Tigers show tenacity, rebound with 5-0 win over Raiders

WHL Eastern Conference final tied at 1-1 heading to the Hat

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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Tigers sixth WHL title win had emotions like no other

Meneghin named MVP playing to honour his late father

The hand of fate made the Medicine Hat Tigers sixth WHL title win feel unlike the five other league championships that came before.

On Friday night, the Tigers downed the Spokane Chiefs 4-2 in Game 5 of the WHL Championship Series played before 7,607 spectators at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The victory allowed the Tigers to claim the best-of-seven set 4-1 and raise the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions.

The WHL title win was a first for the Tigers since 2007 and sixth league championship win in team history. The six league title wins by the Tigers also equaled the Kamloops Blazers for the most in the history of the circuit.

It also seemed fitting Tigers star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin had another stellar outing in Friday’s series clinching win making 34 saves on the night. Meneghin was playing through an emotionally-filled post-season.

When the Tigers closed their regular season schedule back on March 23 with a 5-2 victory over the Hitmen in Calgary, Meneghin found out about the passing of his father, Derek. Derek’s passing came in an unexpected fashion.

During the post-season, it was obvious Meneghin was playing for his father, and the rest of the Tigers were playing for him. In the WHL Playoffs, Meneghin would appear in 16 games for the Tigers posting a 14-1 record, a 2.35 goals against average, a .906 save percentage and three shutouts. He claimed honours as MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

After Meneghin accepted the trophy as the MVP of the WHL Playoffs from Richard Doerksen, who is the WHL’s vice-president of hockey, the puck stopper was mobbed by his teammates.

Next on the agenda came the presentation of the Ed Chynoweth Cup. Tigers captain Oasiz Wiesblatt posed for the initial photos holding on to the WHL championship trophy with league commissioner Dan Near.

Wiesblatt proceeded to call Meneghin over to step in to be the one to take the Ed Chynoweth Cup from Near. Meneghin came in and posed for photos and proceeded to take the championship trophy from Near and raise it over his head. The goalie was then swamped by his teammates and the celebration began in earnest.

Meneghin then took the first victory lap with the trophy. It felt like it was a moment that was meant to be. The whole on ice celebration for the Tigers was a moment that everyone with the team who was soaking in the festivities wished could have lasted forever.

At the start of Game 5, Meneghin and Chiefs star netminder Dawson Cowan took centre stage in the opening frame making a number of big saves to ensure the stanza remained scoreless. The Tigers held a 14-8 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes.

The Tigers also hit the ice with superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna, star centre Cayden Lindstrom and 16-year-old breakout centre Gordon-Carroll Shaeffer back in the lineup after all three missed Game 4 with undisclosed injuries. McKenna was out for Game 3 as well.

The Chiefs came out with a big push in the second holding a 17-9 edge in shots on goal for the frame. The Tigers would get in the only goal in the period.

With 7:18 remaining in the second, Tigers veteran right-winger Ethan Neutens won an offensive zone faceoff back to Finnish rookie import defenceman Niilopekka Muhonen. Muhonen fired an off-speed wrist shot from the left point home to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. The tally was Muhonen’s first goal of the post-season.

At the 5:01 mark of the third, McKenna wired home a power-play goal from just inside the top of the left faceoff circle to push the Tigers lead out to 2-0.

Harrison Meneghin on Friday night. (Photo by Larry Brunt/Spokane Chiefs)

Just 44 seconds later, Tigers 19-year-old right-winger Hunter St. Martin netted what would be a controversial goal to Chiefs supporters that put the visitors up 3-0. Tigers overage left-winger Mathew Ward drove to the Spokane net and was shoved from behind by Chiefs overage defenceman Brayden Crampton.

Ward slid into Cowan, who made a kick save on Ward’s initial shot. As Ward went into Cowan, the Spokane net came off its pegs. St. Martin swooped in, picked up the rebound and put it into an empty cage.

The officials went to a video review and ruled the tally was a good goal. Officials have the discretion to allow a play to continue if a net pops off its pegs and an attacking offensive team has a scoring chance. The officials in that instance are allowed to judge if the puck from a shot would go into the net, if it was still on its pegs.

The Chiefs would proceed to battle back after going down by three goals. Just 49 seconds after St. Martin’s tally, Chiefs superstar right-winger Andrew Cristall drove home a mid range shot from the front of the Tigers net for a power-play marker to trim Medicine Hat’s edge to 3-1.

With 10:47 remaining in the third, Chiefs rookie import right-winger Assanali Sarkenov potted a goal from the front of the Medicine Hat to further cut the Tigers lead to 3-2. Sarkenov converted a nice pass from linemate Sam Oremba, who was positioned by the left side of the Medicine Hat net.

The Chiefs weren’t able to find the equalizer from that point.

With 74 seconds remaining in the third, Tigers offensive-defenceman Bryce Pickford fired a puck from his own zone into an empty Spokane net to seal the 4-2 victory for the visitors. The tally was Pickford’s 13^th of the post-season.

The empty-net marker extended Pickford’s streak of scoring goals in eight straight games, which is the longest consecutive string of games with a goal by a defenceman in the WHL Playoffs since 1996. Pickford has 10 goals over his last eight outings.

Pickford also equaled the WHL record for most goals by a defenceman in a single WHL Playoffs with his 13^th tally. Darren Veitch of the Regina Pats scored 13 goals playing on the blue line in the Pats run to winning the WHL title in 1980.

During the 18 games the Tigers played in winning the WHL title, Pickford recorded 24 points off 13 goals and 11 assists to go with a plus-23 rating in the plus-minus department.

Jonas Woo picked up a pair of assists playing on the back end for the Tigers, while St. Martin had an assist to go with his goal.

Cowan turned away 32-of-35 shots to take the setback in net for the Chiefs.

Before entering the WHL Playoffs, the Tigers placed second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark. The Chiefs were fourth overall in the regular season with a 45-20-1-2 record.

As for the final CHL Top 10 Rankings that were released back on March 25, the Tigers were ranked third, and the Chiefs were rated sixth.

Over their last 52 games combined in the regular season and post-season, the Tigers have collected 44 wins.

The Tigers, who went 16-2 in the WHL Playoffs, now advance to play in the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup. The Memorial Cup runs May 22 to June 1 in Rimouski, Quebec.

Medicine Hat opens play at the Memorial Cup on May 23 taking on the host Rimouski Oceanic. The Memorial Cup tournament also includes the OHL champion London Knights, the Oceanic and Moncton Wildcats from the QMJHL. The Oceanic and Wildcats are currently going at it in the best-of-seven QMJHL Championship Series that is being led by the Wildcats 3-1.

Still, Friday night was a special one for the Tigers as Meneghin continues to write an incredible story. The Tigers are ensuring the 2024-25 campaign is one of the most memorable in the team’s storied history.

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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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.