Medicine Hat Tigers captain Oasiz Wiesblatt blocks a shot in the first period of a 4-1 loss Sunday to the London Knights in the Memorial Cup finals at the 105th tournament, hosted at Rimouski's Sun Life Coliseum.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
RIMOUSKI, QUE.
It’s a speech coaches never prepare for.
How to address their team at the end of a championship season, one that ends in a loss on the biggest stage in Canada’s junior hockey.
There wasn’t much left for Willie Desjardins to say Sunday night, standing outside the Medicine Hat Tigers dressing room, chorused by the reminders of the London Knights’ Memorial Cup celebration echoing through the halls of Rimouski’s Sun Life Coliseum. Desjardins’ team fell 4-1 in the finals of the 105th Memorial Cup, an ultimate letdown just 16 days after they captured the franchise’s sixth Ed Chynoweth Cup.
Desjardins stood in thought before saying how proud he was of his team.
“We had an incredible second half, I don’t know what our numbers were, 45-5-2, it was ridiculous,” Desjardins said. “They cared, they tried, coming in, we only had one problem, that is that London’s a really good hockey team. They’re just a good hockey team.
“It wasn’t that we didn’t want it, it wasn’t that we didn’t try, they’re just a good team. We played better tonight than the game we won. We had a couple posts in the first period, but they’re just a good hockey team.”
The Tigers beat the London Knights 3-1 on May 27, sweeping the round robin and clinching their spot in the Memorial Cup finals. They were one win away from the franchise’s third Memorial Cup championship, the same total reached by the Knights with their win Sunday. They join the Cornwall Royals, Kamloops Blazers and Windsor Spitfires as the only CHL teams to capture three Memorial Cups since 1972.
London captain Denver Barkey scored twice, Easton Cowan and Jacob Julien each scored as well as London led 4-0 after 40 minutes. Gavin McKenna scored early in the third and found the net a second time later in the frame before it was called back due to a missed high stick earlier in the play. By then it was too late as London held on, redeeming themselves from a last-minute loss in the finals of the 2024 Memorial Cup where they fell tot he host Saginaw Spirit.
Desjardins says the brotherhood of the Tigers is what stands out to him about the season.
“Oasiz Wiesblatt and how much he cared about his teammates, it stands out when we won, how the guys went and cheered with the guys that weren’t playing,” Desjardins said. “How excited the guys were for (Harrison) Meneghin to get a shutout in the first game against Swift Current, how they rallied behind him. Meneghin stands out for how hard he battled, with everything he’d been through to stay with our group and to play. We had a lot of challenges but the boys were together and they played for each other, and they have to be proud of what they did.”
Sunday’s loss marks the end of a junior career for Tigers’ captain Oasiz Wiesblatt, forward Mat Ward and goaltender Harrison Meneghin. Wiesblatt, unwilling to take off the Tigers’ jersey he’s donned for five seasons, spoke postgame and says he can’t wait to celebrate their championship as alumni in 10 years, as the 2004 and 2007 Tigers’ teams did when they won the 2025 WHL Championship series.
“We are such a close group, winning this can’t take anything from it and yeah, we’re going to be back,” Wiesblatt said. “We’re going to be cheering on the next Tigers.”
He spoke about the impact Ward and Meneghin made, joining the Tigers from rivals Swift Current Broncos and Lethbridge Hurricanes ahead of and during the 2024-25 season.
“Those guys are just straight team guys, guys who love the game, but are great people,” Wiesblatt said. “Speaking for Ward, he made this team gel like nothing else. He was the funny guy in the room, he was just a guy who went to battle for the guys every night and I’m just so proud of him. He laid his heart on the line every time.
“Harry, I don’t know how he stayed so strong and he’s also a glue guy in our room. He’s a guy who can joke around but as we can see, he is as focused he can be, and what an elite goalie he is. Those guys are just two incredible people.”
McKenna and defenceman Tanner Molendyk were named to the Memorial Cup’s all-star team, alongside Knight’s forwards Barkey and Cowan, defenceman Sam Dickinson and goaltender Austin Elliott.
As the Tigers embark on the summer, filled with rest, preparations and reflections, ahead of a season that will see them raise multiple banners at Co-op Place, Desjardins hopes his team remembers the feeling and impact of having good teammates.
“Just how much fun it was to play with the people that cared, how much fun it was to come in and work out, try to get better every day,” Desjardins wished. “Hopefully for them to see that the hard work pays off. And it was close, and I know, given another year, we can find a way.”
