Raiders beat Tigers in game six to advance to WHL Final
The Prince Albert Raiders beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 7-6 on Sunday night at Co-op Place, punching their ticket to the 2026 WHL Final. Prince Albert will take on the Everett Silvertips after a few days of well deserved rest after knocking off the defending WHL Champions.
The Tigers did their job to start game six, opening the scoring 13:29 into the first. After Jonah Sivertson and Daxon Rudolph got crossed up in the defensive zone, which allowed Andrew Basha to collected the puck in the left circle. Basha fed Jonas Woo in the high slot, and Woo ripped a shot glove side over Michal Orsulak. It was Woo’s eight goal of the playoffs, brining Co-op Place to life as he made it a 1-0 game.
Prince Albert responded nicely, as Riley Boychuk tied the game with 4:13 left in the first. After Jordan Switzer made a glove save on a hard shot by Evan Smith from distance, he left the rebound in front of him. Raiders and Tigers scrambled to be there first for it, and Boychuk was the first forward to it. He chipped a shot over Switzer, burying his second goal of the playoffs, and first since game two against the Red Deer Rebels.
Seven goals were scored in the second period, and five of them belonged to the Raiders. However, it was Noah Davidson who struck first on a Tigers powerplay 1:15 into the frame. The Raiders responded on a powerplay of their own just under three minutes later, as Braeden Cootes struck for the first time in the series. He skated down the right wing and beat Switzer with a shot five hole, tying the game back up at 2-2.
Daxon Rudolph kept his hot streak going in the Eastern Conference Championship, as he struck at the 5:39 mark. Switzer came out of his net to play a dump in, but had trouble getting back to his crease. Rudolph threw the puck on goal from the wall, and it took a crazy hop off a Tigers defenceman, fooling Switzer as it crossed the goal line. The funny bounce gave the Raiders a 3-2 lead, and brought Switzer’s night to an end in goal, as he was replaced by Carter Casey.
Less than three minutes later, the goalie change seemed to bring a spark back to the Tigers, as they got on the board again to tie things up. This time it was Luke Cozens, scoring an identical goal to the one Cootes scored earlier in the period. Driving down the right wing, Cozens snuck a shot five hole past Orsulak, picking up his first goal of the playoffs to make it 3-3.
With 6:48 left in the second, the Raiders got another powerplay goal, as Aiden Oiring gave Prince Albert the lead back. Just 14 seconds into the man advantage, Oiring wired a shot past Casey blocker side to score his seventh of the playoffs. Oiring caught Casey off guard, as the netminder was sliding a bit across his crease to the left, and was fooled short side.
Another 20-year-old found the back of the net for Prince Albert, as Brayden Dube scored a tremendous goal to make it a 5-3 game. Skating down center ice with the puck, Dube carried it over to the right wing into the offensive zone. From the right circle, Dube wired a shot bar down past Casey, sizzling a shot past his left ear and in.
In the final minute of the second, Jonah Sivertson gave the Raiders even more breathing room, as he scored to make it 6-3. From the right wing, Cootes circled to the high slot and threw a hard backhand towards the net. Sivertson got his stick on the puck and brilliantly redirected it home over Casey. It was his second goal of the playoffs, putting the Raiders up 6-3 heading into the third, just 20 minutes away from reaching the WHL Final.
Medicine Hat would not go away without a fight, as they scored the first two goals of the third period to make it a one goal game. Kade Stengrim scored 2:20 into the period, depositing a perfect one timer home on the powerplay to make it a 6-4 game. Just over four minutes later, Josh Van Mulligen beat Orsulak to make it 6-5.
Prince Albert was able to settle things down again from there, and got some more insurance, as Boychuk scored his second goal of the night to make it 7-5. Leading a two on one rush down the right wing, Boychuk toe dragged, fell, got back up, and rifled a shot glove side past Casey. That was a huge goal in a huge moment for the Raiders, as they went up by two goals with 7:01 left in regulation.
With their net empty late, the Tigers made it a one goal game with six seconds left, as Liam Ruck fired home his eighth goal of the season to make it 7-6. Off the ensuing center ice faceoff, the Raiders grabbed possession and held on from there, as they won game six by a 7-6 final. As a result, they won the Eastern Conference Championship series four games to two.
Next up: the WHL Final. The Raiders will head to Everett to take on the Silvertips. The full schedule will be announced on Monday morning.
