WHL Morning Skate: April 30, 2025

NEED TO KNOW

– Tigers Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt scored the overtime winner to give his team a formidable 3-0 series lead over Lethbridge

– Hurricanes star Brayden Yager remains the WHL’s active career points leader (64) with a goal and an assist in Game 3

– Medicine Hat can advance to the WHL Championship Series for the first time since 2007 with a win on Wednesday night

– Portland will look to cut its series deficit in half as the Winterhawks host the Spokane Chiefs for Game 3 on Wednesday

TOP PERFORMER- APRIL 29

Holy Moly! Nashville Predators prospect Tanner Molendyk was the linchpin of Medicine Hat’s killer comeback on Tuesday night. With the Tabbies trailing 4-1 midway through the second period, Molendyk wired a pass to rookie Liam Ruck to cut the deficit to two on the powerplay. Shortly afterward, he inched his team closer as he wheeled up the right wing to rip a shot past Jackson Unger for his third goal of the postseason. Molendyk, 20, continued his strong run in the third period with an assist on Mathew Ward’s shorthanded tally before serving up the game-tying goal to Byce Pickford to force overtime, where the Central Division champs emerged victorious. The 6-foot, 181-pound rearguard has 12 points (3G-9A) in 12 playoff matches and has points in seven straight games. Molendyk’s four-point effort is also tied for the highest-scoring game of his career (regular season + playoffs).

RESULTS

Medicine Hat 6, Lethbridge 5 (OT)

Medicine Hat leads 3-0

Never count the Tigers out. Despite falling behind 3-0 on the road, the Tabbies rallied back from multiple deficits to force Lethbridge to the brink of elimination. In fact, Medicine Hat never led the game until Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt bagged the overtime winner on a two-on-one break with Whitehorse wiz kid Gavin McKenna. The Tigers peppered Huuicanes’ netminder and 2024 WHL Champion Jackson Unger with 45 shots. Lethbridge Captain and Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Noah Chadwick scored twice- including an insane powerplay one-timer- while Nashville Predators pick Miguel Marques added a goal and two assists as Lethbridge tried to steer home their first win. Aside from Molendyk’s aforementioned run, Minnesota Wild prospect Ryder Ritchie (whose dad, Byron, won a WHL Championship with Lethbridge in 1997), Mathew Ward and Kadon McCann all tickled twine to tie the game at 4 in the late goings of the third period. Winnipeg Jets prospect and active WHL playoff points leader Brayden Yager appeared primed to play hero by restoring Lethbridge’s lead with less than four minutes left in regulation, but 2025 NHL Draft-eligible defenceman Bryce Pickford found the equalizer with a long wrister as Medicine Hat piled on the pressure with the extra attacker. Wiesblatt, who signed an AHL deal with the Milwaukee Admirals this week, struck in the extra frame for his league-leading fourth game-winning goal of the season. Can the Hurricanes bounce back on home ice to avoid the sweep in Game 4?

THREE STARS

1- Tanner Molendyk, MH

– 1G-3A

2- Noah Chadwick, LET

– 2G

3- Jonas Woo, MH

– 2A

ON TAP