NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Liam Ruck celebrates after scoring his second goal in a 6-0 win over the Regina Pats at Co-op Place on March 10.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers have had their fair share of success against the Regina Pats over the past few seasons.
The defending WHL Champions have won 11 straight games over the Regina Pats, dating back to the 2023-24 season, with the last loss a 5-4 overtime defeat to the East division foe on Jan. 20, 2024.
They’ll face off against the Pats in the first round of the WHL Playoffs, the first postseason meeting between the clubs since 2006-07.
Medicine Hat swept this season series 4-0, outscoring the Pats 26-7 thanks in part to an 11-2 win Mar. 3 in Regina.
It’s a regular season series sweep that, like the rest of their success through 68 games, is swept under the rug with Game 1 set for tonight at Co-op Place.
“We’ve gotten the better of them a couple of times this year but they’re a fast-paced team,” forward Liam Ruck said. “They play with pace, so we’re going to have to be ready for them.
“We have to be level-headed. They’re a better team than their record and they’re in the playoffs for a reason. So we’re going to have to be at our best.”
Medicine Hat enters the playoffs as the first defending champions to make the postseason since the 2019-20 Prince Albert Raiders clinched a spot in the COVID-19 cancelled playoffs. They’re looking to become the first WHL team to repeat as champions this millennium, the last repeat coming from the 1994 and 1995 Kamloops Blazers.
After climbing to the mountain top last season, falling one win short of a Memorial Cup, they now start the journey all over again. It’s the start of a fun ride, forward Kadon McCann says.
“Working your way up the ranks is always special, having that feeling we had last year and bringing it to this year, the wins and the losses, losing the Memorial Cup was tough but winning the championship was awesome,” McCann said. “So just bring that feeling and letting those other guys experience it. It’s something we’ve already talked about this year as a leadership group, and something we want to do again.”
The Tigers skated to a second straight Central division title while tallying 50 wins for just the fifth time in team history. Medicine Hat enters the playoffs on a five-game win streak, leading the WHL in goals scored with 348.
The Tigers had a pair of skaters reach 100 points, Markus (108) and Liam (104) Ruck leading the entire CHL in scoring. Two defencemen, Jonas Woo (86) and Bryce Pickford (83), crossed the 80-point plateau, more than any skater on the Pats roster. Pickford and Liam’s team-leading 45 goals is 15 ahead of Regina’s Keets Fawcett. Caden Brown led the Pats in scoring with 61 points.
Regina enters the playoffs on a five-game slide, clinching a playoff spot with a Moose Jaw Warriors loss on Mar. 21, getting into the postseason after missing out the past two seasons. The Pats are the youngest team in the WHL, with an average age of 17.73, while Medicine Hat is the third-oldest, at 18.59 years old.
“We’ve had a couple close games with them, they’re good,” head coach Willie Desjardins said. “They have a young team, they transition really well and we know that it will be a challenge.”
Liam led the Tigers in scoring against the Pats this season, tallying seven goals and 12 points in the four games. Older twin Markus was second on the team, grabbing nine assists in the four games.
The Tigers found success both at home and on the road in the regular season, winning 28 games at Co-op Place and another 22 on the road. Regina tallied 15 wins at the Brandt Centre, picking up just 10 victories on the road.
Medicine Hat hasn’t loss on home ice since Feb. 14, a 4-3 overtime loss to the WHL regular season champion Everett Silvertips, picking up seven wins since. The Tigers finished the season 10-2-2 on the road since Jan. 2.
With a lot of success this season, individually and as a team, there have been many a reason to celebrate. But now, al that matters is the next win, and the one after that. The Tigers have liked what they’ve done so far, 20-year-old forward Andrew Basha says, and he hopes they continue building toward the high bar set by last year’s group.
“The team has been doing pretty good, practice has been good and we’re just going to keep getting better,” Basha said. “It’ll be good to get Friday started, that’s our mindset. Just think about what we can do and what we have to do.
“We’ll prepare heavily for what we can assume they’re going to do and their strategies, but at the end of the day, it’s what we do. It’s how we perform, how we feel and how we execute. So I think we’re in a great spot.”
