It has the potential to be one of the most epic post-season series ever played in the history of the WHL.

The heavyweight showdown for the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series has materialized. The Prince Albert Raiders will take on the Medicine Hat Tigers. Game 1 of the series is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.

The Raiders topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Raiders swept their archrivals the Saskatoon Blades in an Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Tigers, who are the defending WHL champions, finished second in the Eastern Conference, captured the Central Division title and finished third overall in the WHL with a 50-10-5-3 mark. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Tigers swept their division rivals the Calgary Hitmen in the other Eastern Conference semifinal.

Last year, the two sides met in an Eastern Conference Semifinal Series that the Tigers took in a sweep on their way to winning the WHL title. While the Tigers were one of the circuit’s powerhouses last season, they were powered by lots of emotion playing for star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin, whose father, Derek, passed on the final day of the 2024-25 regular season.

Meneghin was playing for his father, and the Tigers were playing for him. They rode that to the team’s sixth WHL championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup tournament’s title game, where they fell 4-1 in the CHL championship contest to the London Knights on June 1, 2025 in Rimouski, Que.

During the 2025-26 regular season, the Raiders and Tigers met four times. Each side claimed two regulation time wins including one victory at home and on the road. Each side scored 16 goals in those four head-to-head contests.

This also marks the third time the two legacy franchises will go head-to-head in the conference final. In 1985 in what was still dubbed the East Division final, the Raiders, who had a record of 58 wins, 11 losses and three ties in the regular season, downed the Tigers, who had a record of 53 wins, 17 losses and two ties in the regular season, in the best-of-seven series 4-1. Prince Albert advanced on to win the WHL title and the Memorial Cup.

The two sides met again in the then East Division final in 1986. The Tigers, who had a regular season record of 54 wins, 17 losses and one tie, eliminated the Raiders, who had a regular season mark of 52 wins, 17 losses and three ties, in a series deciding Game 7 at The Arena in Medicine Hat, which was the Tigers fabled old home rink.

The Tigers fell in that year’s WHL final to the Kamloops Blazers. Medicine Hat would proceed to win WHL and Memorial Cup titles in back-to-back years in 1987 and 1988.

This year’s Eastern Conference final between the Raiders and Tigers could potentially go to a Game 7. If that happens, it would likely create another all-time moment in the history of the Hauser.

It might even measure up to the 2024 Eastern Conference final played between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Saskatoon Blades. It has to be noted that would be an extremely tall task.

That series between the Warriors and Blades went to a series-deciding Game 7. A total of six of those seven contests were decided in overtime, which is a WHL record for a seven game series. Game 7 played on May 7, 2024 at the SaskTel Centre went to overtime, and 36 seconds into the extra session, Warriors then sophomore left-winger Lynden Lakovic banked home a backhand shot off the skate of Blades utility player Tyler Parr into the Saskatoon net to give the Warriors a 3-2 victory.

The Raiders and Tigers in the current day have lots of guys who can put the puck into the net. The Tigers scored the most goals in the league at 348 and the Raiders were second at 310.

The Raiders had nine players who scored 20-or-more goals in the regular season. They include Max Heise (29), Daxon Rudolph (28), Aiden Oiring (28), Brandon Gorzynski (27), Braeden Cootes (24), Jonah Sivertson (24), Brayden Dube (24), Alisher Sarkenov (21) and Maddix McCagherty (20).

Raiders captain Justice Christensen just missed out on being the 10^th player to score 20 goals finishing at 18 markers for the campaign. Christensen also missed the Raiders first four games this season after attending the training camp of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.

That was the most 20-goal scorers the Raiders have had on their roster in one regular season since the 1985-86 campaign, where they had nine players score 20-or-more goals. That campaign ended in the Game 7 loss to the Tigers in the then East Division final.

The Tigers had eight players who scored 20-or-more goals in the regular season. They included Liam Ruck (45), Bryce Pickford (45), Noah Davidson (30), Jonas Woo (29), Luke Cozens (25), Kade Stengrim (25), Markus Ruck (21) and Kadon McCann (21).

Tigers star 20-year-old left-winger Andrew Basha just missed hitting the 20-goal mark finishing with 18 tallies. He also spent the first half of the 2025-26 campaign with the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL, before their parent club in the NHL’s Calgary Flames reassigned Basha to the Tigers. Basha proceeded to put up 18 goals and 50 points in 32 regular season games with the Tigers since his return.

