Medicine Hat Tigers conclude two-game road-trip against the Brandon Wheat Kings

The offensive outburts was led by draft-eligible forward Liam Ruck, who recorded his first career Western Hockey League hat-trick in the win.

Liam and his twin brother, Markus, both lead the entire Canadian Hockey League scoring race, fittingly tied with one another at 90 points.

Last night was the tenth time this season the Tigers have scored eight or more goals, and their fifth time they have done so over their last ten games.

It has been a remarkable season for the reigning defending WHL champions, who already have the most wins by a defending champion since 2016.

With a Prince Albert Raiders loss to the Red Deer Rebels last night, the Tigers now sit just two points back of the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

If the Tigers can claw past the Raiders, they would be the first defending champion to win their conference since 2013, and only the fifth team since 2000 to accomplish the feat.

Their opponents tonight, the Brandon Wheat Kings, occupy the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and sit just four points back of the Calgary Hitmen for home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2026 WHL Playoffs.

The Wheat Kings are 13-6 over their last 19 games and have rallied after a slow start to the regular season that saw them begin the year 2-6-1-0.

It has been led by the emergence of Czechian netminder Filip Ruzicka, who took over the crease from 19-year-old netminder Jayden Kraus in mid-November.

Ruzicka holds a 22-11-0-0 record, 3.08 GAA, 0.908 SV%, and two shutouts.

He is 2-0-0-0 against the Tigers this year and gets the start tonight for Brandon.

Puck drop from Brandon is slated for 6:00 p.m MST.

The pre-game show begins at 5:45 p.m. on WILD 94.5 FM.

by Will Bryant

Medicine Hat Tigers conclude two-game road-trip against the Brandon Wheat Kings

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