The Medicine Hat Tigers kicked off the 2025 WHL Yukon Showcase in style with an 8-4 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. Fourteen players on the Tigers roster recorded at least a point, with Noah Davidson and Liam Ruck leading the way with a goal and two assists each. As for the Rockets, Levi Benson was named their Player of the Game, while Kalder Varga led all players with seven shots on goal.
Medicine Hat jumped out to an early lead less than three minutes in when Dub Eunice III beat Jake Pilon to make it 1-0. The Tigers would double their lead midway through the first thanks to Marcus Ruck, before Kelowna tied the game with two goals less than a minute apart from Kanjyu Gojsic and Owen Folstrom. While it looked like the two teams would enter the intermission tied, Carter Cunningham had other plans as he scored with under two minutes left to put Medicine Hat in front 3-2.
The second period was much like the first as it also featured five goals. The Rockets struck first as Daniel Pekar scored his first of the pre-season before the Tigers took full control of the game with four straight. Medicine Hat received goals from Yaroslav Bryzgalov, Zack Nieckar, Noah Davdison and Gavin Kor to put the Tigers up 7-3 going into the intermission. Overall, the second was a dominating period for Medicine Hat, who also outshot Kelowna 17-8 during the middle frame.
As for the third, it was arguably the calmest period of the night. Liam Ruck scored on the power play to make it 8-3 for the Tigers before Eli Barrett added a late one for the Rockets to make it 8-4. By the end of the game, Medicine Hat had outshot Kelowna 35-31 while the two teams combined to go one for 12 with the man advantage.
Overall, there were quite a few standout performances during the game. Up front, Ruck and Davidson had strong outings for the Tigers while Carter Casey put forth an impressive night in goal, stopping 27 of the 31 shots he faced. As for the big winners of the night, that would be the fans in attendance at the Tahkini Arena who had the chance to experience thrilling WHL hockey.
First Period:
2:23- MH: Dub Eunice III from Brayden Ryan-Mackay and Misha Volotovskii
14:20- KEL: Owen Folstrom from Jacob Henderson and Levi Benson
18:01- MH: Carter Cunningham from Dayton Reschny and Noah Davidson
Second Period:
12:19- KEL: Daniel Pekar from Kayden Longle and Jackson Gillespie
14:10- MH: Yaroslav Bryzgalov from Kyle Heger
15:02- MH Zack Nieckar from Carter Cunningham and 34 Noah Davidson (GWG)
Make sure you bookmark THN’s WHL site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
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