Tigers Take Down Rebels 9-3
Red Deer, AB – The Tigers took on the Red Deer Rebels for their penultimate game of the 2025-26 regular season on Friday, March 20th in the Marchant Crane Centrium.
A big night for both teams who were already in playoff mode with how important the rest of their matchups were. The Tigers needed every win possible to have a chance at first in the conference, and the Rebels needed every point they could get to hold on to a playoff spot.
The Tigers made their presence known early as the Rebels took a penalty just past the 2:00 mark of the first period. It only took five seconds for Jonas Woo to capitalize on a rebound from Andrew Basha for his 29th goal of the season at 2:22.
Despite both teams putting up double digit shots, the first frame was not too busy on the scoresheet. That all changed in the second frame as it so often does for the Tabbies.
Bryce Pickford was the first on the board in the middle frame as he tallied his 45th of the year off of a good read by Kade Stengrim to intercept a pass behind the net and feed the Tiger Captain at 4:26.
Just over a minute later Kadon McCann scored forced another turnover from Red Deer and fired a wrist shot for his 21st of the year at 5:39.
Stengrim scored the fourth unanswered goal for the Tigers thanks to a brilliant stretch pass from Niilopekka Muhonen that led to a breakaway at 9:03.
Poul Andersen got Red Deer on the board for the first time with his 23rd of the year just 0:27 after Stengrim’s goal.
While there was lots of action on the scoresheet in the second period, Carter Casey made some big plays in the defensive zone to help the Tigers maintain their monstrous lead. Casey came out to the hashmarks to play a puck and stop a Rebels breakaway, and followed that up with an amazing scorpion save later in the same period.
The Tigers finished off their red hot second period with back-to-back goals from Yaroslav Bryzgalov. A nice passing play with Woo and McCann led to Bryzgalov having a wide open lane in the slot for him to fire a rocket of a wrist shot into the back of the net at 14:41 for his first of the night. His second came at 18:01 after Bryzgalov and Andrew Basha passed back and forth around some Rebels defenders.
The Rebels notched one more goal at 19:01 to make it a score of 6-2 Tigers heading into the second intermission.
Liam Ruck opened the scoring for the third period with his 44th of the year, becoming the second player in the WHL to hit 100 points this season after his brother Markus did so last week.
While Ruck’s goal came at 2:41, there wouldn’t be any more goals until 13:35 when Basha put away a rebound puck from a scramble in front.
Kohen Lodge tallied his fifth of the year at 17:12 to make it 8-3 Tigers.
Bryzgalov finished off his first career hat trick with just 0:02 remaining in the game to make the final score 9-3 for the Tigers.
Special Teams:
- PP: 1/1 – 100.0%
- PK: 3/4 – 75.0%
Stringam Law Three Stars:
- Talon Brigley (1A) – Red Deer
- Aleksey Chichkin – Red Deer
Supplement King Hardest Worker:
- Yaroslav Bryzgalov
The Tigers are back in action on Saturday, March 21st for their final game of the regular season to take on the Rebels in Co-op Place. Join the Tigers before the game where they will be presenting the team awards. Tickets are available at Tixx.ca or at the door.
