NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna celebrates his first of two goals in a 5-1 win at Co-op Place on Nov. 15 over the Victoria Royals.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers were dealt a blow Wednesday afternoon they’ll look to turn into fuel.
The Tigers and City of Medicine Hat received the difficult news, alongside four other teams who submitted bids to host the 2026 Memorial Cup, that the Kelowna Rockets would hold the honours and host the tournament for the second time in 22 years.
Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins spoke with the News about the announcement and his disappointment.
“This is an unbelievable place, why they wouldn’t pick us I don’t know, because I know what we would have done and how great it would have been,” Desjardins said. “Not taking anything away from anybody else, I just know how good this place is.”
As the bid committee and the city mourns what could have been with the Tigers as Memorial Cup hosts, the focus for the team at the centre remains the same. Medicine Hat entered play Wednesday in first place of the Central division with a record of 13-11-1. The Lethbridge Hurricanes (12-8-1-1) and Calgary Hitmen (11-7-3-1) are both tied for second having both played three fewer games.
Desjardins says the Memorial Cup announcement was a step back and brings a change of direction, but he says regardless, they’ve built the group with eyes on this season and next.
“I have lots of time between now and the trade deadline to adjust where we’re at, so I’ll start thinking about that in the next couple days,” Desjardins said. “But it’ll take a couple days to get over this one, because this was something that I thought was important for our franchise and our city. We just didn’t get that opportunity and it’s disappointing.”
Medicine Hat still has 16-year-old superstar Gavin McKenna who leads the entire CHL in scoring, with 15 goals and 48 points in 25 games. Liam and Markus Ruck have found their stride since returning golden with Canada at the U17 Hockey Challenge. They’re alongside 16-year-old Salt Lake City, Utah product Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll who has turned heads since he came North and debuted in the WHL.
The Tigers can return all their defence core from this season to next and a majority of their forwards beyond 20-year-olds Oasiz Wiesblatt and Mat Ward.
“We’ve made more trades than we’ve ever made to help this group and next year’s group, it’s kind of a two-fold group,” Desjardins said. “We will have to take a look at it and see where we’re at but right now, we have to start winning some hockey games.
“It has been a hard year, people can say whatever they want, the injuries just piling up on us, it’s tough. It’s not an excuse, it’s just a fact. We’ve had lots of guys out and it’s still going that way. But the good thing is, maybe we get healthy the second half and that’s what we want.”
The Tigers have been hit with injuries since the start of the season, throwing a wrench into those plans. Forward Cayden Lindstrom has been gone since the start of the season while rehabbing with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Tigers are projected to continue to be without him until after Christmas while he recovers from a minor operation on his back.
Minnesota Wild prospect Ryder Ritchie missed a pair of games while at NHL training camp and another 13 while recovering from getting hit in the face with a skate. Calgary Flames’ prospect Andrew Basha also missed time while at NHL camp and has been out of the lineup since Nov. 9. Hayden Harsanyi has been out since Oct. 11 after getting wrestled to the ice, and goaltender Harrison Meneghin has missed two games with a lower-body injury.
With the WHL trade deadline scheduled for Jan. 9, Desjardins says the Memorial Cup announcement has held up some team’s decisions on players and moves they will make. He expects trades will ramp up, more than they already have with the Calgary Hitmen acquiring Pittsburgh Penguins prospect and Wild prospect Kalem Parker. As for his team, it’s one day at a time as they look to bounce back and put themselves into a good spot heading into playoffs.
“We’ll just take a look at it, we’ve got a good group here, we get everybody healthy and we’ve got a good group,” Desjardins said. “There’s lots of teams, Calgary has made a lot of moves around us. They’re going to have a really good team. So there’s going to be challenges, nothing is going to be easy. So we’ll just have to evaluate it.”
