Canes, Tigers set for rivalry battle in Eastern Conference final

By Lethbridge Herald on April 24, 2025.

Herald File Photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Hurricanes Noah Chadwick finishes his check on Hunter St. Martin of the Medicine Hat Tigers during WHL action at VisitLethbridge.com Arena last month

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are set to tangle with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Eastern Conference Final in what will be just the third time the teams have met in the postseason.

The Canes are faced with a quick turnaround with Game 1 of the series going tonight after an emotional Game 7 win over the Calgary Hitmen on Wednesday night to take their second-round series 4-3.

The Tigers haven’t played a game since April 17 when they swept the Prince Albert Raiders in four games.

“I feel like we’re in that hockey groove right now and they’ll obviously have to get back in the swing of things,” said Lethbridge forward Logan Wormald.

Wormald says they’re a super skilled group.

“I feel like Calgary was pretty similar in someways, so just keeping that defensive mentality and kind of keeping our structure that’ll do for us,” said Wormald.

The 19-year-old forward reverted back to the Calgary series in terms of playing top lines and how that will help them in playing skilled forwards like Gavin McKenna and Oasiz Wiesblatt.

“My line matched against that (Ben) Kindel, (Oliver) Tulk line quite a bit, so I feel  like we’ve kind of  gotta a little taste of that top line mentality and how skilled they will be,” Wormald said.

“I feel that kind of settled us into what we will get in the series.”

Shane Smith, a former Tiger, feels the Canes will have to be on their defensive game in the series.

“Obviously they’re kind of  an offensive juggernaut, so limiting them to as little offence as possible,” said Smith.

“Definitely staying discipline. Obviously they got a great powerplay and have a lot of skilled players. So I think playing them hard and definitely ramping up the intensity.”

When asked about McKenna, Smith describes his former teammate as exceptional

“We gotta just live in his puck touches, takeaway his time and space and definitely play physical on him as much as we can,” said Smith.

Canes associate head coach Matt Anholt sees their success coming from whether or not they can shut down McKenna, Wiesblatt, Ryder Ritchie and defenceman Tanner Molendyk.

“Their powerplay has been clipping at an elite rate and we’ve seen what those guys can do in our building and in theirs,” said Anholt.

Wormald talked about how this series will raise the level of the Highway 3 rivalry.

“ There’s been history  between these two teams,” said Wormald. “There’s a rivalry, so it’s gonna be a fun and hard-fought series.”

Smith said looking back into the final few games of the regular season, the meetings between the clubs got a little chippy

“So it’ll be pretty cool to see the rivalry in a playoff-type atmosphere,” said Smith.

This will be the first time the Tigers and Canes face-off in the postseason since 2017’s second round when the Lethbridge won in seven games.

Games 1 and 2 go tonight and tomorrow night respectively  in Medicine Hat before the series shifts back to Lethbridge for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.