NEWS FILE PHOTO
The Medicine Hat Tigers will host the Spokane Chiefs tonight at Co-op Place for Game 1 of the WHL Championship series. It's the first time Spokane has played in Medicine Hat since the Tigers won 10-4 on Jan. 7, 2024. Forward Hunter St. Martin dekes his way to a penalty shot goal in the second period of that win in 2024.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The 2025 Western Hockey League Championship series will be a fairytale-like story for one of the Medicine Hat Tigers or Spokane Chiefs.
Both teams waited over a decade since their last trip to the finals and last championship, Medicine Hat in 2007 and Spokane the next year. They’ve each endured beyond trying years as of late, an 11-win 2021-22 season in Medicine predated a 15-win 2022-23 season for the Chiefs.
Both teams have flash and offence in bunches, with five of the top-10 players in playoff scoring involved in the series (three for Spokane). The Chiefs lead the WHL Playoffs in scoring with 85 goals for, Tigers have 65. Medicine Hat has surrendered 35 goals, the second-fewest among teams to make it out of the first round. Spokane has allowed 59 goals.
It’s a matchup for the ages for hockey fans who like goalscoring and highlights, one that could leave head coaches with fewer hairs than they entered the series with.
“Spokane is a team that you can’t give a lot of opportunities to,” Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins said. “They’re going to get opportunities, you have to try to limit the amount by your turnovers. But when they get their opportunities, that’s when we have to have our goaltending. So they’re a tough team to play against.”
The two teams met just once in the regular season, a 3-2 Tigers’ comeback win that saw them score three unanswered goals in the third period to kick off the U.S. road trip with a win.
The Tigers are 38-3-1-1 since Jan. 4, 20 days before that win in Spokane. The Chiefs meanwhile, running just as hot at 29-9-1-2 since Jan. 11. It’s two teams with offensive capabilities that could either have a track meet of a series with a pile of goals or a chess match between two masters.
Spokane head coach Brad Lauer hopes for his and Desjardins’ sake, it’s not a track meet.
“We want to see our teams be responsible defensively and obviously you want to create offence and do that,” Lauer said. “It’s not about just chipping pucks out and all that, sometimes the best defence is having the puck in the offensive zone, but just making sure you’re managing the game right and doing the right things. Making sure you’re back checking and tracking through the neutral zone to create those turnovers.
“All signs say it has the potential to be an exciting, offensive series, but we’ll see how it goes through Game 1.”
Both teams find success on the power play, with the Tigers’ man advantage the top in the WHL Playoffs at 37.5 per cent. Spokane’s man advantage is running at 30.6 per cent, fourth in the WHL.
The difference maker through three rounds is on the penalty kill, Tigers killing at a 78.6 per cent rate. Chiefs sit last at 63.6 per cent. Two Chiefs have scored shorthanded goals, captain Berkly Catton and rookie forward Assanali Sarkenov. Medicine Hat has five shorthanded markers, Gavin McKenna and Mat Ward each with a pair, Hunter St. Martin adding one as well.
Both Spokane and Medicine Hat will be asking a lot of their goaltenders as they will face a lot of fire power in the series. Tigers’ 20-year-old net minder Harrison Meneghin has yet to lose in the playoffs, sporting a 10-0 record with an .889 save percentage, 2.43 goals against average with two shutouts.
Across the ice from him, Chiefs’ 19-year-old goaltender Dawson Cowan has recorded all 12 wins for Spokane with an .872 SV% and 3.49 goals against average.
Spokane has been led by their top line of Catton, Andrew Cristall and Shea Van Olm, the dynamic trio that has combined for 39 goals and 100 points in the Chiefs’ 15 playoff games.
Medicine Hat’s top line of McKenna, captain Oasiz Wiesblatt and Ryder Ritchie are no slouch with a combined 30 goals and 77 points in 13 games. It’s a battle of talent Wiesblatt says is something to take pride in and a challenge he is excited for.
“These are good teams that deserve to be here,” Wiesblatt said. “Our top line versus their line, there’s not many lines that can kind of beat that. It’s just two great lines going at it, and two great teams going at it. So it’s really exciting.”
It will be a battle between the WHL’s best with the winner likely decided by a mistake or two from the losing club. The series starts in Medicine Hat with Game 1 tonight and Game 2 Sunday before heading to Spokane for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The speed of two clubs will be tested every game as the WHL looks to award the Ed Chynoweth Cup. For Medicine Hat and the Tigers, it’ll come down to belief in themselves and one another according to St. Martin.
“Our belief, as it is all year, is that we’re a brotherhood, we know if we play Tigers hockey, we can win hockey games,” St. Martin said. “They’re a team that there’s going to be adversity, it might happen but we know how to handle that. We’re going to bring our best foot forward, day in day out and see what happens.”
