The Medicine Hat Tigers swarm forward Liam Ruck after he scored the overtime winning goal in Saturday's 6-5 win at Co-op Place over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers find themselves in a similar spot two straight years entering the final week of the regular season.
A year after it took Game 68 for the Tigers to win the Eastern Conference, they enter the final weekend of the 68-game season in a battle for first place of the conference. Unlike their championship season, the Tigers trail the East division champion Prince Albert by two wins and two points after the Raiders’ 8-4 win Tuesday over the Regina Pats.
They’re going to need help from the Saskatoon Blades who have a pair of games against their divisional foe, while the Tigers have to take care of business in a pair of games against the Red Deer Rebels.
While the conference race is still alive heading into the final corner, it’s their own fight they have to be concerned about, head coach Willie Desjardins says.
“They’re all gonna be tough, like really tough, you look at the opposition and there’s not one team I’d want to face,” Desjardins said. “They’re all good teams, they’re all different a little bit, but they’re all really good teams.
“So we just have to take care of ourselves. It’s different in playoffs, so we have to just make sure we’re as ready as we can.”
The Tigers (48-10-5-3) have improved upon their season totals from last year, with two games still to play. They’ve won an extra game and picked up six more points.
Defenceman Josh Van Mulligen says their start helped, winning seven of the first 10 this season, compared to a .500 start last year.
“We knew what we had going into the year and there wasn’t the unknown going in, that really helped,” Van Mulligen said. “We’ve done a pretty good job just sticking with it. There’s been some down, but I think we’ve been pretty resilient and just kept trying to get better.”
The largest difference year over year has come in the goals category. In 2024-25 the Tigers scored 300 times and only allowed 193. This year’s team, has scored 331 goals and allowed 202.
They’ve scored the sixth most goals since the turn of the millennium, with the 2016-17 Pats leading the pack with 353 Of the eight teams to scored 330 or more goals in a season since 2000, which included the 2016-17 Tigers (350), only the 2012-13 Portland Winterhawks (334) won an Ed Chynoweth Cup the same year.
Between high flying offence, a 19-game win streak, Markus and Liam Ruck leading the CHL in scoring and the franchise record-breaking defence pairing of captain Bryce Pickford and Jonas Woo, there has been a lot to celebrate for the Tigers this regular season.
Despite all the success, the true measuring stick awaits, Desjardins says.
“We still have an awful lot to prove, but I do think the group works hard,” Desjardins said. “(Pickford and Woo) have been outstanding for us and you have to appreciate there’s lots of guys who have had unbelievable years for us, so you appreciate that, but you get measured in the playoffs.”
Going into the final weekend, the Tigers have a 4-0-1-1 record against Red Deer. Whether they can get atop the conference for a second straight year, the focus preached for weeks is being prepared for Game 1 of the first round. Van Mulligen likes what he’s seeing so far.
“Everybody’s bought in, everybody wants the same common goal and everybody wants to win here,” Van Mulligen said. “We have a good group and we’re looking forward to getting started here.”
