Photo Credit: Andy Devlin / Edmonton Oil Kings

By Will Bryant

Sports

Medicine Hat Tigers battle Edmonton Oil Kings for top spot in Eastern Conference

Jan 14, 2026 | 10:44 AM

The Medicine Hat Tigers put their franchise-record tying 17-game win streak on the line tonight in Edmonton in a heavyweight tilt against the Oil Kings.

Tonight marks the fourth of eight meetings this season between the top two teams in the Central Division.

Edmonton has had the upper hand through three games, winning two of the three.

Medicine Hat has not having lost a game since November 21st, 2025, and ride a 21-game point streak to go alongside their nearly two consecutive months of winning hockey.

The Tabbies captain, Bryce Pickford, who is having the most prolific offensive season any Western Hockey League defenseman has had in over 30 years, sits just one goal off setting a new single-season Tigers and WHL Internet-Era record for goals by a blueliner in a campaign.

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On the Oil Kings side, they have been perfect since the holiday break, having rattled off an eight-game win streak since December 27th, 2025.

Powering their offense has been second-year forward Miroslav Holinka, who sits tied with Pickford for third in the WHL scoring race.

The Toronto Maple Leafs fifth round pick leads the Oil Kings in goals with 26 and points with 60.

The matchup will be the first between the clubs since the WHL Trade Deadline, which saw the Oil Kings bolster their blueline with the additions of a pair of 20-year-old blueliners, Carter Sotheran from the Portland Winterhawks, and Austin Zemlak from the Tri-City Americans.

Sotheran is sixth in scoring by WHL blueliners, while Zemlak, a former WHL first-round draft pick, has five points in eight games since being acquired by Edmonton.

Top spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference is on the line as the clubs kick off a home-and-home series tonight before concluding things Friday night inside Co-op Place.

Puck drop is set from inside Rogers Place for 7:00 p.m. MST, and the pre-game show begins at 6:45 on WILD 94.5 FM.