Tigers Fall to Raiders, 8-3
WHL Medicine Hat Tigers

Tigers Fall to Raiders, 8-3

Published on April 24, 2026 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Medicine Hat Tigers News Release


Prince Albert, SK - The Tigers took on the Raiders for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday, April 24th in the Art Hauser Centre. The top two seeds of the East sat only two points away from each other in the regular season and split the season series with two wins each.

All four previous matchups between the two clubs were physical and that tone was carried forward to the post-season. Both teams were throwing checks left and right including some bone-crushing collisions from Josh Van Mulligen and Niilopekka Muhonen.

The Raiders were the first on the board with a goal from Brayden Dube at 6:23.

The Tigers responded with a snipe from Markus Ruck at 15:37. Ruck picked up a stretch pass from Andrew Basha and gained a step on the Raiders defenceman. A rocket of a wrist shot tied the game 1-1.

Justice Christensen restored the Prince Albert lead just 1:40 later, and the Raiders were up by 1 at the first intermission.

The Tigers put up double-digit shots in the second period but could not find their way past Michal Orsulak for a while.

Prince Albert added two more tallies to their total with the first from Ben Harvey at 2:43 and the second from Max Heise on the power play at 13:53.

Shaeffer Gordon-Caroll scored the lone goal of the middle frame for the Tigers as he managed to tip a feed from Dayton Reschny over the shoulder of Orsulak despite being tied up in the slot.

The Raiders opened the third period with back-to-back power play goals from Aiden Oiring at 3:37 and Alisher Sarkenov at 6:46.

Despite the Tigers last minute efforts their deficit grew larger and they struggled to keep the game at even strength.

Off of a mid-ice interception Bryce Pickford fired an amazing wrist shot past Orsulak for his sixth goal of the playoffs to bring the Tigers within three at 8:01.

The Raiders offensive push added two more goals to their total at the end of the period from Aiden Oiring and Evan Smith to make for a final score of 8-3.

Special Teams:

PP: 0/0 - 0.0%

PK: 3/4 - 75.0%

Stringam Law Three Stars:

Aiden Oiring (2G, 1A) - Prince Albert

Brock Cripps (3A) - Prince Albert

Max Heise (1G, 1A) - Prince Albert

Supplement King Hardest Worker:

Yaroslav Bryzgalov

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Championship will take place on Saturday, April 25th in the Art Hauser Centre. Stream the game for free on Victory Plus.

Check out the Medicine Hat Tigers Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from April 24, 2026


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