Switzer steals 2-1 Game 3 OT victory for Tigers over Raiders

Medicine Hat leads WHL Eastern Conference final 2-1

Jordan Switzer (#31) and Carter Casey celebrate an OT win.

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – So how good was Jordan Switzer?

The sophomore netminder for the Medicine Hat Tigers stole an overtime victory for his team in Game 3 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series on Tuesday night at Co-op Place. Switzer had a spectacular outing making 37 saves as the Tigers downed the visiting Prince Albert Raiders 2-1 in extra time to the delight of most of the 5,204 spectators outside of a noticeable contingent of Raiders supporters.

With the win, the Tigers take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Co-op Place.

Legendary Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins admitted it might be accurate to say Switzer’s heroics on Tuesday were up there with Kevin Nastiuk’s work in the team’s run to a WHL title win in 2004, Matt Keetley’s performances in Medicine Hat’s 2007 WHL championship victory run and Harrison Meneghin’s work helping the Tigers take the WHL title last season.

Jordan Switzer (#31) stops Raiders D Linden Burrett. 

“We didn’t know we’d need that at the start, but once it got started, we knew we were going to need something big,” said Desjardins. “He (Switzer) was big.

“That was as good a performance as I’ve seen for a long time. It was the perfect time to have it.”

Switzer was excited to hear about the high praise about his work from his bench boss along with being mentioned in a name drop of legendary Tigers netminders from the past two-and-a-half decades.

Jordan Switzer made 37 saves to backstop the Tigers to victory.

“That is cool,” said Switzer. “He (Desjardins) has seen a lot of goalies play in his time, so to be in that conversation is pretty cool.”

With that said, Switzer said his team really did have to slug out Tuesday’s contest as the Raiders came in with a lot of jump and came at the host side in waves. He was pleased his club found a way to persevere.

“I think it was good for us,” said Switzer. “We stuck with it the whole way.

“We never got down on each other. Obviously, we found a way to win in the end, which was really good.”

Daxon Rudolph scored to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.

The two club’s entered overtime locked in 1-1 tie after the Raiders played what might have been their best period of the contest holding a 10-2 edge in shots on goal for the third stanza. After 60 minutes, the Raiders held a 37-19 edge in shots on goal and played sizable stretches of time in Medicine Hat’s zone.

The rug was then pulled out from under the Raiders at the 4:07 mark of overtime. At that moment, Tigers 20-year-old star centre Andrew Basha took a shot from the point that changed direction on a deflection from star left-winger Liam Ruck.

Raiders star 18-year-old rookie import netminder Michal Orsulak stopped that shot, and the puck rebounded to sit beside the left post of the Prince Albert goal. Ruck collected the puck and tucked it into the Prince Albert net to give the Tigers their 2-1 victory.

Aiden Oiring had bad luck on some prime scoring chances.

Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald admitted Tuesday’s contest might be the story of the one that got away for his squad.

“I really liked our game,” said McDonald. “I thought we executed quite well.

“We had some really good looks that didn’t end up in the back of the net. I really liked our start, liked our pace, liked our hunt, liked our pucks to the paint and guys just didn’t get rewarded for it.”

Just seconds into the contest, Raiders star 20-year-old centre Aiden Oiring found himself alone in front of the Medicine Hat. He put on a deke, but slid a shot just wide of the left post.

That ultimately foreshadowed Oiring’s night as he would end up with about four other golden scoring opportunities and would be unable to find the back of the net.

Michal Orsulak made 19 saves in goal for the Raiders.

““O” (Oiring) brings a 200-foot game,” said McDonald. “He is a dog in the faceoff circle.

“He plays both sides of the puck from the penalty kill to the power play. He gets jobs on the defensive side plus the offensive side, and again, that is where he was earning his chances right inside the dots and you know those grade-A look situations. He got pucks off his stick and just didn’t get rewarded for them tonight.”

With 4:27 remaining in the first, the Raiders did break through on the scoreboard. Star defenceman Daxon Rudolph zipped into the left faceoff dot and his initial shot was stopped. He followed his shot and picked his own rebound close in and tucked home his sixth of the post-season to put the Raiders in front 1-0.

Kade Stengrim had the equalizer for the Tigers on Tuesday.

