Patrick Kempany/Portland Winterhawks

By Will Bryant

Sports

Tigers’ McKenna & Meneghin each win WHL honours for month of January

Feb 4, 2025 | 6:06 PM

Gavin McKenna and Harrison Meneghin have been named the WHL’s Player of the Month, and Goalie of the Month for January.

McKenna recorded 26 points, including seven goals and 19 assists over 11 games, while Meneghin boasted a 7-0-0-0 record alongside a 1.55GAA and 0.930SV% over seven starts since his return from injury.

This comes in a month that the Medicine Hat Tigers went a league-best 12-1-0-1, and currently ride a 13-game point streak into the first weekend of February.

McKenna reached a career milestone en route to his second Player of the Month honour this season.

To end the month, McKenna became the third fastest WHL player in the internet era to reach 200 career points, only behind Pavel Brendl (96 games), and Conor Bedard (107 games) reaching the milestone in just 118th WHL game.

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Motivated after feeling underutilized at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa, Gavin has made his mark since his return.

“They didn’t play me too much so it kind of fired me up,” McKenna said about his use at the World Juniors.

“I wanted to show them what they missed out on,” he added.

McKenna certainly has been showing off since his return, recording nine multi-point games in January including a four-point standout performance against the league-leading Everett Silvertips that included a hat-trick.

McKenna’s teammate Harrison Meneghin has been as impactful to the Tigers’ success.

“Without him, we don’t win those games,” McKenna said about Meneghin.

Meneghin has been reliable in clutch moments for the Tigers, making highlight-reel late third-period saves against Calgary and Spokane throughout the Tigers’ now 13-game point streak.

“He’s just been unbelievable for us,” Medicine Hat Captain Oasiz Wiesblatt said.

Meneghin’s numbers back up the praise.

The veteran netminder now boasts the top goals-against-average in the WHL (2.49GAA) and is tied for the eighth-best save percentage (0.903SV%).

“The team learned a lot about ourselves,” Meneghin quipped about the club’s recent U.S division road trip where they went 5-0-0-1.

“We know we’re never out of games and we know we can beat any team in the league,” he added.

Over the trip, the Tigers had statement wins over the Spokane Chiefs, and Everett Silvertips.

Teams that had been ranked above the Tigers in power rankings leading up to the matchups.

As a result of their 13-game point streak, the Tigers now find themselves as the number one ranked team in the WHL Power Rankings, and seventh ranked team in the CHL Power Rankings.

Those placements have been well earned over the second half of the WHL season.

The Tigers have been exceptional since returning from the Christmas break, boasting a 14-1-1-1 record while outscoring opponents 83-38 over that 17-game span.

“People kind of doubted us early on with injuries, but we’ve found a way to battle through adversity,” said Gavin McKenna.

The injury adversity flared up again in the team’s final game of their U.S division road trip.

Defensemen Tanner Molendyk and Bryce Pickford both got bit by the injury bug, while Tigers goalie Jordan Switzer also got banged up.

Neither Switzer nor Molendyk appeared on the WHL’s Injury Report, indicating they should be good to go this weekend.

Pickford was listed as TBD and may be out longer term.

The Medicine Hat Tigers (33-15-2-1) are back on home ice this Friday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (25-20-1-1), in their final meeting of the regular season.