The Medicine Hat Cubs take on the Carstar Okotoks Bisons in a best-of-five playoff matchup. (Image Credit: Jesse Gill/CHAT News)

By Jesse Gill

Sports

Medicine Hat Cubs start HJHL playoffs against Okotoks Bisons on Friday

Feb 9, 2026 | 12:23 PM

The Medicine Hat Cubs will take on the Carstar Okotoks Bisons in the second round of the Heritage Junior Hockey League playoffs.

The Bisons swept their opening round best-of-three series over the Coaldale Copperheads 2-0, with a 4-2 road victory on Wednesday, and a dominant 8-2 win at home on Friday.

Playoffs now shift to a best-of-five series, and the Cubs will look to knock out the team that finished their 2025 playoff push.

The Bisons have a history of defeating the Cubs in the playoffs in recent years, winning 3-1 in 2025 and 3-2 in 2023.

This season, the Cubs hold the regular-season advantage, winning three of five meetings against the Bisons, including the last three contests.

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The most recent game was a 4-3 Cubs win on Jan. 30 at the Kinplex.

A dominant 9-2 Cubs win at the Kinplex on Dec. 20 was the only other home game the Cubs had against the Bisons.

In Okotoks, the Cubs won on Nov. 22 by a 4-2 score, dropped an Oct. 31 contest 6-1, and lost an Oct. 10 game 4-2.

Home ice could play a factor in this series that starts Friday night at the Kinplex, but the Cubs have also shown improvement since those initial losses.

The Cubs, who finished the season at the top of the South Division with a 24-9-3 record, had an 8-6-1 record after their last loss to the Bisons, going 16-3-2 over the final 21 games of the season.

That stretch included a 14-game winning streak and a 10-game home winning streak.

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Cubs playoff schedule (Image Credit: Medicine Hat Cubs)

The Cubs have won 13 league titles since the team began in 1974, but have not won since 2001.

They will look to win three rounds to end the 25-year championship drought.

It will be the final opportunity for 21-year-old players Kyle Woolridge, Austin Derzaph, Keynan Cairns, and Ethan Burgeson.

They will start against a Bisons team that has won three of the last four league titles.

The puck drops on the series Friday, Feb. 13, at the Kinplex Arena.

Game two heads to Okotoks for a 3:15 p.m. contest on Sunday, Feb. 15.

Game three is back at the Kinplex on Friday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m.

If the series continues to game four, it is on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 8:30 p.m. in Okotoks, and a game five would be in Medicine Hat on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m.

The series winner will advance to the South Final against the winner of a series between Strathmore’s Agra Risk Wheatland Kings and the Cannex Cochrane Generals.