The Tigers evened the score at 1-1 with 3:53 remaining in the second, while working on the power play. Tigers 18-year-old standout rookie left-winger Kade Stengrim fired home a shot from the point through a screen for the equalizer.

About 5:40 into the third, the Raiders had a golden opportunity to go ahead. While holding pressure inside the Medicine Hat zone, Switzer got accidentally knocked out of his net by one of his own defencemen.

The Raider got the puck to captain Justice Christensen at the left point, who unloaded one of his “juice bombs” to what looked like an empty cage. Tigers import defenceman Veeti Vaisanen was able to get over to block the shot to allow the contest to remain tied.

Max Heise jets up ice for the Raiders.

As the rest of the third progressed, Oiring was stoned on two prime mid range chances and Raiders 18-year-old import left-winger Alisher Sarkenov was denied in close.

That set the stage for Ruck to come away with his winner in overtime. Orsulak turned away 19 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders.

“It is nice to get it done,” said Ruck. “We know that wasn’t our best game as a group.

“Obviously, it shows a lot of character to find a way to get that win.”

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.

Veeti Vaisanen had a big shot block for the Tigers.

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.

When the dust settled in Tuesday’s contest, Desjardins said his squad was able to come up with a steal of a victory.

“I think they outplayed us tonight for sure,” said Desjardins. “We hung in there.

“I think that is a big thing sometimes. You just have to find a way to win. Our guys battled hard.

The Tigers celebrate an OT winner from Liam Ruck.

“They got in shooting lanes and lots of stuff. “Switzie” Switzer was really good in net. We were fortunate to get that one, but we got her.”

In looking towards Game 4, McDonald said his Raiders just get back to the grind and work towards pulling even in the series.

“This is hockey, and that is why you are in playoffs,” said McDonald. “It is a seven-game series for a reason.

“We’ll take our time, reflect on it and wipe the slate clean and get ready to get back to work tomorrow.”

Desjardins would like to see his squad assert a little more control of the contest when the two sides meet in Game 4.

“We know it is going to be a hard game,” said Desjardins. “We’re going to have to be ready to go a little bit better than we were tonight.”

Liam Ruck (#12) gives a stick tap thanks to fans along the glass.

NOTE – While the Tigers and Raiders continue to battle in the Eastern Conference final, the Everett Silvertips are waiting to see which one of those two clubs will be their foe in the WHL Championship Series. On Tuesday in Penticton, the Silvertips downed the host Vees 4-2 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Championship Series. With the win, the Silvertips sweep the best-of-seven set 4-0 to advance to the WHL final for the first time since 2018. Everett fell in that WHL Championship Series in six games to the Swift Current Broncos.

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Tigers rebound in Regina

Medicine Hat praises youthful Pats in playoff battle

Keets Fawcett, left, of the Pats chases Noah Davidson of the Tigers.

REGINA, Sask. – It was a great night to be a fan of the Medicine Hat Tigers.

On Tuesday playing before 3,603 spectators at the Brandt Centre, the Tigers downed the host Regina Pats by a convincing margin of 8-2 in Game 3 of a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs. With the win, the Tigers take a 2-1 lead in the set with Game 4 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

The victory was a big one for the Tigers, who dropped a 4-2 decision to the Pats in Game 2 on Saturday at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat. Before that Game 2 encounter, the Tigers had beaten the Pats 12 straight times, where Regina’s previous victory was a 5-4 overtime win on home ice back on January 20, 2024.

Zach Moore was snake bitten with a disallowed goal.

While Medicine Hat won by a convincing final score on Tuesday, Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins saluted his team’s youthful foes in the Pats.

“I thought Regina played well,” said Desjardins. “They were right there early.

“I thought our goaltending played well early. They’re playing way better than they did in the regular season. It is a different team.

“They’re playing way better than they did in the regular season. It is a different team. We’re going to have to play good.”

Medicine Hat came into the first round series as heavy favourites to beat Regina. The Tigers finished second overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and third in the league’s overall standings at 50-10-5-3. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Yaroslav Bryzgalov scored the Tigers first goal on Tuesday.

The Pats finished seventh overall in the Eastern Conference with a 25-34-7-2 mark. The Regina side is a more youthful side that is starting to see positive results from a rebuild. The Pats strength is in their younger age groups seen in forwards Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue, who are playing half-time with the squad as 15-year-old underage players.

