Tigers open B.C. trip with 5-4 loss to Royals

By James Tubb on October 18, 2025.

The Medicine Hat Tigers dropped their first game of the B.C. division road trip.

The Victoria Royals scored three straight second period goals Saturday night and they were able to respond in the third, beating the Tigers 5-4. Medicine Hat came into the contest, the first of the six-game B.C. division trip, off a 3-2 win Tuesday at Co-op Place over the Spokane Chiefs.

Medicine Hat kicked off the B.C. road trip with an early goal Saturday, scoring 1:22 into the action.

Liam Ruck had the puck had the puck at the top of the circle and sent a backhand pass to his older twin brother Markus at the side of the net. Markus fired the puck off in-tight, scoring his first of the season for the early 1-0 lead.

The Royals responded with a goal on a three-on-one rush. Ludovic Perreault carried the puck up ice for Victoria and elected to keep it, firing a shot that just beat Jordan Switzer glove side for his third on the year, making it a 1-1 game at 4:11.

Medicine Hat ended the first period with a lead after a late marker. Misha Volotovskii intercepted a breakout flip from a Royals defender and after a deke around another defenceman, scored with a backhand along the goal line for a 2-1 lead with 2:20 left in the frame. His sixth of the season was the last marker of the frame, the Tigers led the period in shots 12-11.

The Royals led the second period, scoring three straight goals in the first 12 minutes to lead 4-2.

Reggie Newman scored on a rebound on a Royals’ power play to tie the game up 4:49 into the middle frame. Perreault and Hayden Moore had the assists on the Royals’ captain’s third of the year.

They grabbed a lead 1:46 later when Heath Nelson took advantage of a friendly bounce. Moore fired a shot towards Switzer that ricocheted off the glass to an unguarded Nelson who potted his fourth of the year. Newman had the second assist as Victoria led 3-2 at 6:45.

The Royals doubled their lead at 11:04. Miles Cooper out-skated Tyson Moss on a rush and scored with a backhand move, his fifth of the season. Odin Vauhkonen had the lone assist.

Medicine Hat’s Kadon McCann was sent to the locker room halfway through the second after being handed a five minute major and game misconduct for boarding at 11:20. McCann and Caleb Matthews fought after the hit, with Matthews given two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct to cut the Tigers’ penalty kill down to just three minutes.

They killed it off and capitalized on a power play of their own in the last seconds of the second period.

Captain Bryce Pickford one-timed a shot past the Royals’ Ethan Eskit for his seventh of the season, making it a 4-3 Royals lead with just 12 seconds left in the period. Kyle Heger and Markus Ruck had the assists on the blue liner’s goal.

They tied the game up at the halfway point of the third. Dayton Reschny, slotted with the Rucks in place of McCann, wired a shot from the high slot to make ti a 5-5 game at 10:25. Liam Ruck and Pickford had the assists on Reschny’s third of the season.

Victoria regained a lead just 24 seconds later, capitalizing on another power play. Vauhkonen fired a shot from the point that beat Switzer for his first in the WHL and the 5-4 lead with 9:11 left in the game. Roan Woodward and Nolan Stewart had the assists.

A little after the goal, Woodward skated towards the Tigers’ crease on a rush and pushed a defenceman into Switzer who was knocked to the ice. The Tigers’ net minder needed some time before regaining his feet. Despite the contact, no penalty was called on the play.

The Tigers pushed for the tie as the period wore down. Reschny had two Grade A chances at the side of the net for his second of the night, turned aside by Eskit who finished with 35 saves on the night. They pulled Switzer with 2:48 left in the game and made a push with the extra attacker to no avail, dropping the first game of the B.C. trip.

Medicine Hat outshot Victoria 39-28, also winning the face-off battle 48-26. Victoria was 2-5 on the power play, the Tigers went 1-6. Switzer finished with 23 saves on the night.

The Tigers (7-3) head to Vancouver on Sunday to face the Giants.

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