City Notebook: This doesn’t come around too often, enjoy it

By Collin Gallant on May 17, 2025.

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The Prince of Wales Trophy and Clarence Campbell Bowl lead lonely existences, shunned by their owners for fear a mere touch would jinx their ultimate chances at the Stanley Cup.

Don’t expect the same treatment for the Ed Chynoweth Cup by the winner of the Western Hockey League.

They are sure to grab it, hoist it, hold it tight and cherish it until they depart for the Memorial Cup tournament, that competition unique to juniors that pits champions against champions.

How hard is it to win a league title?

Very.

Hatters are proud of five titles over 55 years heading into this season, and they expect a lot. Perhaps that’s because their team’s first came just three years after the Tigers came into being and they’ve come in pairs since.

After a first championship in 1973 however, it was 14 years before another came in 1987, including a loss in the finals in 1986.

That was the first of back-to-back league and Memorial cup titles, then it was another 16 years before heady days early this century saw another double-shot of league supremacy in 2004 and 2007.

Remember how we all thought they’d come so easy in 2005 and 2006?

And here we are 18 years after the double-overtime Game 7 win in a foggy Medicine Hat Arena over the Vancouver Giants after an excruciating series that spring.

Tough games, tough opponents, lots of worry, lots of drama have the Tigers on the edge of returning the Memorial Cup.

But don’t forget exactly how tough it is to win a league championship, or exhilarating to compete for one.

Enjoy the moment.

Speaking of… and quick ones

– While we’re bursting with civic pride… Terri Clark is set to play Co-op Place next fall with Paul Brant, it was announced May 5. (Expect more on the operating results at the “New Arena” in weeks to come).

– It’s Victoria Day on Monday. What are the chances of snow? We’ve had barely a drizzle so far this spring.

– In case you were wondering about local TV newscasts, CHAT is shuffling after a flood at its building and is set to get operations back to somewhat normal next week. Hang tough, guys, we’ve all been there.

– The News let you know this week that new federal cabinet minister Eleanor Olszewski grew up in the Hat, but another politician with ties to the city got a promotion at the provincial level. Cardston-Siksika MLA Joe Schow is now the interim municipal affairs minister.

– We forgot to follow up on an election trivia question, but the riding that lays across three time zones is Nunavut.

A look ahead

City council sits on Tuesday after the long weekend with more discussion of the formation of a municipally controlled utility corporation.

Pulling the curtain back a bit, this page is finished well before the end of Friday’s WHL final game, but, if needed, Games 6 and 7 between the Tigers and Spokane Chiefs would be held Sunday and Monday. Otherwise, the Tigers were set to bus back to the Hat overnight arriving at Co-op Place early mid-morning on Saturday.

100 years ago

Jumping into the local fervour for deep oil under the city, local coal magnate J.B. Swan announced he would fund a test well near St. Theresa’s Academy in Crescent Heights, the News reported in May 1925.

The News reprinted by engraving a drawing by Lawren Harris, an artist of growing acclaim, on its front page. The portrait was of a leader in the Glace Bay, N.S. miner’s strike.

Elsewhere, the Canadian Manufacturers Association debated three slogans to promote home industry to consumers: “Produced in Canada,” “Best for the Price,” and “Worth the Money.”

Provinces continued to hammer out rules for the newly legalized sale of alcohol. Ontario, for example, enacted laws requiring restaurants and bars to only serve alcohol to tables located next to windows, allowing “full view of the public outside.” The measure was meant to guard against “hole in the wall” establishments.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com.