PHOTO COURTESY KEITH HERSMILLER PHOTOGRAPHY/REGINA PATS
Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Jordan Switzer makes a breakaway save on Regina Pats forward Ethan Moore in the first period Tuesday of Game 3 in the first-round series at Regina’s Brandt Centre. Switzer stopped 25 shots, turning aside a penalty shot and multiple out-numbered chances as the Tigers beat up on the Pats for an 8-2 Game 3 win and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Tigers got rewarded for their efforts Tuesday night.
A pair of three-goal spurts propelled the defending WHL Champions to an 8-2 Game 3 win in Regina over the Pats to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven, first-round series. Medicine Hat won Game 1 6-2 Friday before the Pats took game 2 4-2 Saturday, both games in Medicine Hat.
Head coach Willie Dejsardins says they were able to pull away from the Pats after a back-and-forth start.
“It was really good to win, Regina has been playing well, like really well, I thought they played really good early,” Desjardins said. “They had a goal called back early, (Jordan) Switzer was very good early too for us. So it wasn’t that Regina didn’t play well, they played well again. We kind of took over a little bit later in the game, but the first half was pretty even.”
The Pats appeared to open the scoring 1:48 into the game, Jace Egland knocking in a loose puck. On the same play, Zach Moore swung at the puck with a broken stick, prompting the officials to call the goal back and assess the first of three Tigers power plays in the opening frame. Desjardins says they were Abel to get their legs going after the power play, earning their own breaks for the first time in the series.
“You always create your own breaks, we hadn’t done that as much but I thought tonight we played hard,” Desjardins said. “If you work hard, you’re going to create a little bit more and I thought we did work hard tonight, it was great that we got rewarded.”
Starter Jordan Switzer made 25 saves in the win for the Tigers, turning aside a Keets Fawcett penalty shot in the first period as well as a pair of outnumbered rushes from the Pats. The Edmonton product started both Games 1 and 2 for the Tigers, Desjardins liked his efforts in the win Tuesday.
“He’s a good goaltender for us, he’s been with us for a long time, I didn’t think it was his fault we lost Game 2, I thought he played okay,” Desjardins said. “I just thought he should get this one and he played really well for us.”
After Regina had the goal called back, the Tigers scored three straight goals to lead after 20 minutes. Yaroslav Bryzgalov created a turnover to score 7:47 into the game, his second of the playoffs. A little under seven minutes later, Kade Stengrim flew down the left side of the Regina end and scored with a backhander for his first WHL Playoffs goal. The frame ended with captain Bryce Pickford scoring with a shot in the slot, his second of the post season.
Regina opened the second with a power play and capitalized, Ruslan Karimov scoring his second of the playoffs. Forward Maddox Schultz, the first overall pick in the 2025 WHL Draft, had an assist on the goal for his first career postseason point.
A five-goal period saw Andrew Basha scoring back-to-back goals for his first two of the playoffs, the second coming on the power play. Regina 2025 Draft pick Liam Pue scored on a rush for his first career WHL Playoff goals.
The second frame ended with Carter Cunningham coming out of the penalty box, picking up a loose puck high in the zone and scoring his first WHL postseason goal.
Medicine Hat scored the lone two goals in the third, Noah Davidson and Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll finding the back of the net for the 8-2 final. Six Tigers had multi-point efforts, led by Basha’s pair of tallies. Bryzgalov, Gordon-Carroll, Stengrim, Pickford and Davidson each had a goal and an assist in the win.
Across the ice from Switzer, Medicine Hat product Marek Schlenker made 17 saves before he was pulled for Taylor Tabashniuk in the second period, he finished with 17 saves. The Tigers outshot Regina 39-28, both teams were 1-4 on the power play.
Forward Cam Parr made his postseason debut with the Tigers on Tuesday, missing the first two games.
“He’s a real leader for us,’ Desjardins said. “People don’t realize how valuable he is for us. It was huge to get him back.”
Game 4 of the series is Wednesday night in Regina, Game 5 back in Medicine Hat on Saturday. Desjardins says they have to replicate their Game 3 effort if they want to return to The Hat with a 3-1 series lead.
” It doesn’t change, every game we’re going to have to play hard, it doesn’t matter if it’s Game 1, 3 or 5, whatever it is we’re going to have to play hard,” Desjardins said. “We know that, the game starts over again, it’s 0-0 and they’re gonna play hard, so we better be ready.”
