NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Mat Ward celebrates his second goal in Game 4, a 5-3 win May 1 at Lethbridge over the Hurricanes to sweep the Eastern Conference Championship series.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Where oh where did the time go.
A question Mat Ward asked after returning home to Kamloops this week following the end of his WHL career, a loss in the final of the Memorial Cup finals.
The 21-year-old Swift Current Bronco and Medicine Hat Tiger echoed a similar sentiment he heard from veterans when he broke into the league, enjoy the time because it flies by.
“I wish I would have listened to them a little more with that, because it’s true,” Ward said. “It flies by, the best years of your life, they fly by.”
Ward finishes his WHL career with 263 games played in the regular season, with 92 goals and 252 points. In two playoff runs, totalling 26 games, he had six goals and 14 points. His playoff numbers boosted by the Tigers’ run to a WHL championship this spring, sending the overage forward out at the top of the game.
“This season flew by flew by just because it was so much fun,” Ward said. “There’s a lot of relationships I made that I’ll never leave. This team, and winning with them is something I’ll never forget or the rest of my life. And I don’t think the group will ever be split up.”
Ward was one of few players left in the WHL who played in the 2020-21 bubble season, staying in a dorm room at the University of Regina. With it being his rookie season he didn’t know any different and just enjoyed the moment.
After that season, Ward came into his game as a scoring pest with the Broncos, being a thorn in the side of the Tigers and other teams in the Central division. He made the playoffs with Swift Current in 2024, the first time the Broncos made the dance since winning a championship in 2018. He says his time in Swift Current prepared him for the rest of his career and gave him friends for life.
“There was a core group of guys there, the ’04 group, we had a really close group and we were really close with the management as well with Chad (Leslie),” Ward said. “To see the community coming together for that playoff run, it was unbelievable. It’s kind of crazy to see how those small hockey towns kind of rallied behind a team, especially from the playoff time. But it was really exciting for Swift Current because they hadn’t been in the playoffs for so long and they were excited to go on a big run again.”
And then a few months later, Freaky Friday happened and Ward was traded to Medicine Hat, joining the Broncos’ biggest rival at the time. He says it took some time to get used to the new colours but he says he wouldn’t have wanted to end his junior career anywhere else.
“As time goes on, I was able to be myself and just kind of mess around with the guys a little bit and then we were a big family at that point,” Ward said.
Ward is going the NCAA route this fall, playing for Northern Michigan University. He says he’s ready for the next chapter of his life and he’s looking forward to the next step.
Looking back, he says a 14-year-old Mat Ward would be excited and proud to see the opportunity he had and the steps he took throughout his time in the league.
“When you’re 14, you don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into,” Ward said. “You kind of just have to learn and be able to adapt as you go. I think I did a pretty good job of that, so I’m proud of myself as well. But I know I’m not done yet too, so I’m gonna be pretty excited.”
