Memorial Cup final preview: Tigers, Knights meet in championship game

By James Tubb on June 1, 2025.

JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com

RIMOUSKI, QUE.

The Canadian Hockey League season started on Sept. 20, 2024 with the QMJHL and WHL both in action. A mere 255 days, 1,944 regular season games, 234 playoff games and seven Memorial Cup games later, two teams remain with Memorial Cup glory on the line.

The WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers face the OHL champion London Knights in the final of the 105th Memorial Cup tonight, hosted at Rimouski’s Sun Life Coliseum.

The Tigers beat London 3-1 Tuesday in their final round robin game, clinching their spot in the Memorial Cup final. Head coach Willie Desjardins says they honoured to still be playing and he looks forward to the challenge of the final.

“Rimouski has done a great job with it. London’s a very good team, we’ve heard about them all year, we saw them last year in the finals, so they’re going to be hungry, they’re going to be ready,” Desjardins said. “There’s no surprises in it. You know, they’re going to play their best hockey, they’re a great team. We’re going to have to play our best hockey if we’re going to have a chance.”

The Knights played in the semifinals against the QMJHL champion Moncton Wildcats, recording a 5-2 win on Friday to punch their ticket to the finals for a second straight season. London head coach Dale Hunter doesn’t believe momentum carries through the tournament and he says they’re treating tonight’s contest like they would a Game 7.

“It’s a final game, it’s a Game 7 if you’re in a series,” Hunter said. “It’s a do or die situation and both teams will be ready to go.”

Neither team had to play in a Game 7 on their routes to respective championships, Medicine Hat was 16-2 in the WHL playoffs, London recorded one fewer loss in their run through the OHL playoffs. This is Desjardins’ third Memorial Cup, he’s looking for his first championship at the CHL’s prestigious event.

The Tigers last appearance in the finals came in their previous trip to the tournament in 2007, losing to the Vancouver Giants 1-0. Medicine Hat beat Vancouver in the round robin, after previously beating them in seven games to capture the Ed Chynoweth Cup. Desjardins says it’s hard to beat the same team twice but he says it’s a clean slate.

“You learn some stuff, both teams learn some stuff on the other team, but this game starts at zero,” Desjardins said. “We just have to play our game and we’re going to have to battle. We could fall up behind early, we could get up early. Who knows what happens, so we just have to be ready.”

London enters the game tonight looking to redeem themselves, having lost in the last minute of the 2024 Memorial Cup final to the host Saginaw Spirit. Captain Denver Barkey says they’ve worked all season for this opportunity.

“It’s a pretty special, it’s a surreal feeling, every guy in our room knows how fortunate we are to get a second chance at it,” Barkey said. “We’re excited and we’re ready to go.”

London forward Easton Cowan leads the tournament in scoring with two goals and four assists. If he finishes in the lead, it would be the first time in Memorial Cup history the same player led consecutive tournaments in scoring.

Tiger forwards Ryder Ritchie and Gavin McKenna are tied with Barkey for second in scoring with five points each. Ritchie leads the tournament with four goals. He says they weren’t their best against London in the round robin and he looks for them to show their best game in the final contest of the year.

“It’s been a hell of a year getting to spend it with these guys, the brotherhood we’ve built in this locker room is unbelievable and is something we’ll share for the rest of our lives,” Ritchie said. “If you they told us at the start of the year that we had one game to win Memorial cup and you have to do with the guys in that room, that’s how that’s how we want to go out and that’s how we want to play our last game as a team. So  we’re just looking forward to enjoy the moment and our last game with the boys.”

The puck drops on the Memorial Cup final at 5 p.m. MST.

There is a free to attend, watch party for the game at Co-op Place, doors open at 3:30 p.m. Entry tickets can be reserved at Tixx.ca.

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