What came close to becoming 2025’s Story of the Year?

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on January 2, 2026.

newsdesk@medicinehatnews.com

The Medicine Hat Tigers had an incredible run, which featured a whopping 70 wins across the calendar year and an electrifying win of the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time in 18 years in 2025. Between the Western Hockey League Championship, the Memorial Cup bid, the show-stopping performance by star Gavin McKenna and his subsequent departure for the NCAA, the Medicine Hat Tigers are the Medicine Hat News story of the year.

A list of other major News stories in Medicine Hat over the last 12 months:

– The purchase of the Saamis Solar Park in the city’s north end was finalized in February when the Alberta Utilities Commission issued its decision on the city’s application to obtain the park from the Irish renewable developer DP Energy. Saamis Solar is the largest solar power field proposed for a Canadian urban municipality.

– CHAT-TV shut down, leaving Medicine Hat without a local television station for the first time in almost 70 years. The station was started in 1957 and shuttered in June. Parent company Jim Pattison Broadcast Group cited several years of difficult business conditions and operating losses shortly after a flood in the studio forced the station to pre-record newscasts.

– Later that week, the city put its remaining gas well inventory up for sale, continuing a decade-long trend that has seen the city transition away from the historic cornerstone of the its economy. The Gas City put 600 wells up for bids after a third-party recommendation in fall 2024 suggested the city expedite its shutdown or sale of the gas wells after years of marginal economic productivity.

– The same report on the future of the city’s energy business suggested that a municipally-controlled corporation owned by the city could provide better management for the 120-year-old company. After months of deliberation and public consultation, council voted against the creation of an MCC in July.

– The drama at city hall continued in 2025, as the fallout from the conflict between Mayor Linnsie Clark, city manager Ann Mitchell and city council led to a provincial auditor producing a municipal inspection report that deemed working conditions “untenable.” Just before the municipal election, council voted to terminate Mitchell and reimburse Clark of nearly $60,000 in legal fees. But on Dec. 30, Mitchell filed a lawsuit against both the city and the mayor seeking compensation totalling $1.3 million for wrongful dismissal and defamation.

– It was an election year in 2025, and Hatters chose to re-elect Mayor Linnsie Clark for another four years. Between new provincial guidelines requiring ballots to be counted by hand and a tight municipal budget, the election was characterized by long lines and an even longer wait for results, with Hatters waiting nearly 48 hours to learn who would be their next mayor.

– A widespread effort to recall MLAs across the province came to Medicine Hat, with recall petitions underway for Premier and Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Daniella Smith as well as Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright.

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