NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Carter Cunningham and Red Deer Rebels captain Talon Brigley battle in a face-off in the first period of a 7-4 Tigers' win Sunday at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The WHL holiday break wasn’t just an opportunity for players and coaches to see their families again, it also gave the rest of the league a break from facing the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The Tigers returned from the break with a pair of wins, winning 5-1 Saturday in Lethbridge over the Hurricanes before beating the Red Deer Rebels 7-4 on Sunday at Co-op Place. The pair of wins extends their league-leading win streak to 12 games.
Head coach Willie Desjardins liked how his team handled the game Sunday and their first two looks back from the holidays.
“Red Deer had a good team, they play hard and they’ve come a long way from the start of the year. That was a tough game, they played hard,” Desjardins said.
“I thought we were good, last night’s first period and tonight’s first period we were good. They have an experienced team, they have a good group, so it was a tough game for us.”
Jonas Woo tallied a goal and four assists in Saturday’s win, adding an assist Sunday, earning him the WHL’s player of the week honours. Captain Bryce Pickford extended his league lead in goalscoring with a goal in each game, adding three assists Saturday.
Liam Ruck had a goal and an assist in both games, Yaroslav Bryzgalov had a goal and three assists Sunday, defenceman Josh Van Mulligen tallied a goal and an assist in the same game. Ethan Neutens scored in both games, giving him goals in three straight.
Liam Ruck’s goal Sunday extended point streaks for three Tigers, giving Markus Ruck points in 12 straight, Woo points in 10 straight and Liam an eight-game point streak. Pickford is running a 10-game point streak.
Pickford says he’s learning new pieces from his team over the win streak.
“We’re so consistent and we want to battle for each other every night, it’s awesome to be part of,” Pickford said.
“They’re just relentless no matter how we’re feeling. I haven’t seen a team this relentless through injuries and battling through bad calls and all that.”
The Tigers’ special teams were extra special over the weekend, with the penalty kill holding the Hurricanes and Rebels to one goal on 15 chances, and the Medicine Hat power play scoring five goals on seven man advantages. Their power play sits second best in the WHL at 30.6 per cent, their penalty kill coming in at No. 7 at 80 per cent.
“Our penalty kills were outstanding (Sunday) night, power play was great too, they did a great job early for us and kind of got us back into it,” Desjardins said. “Joe and Josh both do outstanding jobs, they work hard at it, it doesn’t just happen, there’s a lot of work put into it.”
Sunday’s win came with 5,001 in attendance, the largest crowd at Co-op Place of the season.
“That crowd changes the game,” Van Mulligen said. “We feed off them and we’re looking forward to this second half, and hopefully it just keeps on getting rowdy.”
On Sunday the Tigers donned superhero jerseys and capes during warmups as part of Remax Canada’s ‘Be a Superhero night,’ to raise funds for Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.
The jerseys are being auctioned off with all proceeds going to the foundation. The auction is live until Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. MST and can be found on the Tigers website.
The CHL’s No. 9 ranked Tigers (24-6-3-2) carry the 12-game win streak into tonight when they head to Red Deer for the final game of the 2025 calendar. Van Mulligen says they’ll look to carry the same approach they have since November, taking each night moment by moment.
“We can’t get too high or too low, just can’t be complacent,” Van Mulligen said. “We’re focused on the next game and that’s Tuesday in Red Deer. So we know they’re going to come hard and we just gotta be ready for that.”
