A late push wasn’t enough as the Regina Pats dropped their second consecutive game on the road on Saturday, falling 5-2 against the Medicine Hat Tigers at Co-op Place.
Kade Stengrim opened the scoring for Medicine Hat, burying a centring pass on the man advantage at 4:05 of the first period to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Just over three minutes later, Bryce Pickford doubled the Tigers’ lead, scoring a one-timer from the point at 7:24 with assists from Markus and Liam Ruck.
In the middle frame, Luke Ruptash tipped a puck to Noah Davidson who skated swiftly around the Pats’ zone before finding Jonas Woo who walked into the slot and beat Marek Schlenker glove side to make the game 3-0 in favour of the Tigers at 3:50. Nearing the midway point of the second period, Medicine Hat would add to their lead as Woo secured his second goal of the period with a shot through traffic, beating Schlenker and pushing the score to 4-0 at 9:32.
In the third, Ellis Mieyette got Regina on the board, burying his first career WHL goal on the power-play after a tic-tac-toe play from Julien Maze and Matt Paranych at 4:16. Following a turnover below the goal line, Reese Hamilton shot a puck toward the Tigers net, where Zach Lansard netted his own rebound to cut the deficit in half at 14:03. However, the Pats’ third period surge would come to a hault after Bryce Pickford scored his second of the game from the full distance of the ice at 19:39, finding Regina’s empty net with a backhanded shot while being short-handed.
It was a valiant comeback effort from Regina in the final 20 minutes, outshooting Medicine Hat 15-8 in the final frame and scoring two goals, but the team came up just short in their opening weekend finale.
Jordan Switzer finished with 21 saves on 23 shots for Medicine Hat, while Schlenker stopped 36 of 40 shots in his Pats debut. The Tigers went 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Pats were 1-for-5.
Final shots on goal were 41-23 in favour of Medicine Hat. Matt Paranych extended his point streak to two games while Mieyette and Lansard each found the back of the net for the first time in the 2025-26 campaign for the Blue Brigade.
FINAL: Medicine Hat Tigers 5, Regina Pats 2
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