(Image Credit: Jesse Gill/CHAT News)

By Jesse Gill

Sports

Cubs take series lead into game two of HJHL Finals in Medicine Hat on Sunday

Mar 15, 2026 | 1:54 PM

The Medicine Hat Cubs took the first game of the Heritage Junior Hockey League Finals on the road in Red Deer on Saturday night.

A 6-2 victory over the Vipers puts the Cubs in the driver’s seat in the best-of-five series with game two back in Medicine Hat.

Game time at the Kinplex Arena on Sunday is at 4:30 p.m., a large crowd is expected again, as the Cubs look to get another game closer to their first Junior B title in 25 years.

The Vipers struck first in game one, 11 minutes and 39 seconds into it with a power play goal from Mason Hammerback as he tipped a point shot past Cubs goaltender Marlo DeRosa.

The Cubs would strike back with a goal of their own two minutes and three seconds later as Ethan Burgeson fired a puck on net that caught Vipers goaltender Meyer Gaume off guard.

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Then with a minute and 15 seconds left in the first, the Cubs captain Kyle Woolridge would score his playoff leading 11th goals. Picking up a rebound from a Nolan Sutherland shot.

A lead the Cubs would build on in the second when Randen Collier buried a pass from Jesse Klimosko to make it 3-1 midway through the second. A goal that would hold up as the game winner.

The Vipers would narrow the gap to one late in the second as Evan Lemke tipped in a feed to the front of the net from Brady Leroux.

A Josiah Jackson power play marker through traffic would make it 4-2 Cubs just over two minutes into the third period.

Blake Girard would fire a puck the length of the ice and hit an empty net at the 17:58 mark, with Keynan Cairns scoring the final goal to make it 6-2 Cubs with Gaume back in the Vipers net.

Things got a little rough at the end of the game with the refs handing out nine minor penalties in the final minute of the game.

DeRosa has a strong performance in net for the Cubs stopping 35 of 37 shots. Gaume tuned aside 35 of 40 for the Vipers.