That was the most 20-goal scorers the Tigers have had on their roster in one regular season since the 2016-17 campaign, where they had 10 players score 20-or-more goals. The Tigers, who were second overall in the WHL that season, fell 5-4 in overtime in a series deciding Game 7 of an Eastern Conference semifinal to the rival Lethbridge Hurricanes. Hurricanes star Tyler Wong popped home the OT winner at Co-op Place to win that series for Lethbridge on April 18, 2017.

Both the Raiders and Tigers are led by coaching staffs who have their teams believing. The Raiders staff is led by youthful 37-year-old head coach Ryan McDonald, who was born and raised in “Hockey Town North” and knows lots about the centre’s hockey history.

The Tigers staff is led by their legendary head coach and general manager in the wise 69-year-old experienced veteran in Willie Desjardins. Desjardins has collected 573 career regular season wins in the WHL to go along with league title victories in 2004, 2007 and 2025.

The ultimate intangible might see the atmosphere at the Hauser go up against the overall experience of the Tigers, who returned a sizable contingent last year’s WHL title winner. One thing the Raiders and their fans will not likely experience is a hangover from beating the Blades.

When the Raiders last won the WHL title in 2019, they beat the Blades in six games in an Eastern Conference semifinal and were kind of off in the first three contests of the Eastern Conference final against the Oil Kings falling behind 2-1 in that set. The Raiders proceeded to return to form by winning three straight to close out that series.

Right after sweeping the Blades in an Eastern Conference semifinal this year, it seemed the Raiders were looking forward to facing the Tigers and that was a matchup they were looking for. In the post-game media conference after the Raiders 5-3 win over the Blades in Game 4 in Saskatoon on April 15, Rudolph, who is a star defence, started talking about the Tigers at the end of the first question he answered.

“I’m really looking forward to the Eastern Conference final against Med Hat, who knocked us out last year,” said Rudolph. “We definitely remember that, and we’ll be ready.”

Fans of the Raiders and Tigers better buckle up. They are likely in for a ride that will have more twists and turns the likes they have never seen.

Silvertips and Vees tangle in Western Conference final

While there will be lots of attention placed on the Eastern Conference final between the Raiders and Tigers, the Western Conference Championship Series between the Everett Silvertips and Penticton Vees could end up being epic too.

The Silvertips finished first overall in the WHL, Western Conference and U.S. Division with a 57-8-2-1 record. Their 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records for one regular season for the club. Everett was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

In their first season since moving up from the junior A ranks, the Vees finished second in the Western Conference, topped the B.C. Division and finished fourth overall in the WHL with a 44-14-6-4 mark. They were rated eighth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Game 1 of that series is set for Thursday for a 7 p.m. local time start at the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash.

The Silvertips have been cruising thanks to play of stars like Matias Vanhanen, Carter Bear, Landon DuPont and Julius Miettinen. Anders Miller has gone the distance in net as the club’s star 19-year-old second-year netminder. In the post-season, Miller has posted an 8-1 record, a 1.55 goals against average, a .948 save percentage and one shutout.

Jacob Kvasnicka, Ryden Evers, Louis Wehmann, Brady Birnie, Matteo Danis and Nolan Stevenson have been key to the Vees push through the post-season. Star first year netminder Andrew Reyelts, who turned 20-years-old in March, has posted an 8-2 record, a 2.44 goals against average, a .914 save percentage and one shutout in the WHL Playoffs for the Vees.

The Silvertips took out the Memorial Cup hosting Kelowna Rockets in five games in a Western Conference semifinal. The Vees put up the bus miles taking out the Prince George Cougars in six games in the other Western Conference semifinal. It is possible a fatigue factor might play in favour of the Silvertips.

On a side note, the current WHL post-season marks the first time the WHL’s four division winners have advanced to the league’s final four, while also all finishing in the top four of the circuit’s overall standings since 2003.

The Silvertips, Raiders, Tigers and Vees have all had special seasons, and this should make for some cool storylines in the Eastern and Western Conference title series.

Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer with more than 25 years of experience covering the WHL. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.