3rd Period Update: Tigers set to battle Hurricanes in Game 1 of Eastern Conference Finals

Final Shots: 36-19 Tigers

The Tigers go 0/4 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill

2nd Period Update:

The Tigers outscore the Hurricanes 2-1 in the middle frame and chase Jackson Unger from the net for Lethbridge as the Tigers lead 5-2 through forty minutes.

Tiger goals came courtesy of Ryder Ritchie and Ethan Neutens.

The Hurricanes’ goal came from Brayden Yager on the powerplay, his seventh of the playoffs.

Medicine Hat went 0/1 on the powerplay and 1/2 on the penalty kill.

Medicine Hat will begin the third period with 1:05 of power play time.

1st Period Update:

The Medicine Hat Tigers struck twice in a six-second span and added another halfway through the opening frame to take a 3-1 lead into the intermission.

Tiger goals came from Schaeffer Gordon-Carroll, Gavin McKenna, and Oasiz Wiesblatt.

The lone Hurricanes goal came courtesy of Logan Wormald.

Neither team had a powerplay in the opening frame.

Shots: 16-6 in favor of the Tigers

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Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals gets underway tonight inside Co-op Place between the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Medicine Hat Tigers.

This is the third all-time playoff matchup between the two Central Division rivals, with the last being a second round matchup in 2017 that Lethbridge won in seven games.

The lone other playoff meeting was back in the Conference Finals in 1991 which Lethbridge would also win in seven.

This season, Medicine Hat won the head-to-head series five games to three, while the home team won all but one game.

For Lethbridge, this is their first Conference Finals appearance since 2018 when they lost in six games to the eventual WHL Champion Swift Current Broncos.

Meanwhile this it Medicine Hat’s first Conference Finals appearance since 2014, when they fell in five games to the Edmonton Oil Kings who also would go on to win the WHL Finals.

Keep an eye out for Hurricanes defenseman Noah Chadwick in this series.

Entering Game 1, Chadwick sits third on the Hurricanes in points with 12, but eight of those points have come on the powerplay so expect Chadwick to be a focal point of the Lethbridge man-advantage.

Brayden Yager will also look to factor in for the Hurricanes. Entering at over a point per-game in his WHL Playoff Career, Yager was integral to the Moose Jaw Warriors championship run last year, and looks to provide the same impact this year for Lethbridge.

Yager sits fourth on the club in scoring with 11 points through 12 games.

For Medicine Hat, keep an eye out for superstar forward Gavin McKenna who has recorded a point in each of his last 49 games.

McKenna, a nominee for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy, has a staggering 22 points over just nine playoff games and will look to add to that total while extending his point streak tonight.

Medicine Hat Tigers Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt is another Tiger to watch tonight.

Wiesblatt leads the Tigers in goals these playoffs with ten, and has recorded a point in every game so far this postseason.

Harrison Meneghin will also look to play a massive role in this series, going up against his former club.

The reigning WHL Goaltender of the Week leads all netminders in goals-against-average this postseason (2.00) while boasting an undefeated 6-0-0 record entering the Conference Finals.

A spattering of tickets are still available for Game 1 and you can secure yours online at Tixx.ca or in-person at the Co-op Place box office.

The pre-game show gets underway ahead of Game 1 at 6:30 p.m. on WILD 94.5, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.

by Will Bryant

3rd Period Update: Tigers set to battle Hurricanes in Game 1 of Eastern Conference Finals

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