PHOTO COURTESY Prince Albert DAILY HERLAD
Aiden Oiring of the Prince Albert Raiders takes a face-off against Marcus Pacheco of the Medicine Hat Tigers during a WHL regular season game at the Art Hauser Centre on Nov. 20, 2024.
It’s be a series more than two decades in the making.
For the first time since 2005, the Prince Albert Raiders (39-23-5-1) and Medicine Hat Tigers (47-17-3-1) will renew pleasantries in the WHL playoffs.
Both teams won their respective divisions which came down to the final game of the regular season. The Tigers finished as the top-seed in the Eastern Conference in the regular season and eliminated the Swift Current Broncos in five games in an opening round series. Prince Albert erased a 3-1 series deficit to knock out the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round.
It’s the first time that two division winners have matched up in the second round since the Portland Winterhawks and Kelowna Rockets in 2011, a series Portland won in six games.
Raiders interim head coach Ryan McDonald says Prince Albert will look to build off the momentum from the Edmonton series.
“(It’s) an exciting time, the sun’s out, it’s nice out and this is when you want to play hockey,” McDonald said. “We’re playing three Game 7s back to back, just the battle and the level of detail that we just continue to elevate and play with.
In Game 6 being up 3-1 and then (Edmonton) scoring two quick goals and making it 3-3, (there was) just no panic level on the bench and just continuing to go about our business. The end of Game 7 with just tremendous support that we got from the fans and just the level of detail the guys played with was truly phenomenal.”
During the regular season, the Tigers were led offensively by Four Broncos Memorial Trophy finalist Gavin McKenna (41G, 88A) and overager Oasiz Wiesblatt (36G, 67A). Former Raider Ryder Ritchie (29G, 32A) played 53 games in the orange and black this season.
On the backend, Bryce Pickford (20G, 27A) and former Saskatoon Blade Tanner Molendyk (9G, 38A) paced the Tigers offensively.
Medicine Hat was tops in the WHL for team goals scored during the regular season with 300. McDonald says Prince Albert will need to limit the Tigers speed to have success during the series.
“They’re a quick transition team and they thrive on the transition,” McDonald said. “For us, puck management is key, making sure that we’re tracking back and we’re tracking right to the house. Just making sure that our details are tight, playing our heavy game and playing behind them.”
One player who will be a major factor in the series for the Raiders is 19-year-old centreman Aiden Oiring. In the first round, Oiring recorded 11 points (6G, 5A).
Oiring, who was named the Raiders best defensive forward at the team awards banquet last month, will be someone that Prince Albert will lean on throughout the series.
“I think we just need to play a physical game to make them come through us.” Oiring said. “They’re a skilled and fast team, so we got to match that and kind of slow them down as best we can.”
During the regular season, the Raiders only came out victorious in one of four meetings against the Tigers. That lone victory came in overtime at Co-op Place in February on a 4-on-3 power play goal by Lukas Dragicevic.
Despite the lack of regular season success against the Tigers, Oiring says the Raiders are feeling confident in the matchup.
“I think all the games that we’ve played against them, I think we could have won most of them,” Oiring said. “We definitely believe that we can beat them at home at the Hauser. We just got to go there and play our game in the first two games and steal one.”
During the second round of the WHL playoffs, teams are reseeded based on points rather than where they finished in the standings. Because of that, the Raiders do not have home ice advantage in the second round.
“I think any position that we put ourselves in, we’re pretty comfortable with now.” Oiring says. “We obviously don’t want to get down 3-1 going into the next series or moving forward. It’s just going to get harder, so we want to stay on top of that, but I think we’re ready.”