Tigers captain Bryce Pickford has been impressed with the young Pats. He was happy his club came up with the rebound win on Tuesday night, but he said he is aware of what the Pats are capable of doing.

“They’re a really good team,” said Pickford. “They came into our barn for the second game, and they stole it from us.

Kade Stengrim scored the Tigers second goal on Tuesday.

“We can’t underestimate them. We knew they were going to be good tonight. We had all the energy.

“We knew what we had to do, and we did it.”

Just 1:48 into the contest, the Pats were snake bitten by some bad luck. Zack Moore, who is a 19-year-old centre, appeared to score on a backhand shot, but the goal was waved off as he scored it using a broken stick. He also received a delay of game penalty on the play for using the broken stick, but the Regina side was able to kill off the infraction.

Bryce Pickford posted one goal, one assist and a plus-three rating.

The Tigers weren’t deterred without being able to score on that power play. At the 7:47 mark of the first, import left-winger Yaroslav Bryzgalov sniped home a shot from low down in close to the left side of the Regina net to put the visitors up 1-0.

With seven minutes remaining in the opening frame, Pats left-winger Keets Fawcett drew a penalty shot on a rush to the Medicine Hat net. On his penalty shot attempt, he was stoned by Tigers starting netminder Jordan Switzer.

After that missed chance by the host side, Tigers left-winger Kade Stengrim scored with 6:06 remaining in the third and Pickford tallied with 34.7 seconds remaining in the frame to push the visitor’s advantage out to 3-0. 

Andrew Basha (#34) celebrates his first of two goals on Tuesday.

The Tigers exited the opening frame holding that 3-0 lead, while having a 13-12 edge in shots on goal.

Pickford said his squad caught a couple of breakings in the opening 20 minutes, especially with Moore’s disallowed goal early in the frame.

“I think that luck was definitely on our side there with that no goal,” said Pickford. “We got lucky.

“We’re lucky the stick broke there. We got a bounce, and then we bounced back and we scored. They’re a really good team.

“They started off hot. They played better than us in the first I thought, and we just found a way to win the game.”

Just 43 seconds into the second, import left-winger Ruslan Karimov scored for the Pats to cut the Tigers lead to 3-1. 

Liam Pue scored his first WHL post-season goal on Tuesday.

Tigers star 20-year-old left-winger Andrew Basha responded with a pair of goals coming at the 9:53 and 12:25 marks respectively to push Medicine Hat’s lead out to 5-1.

Following Basha’s second goal, the Pats pulled starting goalie Marek Schlenker, who turned away 14-of-19 shots taking the setback in net for Regina. 

Taylor Tabashniuk turned away 17-of-20 shots playing the rest of the way in relief in the Pats net.

Regina responded quickly to the netminder change. 

Just 29 seconds after Basha’s second tally, Pue netted his first career WHL post-season goal for the Pats to trim the Tigers lead to 5-2.

Maddox Schultz brings the puck up ice for the Pats.

The Tigers proceeded to stall any momentum the Pats gained. With 30.2 seconds remaining in the second, Tigers right-winger Carter Cunningham wired home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle to the top right corner of the Regina net to give the visitors a 6-2 advantage heading into the second intermission.

Noah Davidson and Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll added singles for the Tigers in the third to round out the 8-2 final score in favour of Medicine Hat.

Switzer stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers.

Pickford said his squad has to continue to be aware of what the Pats are capable of.

Markus Ruck congratulations Jordan Switzer on a good game.

“They’re a young team, but they played really good,” said Pickford, who had an assist to go with his goal and was a plus-three in the plus-minus department for the Tigers. “Their forwards are fast.

“Their “D” are good. We just have to keep it going. After the first game, we kind of let off and then they took the second game. I think the biggest thing that we’ve got to learn from this game is that we’ve got to keep it going more than just one game.

“They are a really good team over there. We’re going to get their best next game, so we’ve got to be ready.”

Desjardins said Tuesday’s game was a lot closer than the final score said it was. He has been impressed with the Pats’ battle, and he expects the Regina side to continue to play hard for the rest of the series.

“They’re giving us everything we can possibly handle,” said Desjardins. “We were worried coming in tonight for sure.

A group of Tigers players close the night with their prayer circle.

“We were taking nothing for granted. They played well at home and in our building. They’ll be playing hard tomorrow.

“We know that.”

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