The Medicine Hat Tigers celebrate a goal at the Scotiabank Saddledome. (Photo by Jenn Pierce/Calgary Hitmen)

By Will Bryant

Sports

Medicine Hat Tigers secure top seed in the Eastern Conference with 5-2 win in Calgary

Mar 24, 2025 | 1:57 AM

The Medicine Hat Tigers wrapped up their regular season with a 5-2 win Sunday evening against the Calgary Hitmen, securing home-ice advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.

This is the first Central Division crown for the Tigers since the 2017-18 season and their first Conference title since the 2006-07 season.

Thirty-four seconds in, the Tigers looked to strike first but were denied by a spectacular sprawling glove save by Hitmen netminder Anders Miller who robbed Tigers defenseman Jonas Woo to keep the game scoreless.

Despite two powerplays for the Hitmen through the opening frame, the game remained scoreless through twenty minutes.

Early in the second, the Tigers would break the scoreless drought.

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Ethan Neutens sniped home his fifth of the year past the blocker of Anders Miller to get the Cats ahead 1-0.

Six minutes later, the Hitmen would respond.

After going 4-on-4, Hitmen forward Ben Kindel was sprung on a breakaway and chipped the puck through Harrison Meneghin to square the game at one with his 35th goal of the year.

Medicine Hat would restore their lead in the dying moments of the middle frame when Tanner Molendyk finished off a beautiful series of passes, rifling his ninth of the year past Miller to get the Tigers ahead 2-1 entering the second intermission.

Gavin McKenna assisted on the Molendyk goal, extending his point streak to a whopping forty games.

To begin the third, the Tigers would pick up where they left off.

Two and a half into the third, Gavin McKenna turned on the jets, winning the race to a loose puck in the Hitmen zone and poking the puck five-hole on Miller to get the Tigers ahead 3-1 and secure their first two-goal lead of the night.

Calgary would not go away quietly.

Nine minutes later the Hitmen would get back within a goal when David Adaszynski capitalized on a broken play that wound up on his tape, shrinking the Tiger lead back down to a goal.

From there, the Hitmen would push and come close to netting the game-tying goal but had the door slammed in their face time and time again by Harrison Meneghin, who was stellar, stopping 30 of 32 shots on the night.

With the game within a goal with four minutes to go, the Tigers would get an insurance marker to restore their two goal lead from none other than Gavin McKenna

McKenna was *somehow* left alone at the bottom of the right-wing circle, where Jonas Woo fed McKenna the puck, and the Tigers leading scorer made no mistake, writing the rubber past the glove of Miller to extend the lead back to two.

Veeti Vaisanen would go on to add an empty-netter thirty seconds later to put the game away and secure the Medicine Hat Tigers the 5-2 victory.

The win secures Medicine Hat home ice throughout the first three rounds of the WHL Playoffs and clinches the club their first Eastern Conference banner since 2006-07, and Central Division banner since 2017-18.

Medicine Hat concludes the season series with Calgary, with a 7-0-1-0 record following the win, their best against any division opponent this season.

Next up, the Medicine Hat Tigers will prepare to face the Swift Current Broncos in the first round of the WHL playoffs, which begin this coming Friday, March 28th at 7pm inside Co-op Place.

Tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow, March 24th, at noon.