Tigers demand more in Memorial Cup finals

By JAMES TUBB on May 29, 2025.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

RIMOUSKI, QUE.

The Medicine Hat Tigers weren’t their best Tuesday night against the London Knights but are nonetheless one win from being the best in the Canadian Hockey League.

The Tigers punched their ticket to the Memorial Cup final on Sunday with a 3-1 win over the OHL champion London Knights on Tuesday to finish their round robin at the 105th Memorial Cup with a 3-0 record.

It’s the first time the Tigers have been to the Memorial Cup final since 2007, and they look to capture the franchise’s first Memorial Cup title since 1988, the second of consecutive champion years.

The Tigers’ win added to their impressive record since Jan. 4, which sits at 45-4-1-1 entering play Sunday, the final game of the CHL calendar.

Medicine Hat was propelled through the win by goaltender Harrison Meneghin who stopped 34 shots.

“We wouldn’t be going to the finals without No. 35 … he’s been a rock for us all year,” forward Mat Ward said postgame about overage net minder.

The 20-year-old Ward scored the game winner Tuesday, a wraparound goal early in the third period that held on to be the difference for the Tigers. His line with Misha Volotovskii and Ethan Neutens was the difference for the Tigers. It was a reflection of how the group got to this point and found success all season.

They’ve had contributions from up and down the lineup, with the top trio of Gavin McKenna, Oasiz Wiesblatt and Ryder Ritchie doing a lot of heavy lifting. But whenever it’s mattered most, the Tigers have gotten the success they needed from whomever was available and clicking at the moment, relying on the many instead of the few.

“They were outstanding tonight. I said in the dressing room after the first, they’re our best line, I said it after the second, they’re our best line, and after the game, I said that they’re our best line,’ Desjardins said. “Throughout the night, they battled hard, they were smart and they played defence. By playing defence, they turned some pucks over but it was their battle level. I thought London won a lot of one-on-one battles early in the game. We’ll have to play a lot harder than that, you know, in the final game for sure.”

Desjardins also credits the Tigers’ ability to handle adversity for their successes, dealing with the injuries they did all season and personal adversities as well. He says they served as bonding moments and opportunities to reflect and grow.

“It’s been a really tough year for all the guys, but it made us close, and that’s one thing we learned, the injuries made us realize we can’t win by ourselves,” Desjardins said. “The only way we could win is if we’re a team, and we played hard for each other. That’s probably the biggest break we had with those injuries, where we learned that we had to do that. So it certainly helped us.”

The Tigers get that chance to talk about the finals because of that hard work put together by a line that isn’t known for their goalscoring. Neutens’ tying goal was his first since Game 1 of the WHL Championship series against the Spokane Chiefs on May 9. Ward last scored April 30, tallying twice in the Tigers’ Game 4 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes to sweep the Eastern Conference Championship series.

“It’s always the motive for a line out there, just always keeping it simple,” Neutens said. “We’re not doing too much, we’re sound defensively and we’re recovering for each other and just kind of just keeping up along. There’s nothing much to it.”

All three players were acquired by the club over the past 12 months, Ward in the offseason, Neutens in November and Volotovskii at the January deadline with Tanner Molendyk. Also serving as Tigers general manager, Desjardins says they looked for character acquisitions and found them in the trio.

“Sometimes you bring a player in the middle of the year, they’re maybe not that excited to be with you, but every one of these guys have bought in and done everything they can for the team,” Desjardins said. “We can’t ask anymore. So we’ve been fortunate, we’ve got real good people and they’ve done a great job for us.”

The Tigers have three days off before the finals, awaiting the winner of the semifinals which will feature the Knights and the winner of Rimouski Océanic and Moncton Wildcats’ round-robin game Wednesday. As they get set for the finals, Desjardins says they have to play better than they did Tuesday night and says they’re honoured to have the chance to play one more game and, hopefully, capture one more title this season.

“We’re going to have to be better than that if we’re ever hoping to win another game, so we know that and we have a couple days to prepare for that, but you have to be so excited to get the chance,” Desjardins said. “It’s great for us to get the opportunity, but you know for sure we want to win it. We don’t want to just show up at it. So we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

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