The four coaches in the 2025 Memorial Cup, Gardiner MacDougall (Moncton Wildcats), Dale Hunter (London Knights), Willie Desjardins (Medicine Hat Tigers) and Joel Përrault (Rimouski Océanic) speak at the coaches conference on Thursday at Sun Life Coliseum ahead of the 105th Memorial Cup hosted in Rimouski, Que.--PHOTO COURTESY Vincent Éthier / CHL
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
RIMOUSKI, QUE.
A little more than 12 hours before they all face off as foes, the four coaches in the 2025 Memorial Cup shared a stage with some lighthearted humour and compliments galore.
The four coaches involved in the 105th Memorial Cup, hosted in Rimouski, Que., were assembled Thursday as Gardiner MacDougall (Moncton Wildcats), Dale Hunter (London Knights), Willie Desjardins (Medicine Hat Tigers) and Joel Perrault (Rimouski Oceanic) spoke about the tournament and their excitement to get it underway today.
“We’re already setting a record I think for the Memorial Cup, the oldest head coaching staff, and Joel’s the young guy,” MacDougall joked.
All three of MacDougall, Hunter and Desjardins have coached in the Memorial Cup before, with the first two each capturing the CHL’s top title. This year is Përrault’s first tournament, coming in his second year behind the Rimouski bench. He dons a bracelet made for him by his daughters last year while he was away from home.
“I have two little girls, eight and three and last year, my first year here, I was over here by myself,” Perrault said. “Obviously not an easy situation for a dad and they both made me a little bracelet so I would remember them all the time. Fortunately, they’re here with me this year, they moved the whole family. So it’s been great to have their support and I always kept a little bracelet on.”
The three other coaches were able to share a moment of family reflection, each having won a championship this season with family as part of their team’s staff. MacDougall’s son Taylor MacDougall is the Wildcats general manager and director of player personnel.
“Obviously very fortunate as a head coach, to coach him as a playe,r and those were lifetime moments, they don’t happen very often in the hockey world at a high level, and this year, it’s been extraordinary,” MacDougall said.
” If you told me 13 months ago that this may be happening with your son, I don’t know even how you could write that script. So it’s been truly blessed and it has been a joy every day to work together.”
Hunter’s younger brother Mark Hunter is the GM in London and his son Dylan is on his bench, serving as an assistant coach.
“It shows our age a bit but it’s always nice to work with your family, your son,” Hunter said.
Desjardins’ youngest son Jayce is in his fifth season as the Tigers’ video coach. The two shared their first championship together, with Jayce old enough to just watch his first two titles.
“He’s a really hard worker, does lots of good things, but as these guys said, whenever you can when you win something, if you can share it with people that you’re close to, it’s even more special,” Desjardins said. “Just winning by yourself is never great. So having that opportunity to share that moment was pretty special.”
Hunter and the Knights will look to continue the OHL’s success at the Memorial Cup, with the league’s Saginaw Spirit capturing the title last season as a host, beating his team in the process. Before that win, a QMJHL team had won the tournament for four years straight, not including the 2020 and 2021 tournaments cancelled due to COVID-19.
That leaves the WHL looking for its first championship since 2014 when the Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Guelph Storm 6-3 in London.
“We’ve sent some really good teams to the Cup before, like really, really good teams, and we haven’t had the success we wanted,” Desjardins said. “So when I watch these teams, I know I can see why they have that success. So the only thing we can do is come, work hard and play our best.”
