Tigers third goal. |
PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – When it comes to handling adversity,
it can be argued that no team in the WHL circles the wagons better than the
Medicine Hat Tigers.
On Friday, the Tigers opened the WHL Eastern Conference
Championship Series by getting trampled 8-3 by the host Prince Albert Raiders
at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre. Since Willie Desjardins first
joined the Tigers before the start of the 2002-03 campaign, it became common
for the Medicine Hat franchise to quickly get over what happened in a bad loss and
roar back with a sound victory.
In Game 2 of the series on Saturday played before another sellout
crowd of 3,299 spectators at the Hauser, the Tigers rolled to a 5-0 victory and
silenced the Raiders faithful for long stretches of the contest. The win
allowed the Tigers to even the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
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| Markus Ruck had one goal and one assist for the Tigers. |
The defending WHL champions will now host the next two games
of the set in Medicine Hat. Games 3 and 4 are set for Tuesday and Wednesday
respectively at Co-op Place for a 7 p.m. start on both nights.
“It is a big win for sure,” said Tigers star left-winger
Markus Ruck, who had one goal, one assist and a plus-two in the plus-minus
department. “We knew coming in it is a really tough rink.
“To get that one is huge. We knew coming into it we had to
get this one.”
The teams started off playing fairly even as the shots on
goal were tied 4-4 after the first 11 minutes of the opening frame. Momentum
changed when Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett was given a roughing minor with
eight minutes remaining in the frame.
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| Jordan Switzer made 30 saves to earn a shutout win. |
The Tigers proceeded to buzz the Prince Albert net forcing
Raiders rookie star import netminder Michal Orsulak to make about six huge
saves. Tigers star 20-year-old centre Andrew Basha came the closest to scoring by
wiring a shot off the crossbar causing a scramble in front of the Raiders net.
Raiders star centre Braeden Cootes came up with a clearance to relieve the
pressure.
While the Raiders got the kill, the Tigers had a tonne of
momentum they would carry through to the end of the second period. Raiders star
20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube said you could feel that momentum was on
the side of the visitors after that power-play chance.
“They got lots of shots and lots of good looks,” said Dube. “They
got a jump in their step.
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| Michal Orsulak makes one of his 36 saves in goal for the Raiders. |
“We just have to find a way to go back at them after big
kills like that. We have to find a way to get back to our game after.”
Before the first ended, the Tigers went back on the
power-play after Raiders standout 16-year-old defenceman Brock Cripps was
called for holding with 2:07 remaining in the first. Right after that power
play expired, Tigers star defenceman Jonas Woo threw a puck from a bad angle at
the right boards by the icing line to the front of the Prince Albert net.
The puck appeared to deflect home off Tigers standout centre
Noah Davidson into the Prince Albert goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead with
5.9 seconds remaining in the frame. Woo, who missed Game 1 of the series with an undisclose ailment, was given credit for the goal. The
Tigers exited the first holding their 1-0 advantage and a 16-6 edge in shots on
goal.
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| Jonas Woo was credited with two goals on Saturday. |
That opening tally by Medicine Hat marked the first time the
Raiders gave up the first goal of a game in the 2026 WHL Playoffs.
The Tigers continued to come hard at the Raiders in the
second holding a 17-9 edge in shots on goal for the frame. Medicine Hat finally
got a second goal past Orsulak with 3:47 remaining in the stanza while working
on the power play.
Ruck swooped down the right wing with the puck and made a
backhanded pass to the front of the Prince Albert net to his twin brother Liam
Ruck. Liam blasted home his sixth of the post-season to push the Tigers
advantage out to 2-0.
“It is pretty cool,” said Markus Ruck about the power-play
goal. “I was kind of just wheeling in the zone, and I kind of popped up and saw
him there.
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| Alisher Sarkenov and the Raiders had no luck around the net. |
“It is pretty cool playing with him. It is obviously really
cool being his brother.”
In the third, the Raider came with a big push forcing Tigers
netminder Jordan Switzer, who turned 19-years-old in January, to stand on his
head. The Raiders would outshoot the Tigers 15-8 in the third but were unable
to put a puck past Switzer, who was making his first start of the series.
“In our room, we knew they were going to battle hard there,”
said Switzer. “I think it was only 2-0 for a bit.
“I think we did a good job shutting them down, weathering
the storm and then we got a couple in the end.”
With 7:11 remaining in the third, Markus Ruck came up with a
dagger goal. Tigers right-winger Carter Cunningham sprung Ruck down the
left-wing on a contested breakaway. Ruck lasered home a shot to the short side
on Orsulak to give the visitors a 3-0 advantage.
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| Aiden Oiring of the Raiders jets away from Cam Parr of the Tigers. |
Woo proceeded to score a long empty-net from his own icing
line with 1:55 remaining in the third, and import defenceman Niilopekka Muhonen
netted his first of the post-season with a seeing-eye shot from the left side
boards in the Prince Albert end to round out the 5-0 final score in favour of
the Tigers.
“This is a hard barn to play in, especially in playoff time,”
said Switzer. “It is a sold out rink.
“All the fans are all over us, but I think we handled it
good tonight, didn’t get rattled and stuck to our game plan.”
Orsulak turned away 36-of-40 shots to take the setback in
net for the Raiders. Switzer stopped 30 shots to pick up the shutout win in
goal for the Tigers, which was also Switzer’s first clean slate in post-season
play.
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| Noah Davidson had a strong game for the Tigers. |
The Tigers were 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Raiders
failed to score on four chances with the man advantage.
“The first period the shots were a little lopsided there
from a couple of power-play situations,” said Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald.
“I didn’t mind our start.
“I thought we created some opportunities and didn’t get some
bounces and got away from it in the second period and started turning some
pucks over and feeding into their transition and making it real hard on ourselves.
In the third period, we got back to our game and getting pucks in behind and
created some opportunities for ourselves. Again, you have to tip your cap to
them.
“They played hard. Again, we need to match that intensity
and match that level.”
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| Liam Ruck scored a power-play goal for the Tigers. |
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 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.
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| These two traveling fans enjoyed the Tigers win on Saturday. |
Due to how even the regular season series was, Desjardins,
who is the Tigers legendary head coach and general manager, expects every game
of the Eastern Conference final with the Raiders to be a battle.
“I thought we played a little better tonight,” said
Desjardins. “I thought the first game they kind of took it away on us.
“We had a really good start and then got on our heels a
little bit. They got some power-play goals. Tonight, we got one on the power
play.
“One just went in at the end of two (minutes), so that was
probably the difference.”
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| Niilopekka Muhonen had the Tigers final goal on Saturday. |
Going into Game 3 of the series in Medicine Hat on Tuesday,
Dube said his Raiders have to show their perseverance.
“We just have to wipe this one and play our game,” said
Dube. “Today, we were trying to do too much I think.
“We’re at our best when we are playing fast, just getting
pucks deep and on our forecheck.”
As for the Tigers, Ruck said everyone on his squad is pumped
to continue the series at their home rink.
“Going back 1-1 in the series, we know our fans are going to
be awesome,” said Ruck. “We can’t wait.
“Hopefully, we continue what we just had today.”
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| The Tigers celebrate their win on Saturday. |
NOTES – The
Raiders had another huge 50/50 pot for Saturday’s game with online sale
combined with sales in the building. The take home prize was $98,540 and will
go to the person with ticket number C-124720.
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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.JPG)
