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The Regina Pats couldn’t overcome a high-powered Medicine Hat Tigers offence — and some bad puck luck — as the team saw its season come to an end on Saturday night.
Regina held a three-goal lead, but the Tigers battled all the way back and scored under a minute into overtime to claim the 5-4 win at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat, Alta. The win gave the Tigers a 4-1 series win in the first round of the WHL Playoffs.
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It was Regina’s first playoff series since 2023, when Connor Bedard captained the team to the postseason.
After losing 6-2 in the first game of the series, the seventh-seeded Pats pulled off an upset in Game 2 over the second seed in the WHL’s Eastern Conferencem winning 4-2.
Medicine Hat, which was the highest scoring team in the WHL during the regular-season, flexed its offensive firepower in Game 3, winning 8-2. Medicine Hat once again won at the Brandt Centre in Game 4, which means Regina’s season was on the line in Saturday night’s Game 5.
Regina got off to the fast start it needed on the road with Dayton Deschamps scoring just 1:20 into the game.
The Pats added to their lead in the second period as Zach Lansard scored on the power play just 1:54 into the second period. Just 23 seconds later, Regina got another goal as Ruslan Karimov scored his fourth of the series.
Andrew Basha was able to beat the Pats goaltender Marek Schlenker in the second period to get Medicine Hat on the board. Ellis Mieyette answered for Regina just six minutes later to restore the three-goal lead.
However, Medicine Hat once again showed off its offensive burst as it scored two goals with under two minutes to go in the second period, as Noah Davidson and Bryce Pickford found the back of the net.
In the third period, the Pats found themselves on the wrong end of a weird bounce off the back boards as a puck sent into their zone along the side but as Schlenker went to play it, it bounced off the boards right to a waiting Liam Ruck in the slot, who put it into the open net.
A RUCKUS HAS BEEN CAUSED! 😱
The Tigers get a golden opportunity as the puck deflects off a stanchion and Liam Ruck buries it to tie the game.@tigershockey | #WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture | #NHLDraft
📺| @victoryplustv
🔗| https://t.co/ejuFny1mnK pic.twitter.com/APWVT2dOMb— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 5, 2026
Then, in overtime, the Tigers only needed 54 seconds as Cam Parr shot a puck towards the net, which slipped through Schlenker’s pads and went into the net, ending Regina’s season and sending the defending WHL champions through to the second round.
Medicine Hat and the top-seeded Prince Albert Raiders need to wait to determine who they will meet in the next round.
If the Saskatoon Blades win their series, it will set up an all-Saskatchewan showdown in the second round, while the Tigers would meet the Calgary Hitmen. If Saskatoon, who now holds a 3-2 series lead, ends up losing to the Edmonton Oil Kings, Prince Albert will take on the Calgary Hitmen and Edmonton would meet Medicine Hat.
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