Medicine Hat Tigers declare intent to bid for 2026 Memorial Cup

The host city’s team automatically receives the fourth slot regardless of regular season results.

Longtime Tigers supporter Dale Engel, who leads a group of Hatters that called for a bid, expects the team to find success.

“It can’t be anybody else but the Tigers,” Engel told CHAT News from in front of Co-op Place, where they play.

“There’s nothing against us doing it. We check every single box: we’ve got the team, we’ve got the organization, we got the structure, we got the volunteers, we’ve got everything.”

Longtime Medicine Hat Tigers supporters Dale Engel, left, and Vern Jerome, right, are hopeful the Memorial Cup will come to Medicine Hat. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

The Tigers claimed Memorial Cup titles in 1987 and 1988. It also competed for the championship in 1973, 2004 and 2007.

“The City of Medicine Hat is excited to learn of the Medicine Hat Tigers’ intent to pursue hosting the 2026 Memorial Cup, the pinnacle of achievement in the Canadian Hockey League,” Coun. Ramona Robins said in a statement.

“A Memorial Cup tournament will have a significant, positive impact on our city and region and we look forward to working with the Medicine Hat Tigers in their pursuit of being the host club,” she added.

The 2026 season could potentially be Tigers’ phenom Gavin McKenna’s last in junior hockey as he’s expected to be a top pick in the 2026 NHL entry draft, a factor advocates of the bid say could be important for the franchise’s chances.

Tigers president Darrell Maser said in a statement the tournament “has the potential to have an enormous economic impact for both the City of Medicine Hat and the South Eastern Alberta Region.”

Only Western Hockey League teams are eligible to bid on hosting the tournament in 2026. The intent to bid deadline was June 14, however, the league is letting teams reveal their intentions on their own timeline.

The Tigers is one of five teams that have publicly revealed intents to bid as of the end of July.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes intends to bid for the Memorial Cup and received a $1.25 million commitment from Lethbridge city council in July.

Teams in Kelowna, B.C., Brandon, Man., and Spokane, Wash., have also revealed intentions to host the cup.

Vern Jerome, a Tigers season ticket holder since 1991, believes the Tigers are a standout pick due to one key element.

“Medicine Hat has probably the best chance of the teams that have entered just because of Gavin McKenna,” Jerome said.

“I don’t think the CHL and the WHL are going to want to not have Gavin McKenna in that Memorial Cup…they want that showcase player there.”

Formal bids are due by Sept. 20. The 2026 Memorial Cup host city will be announced in late November 2024, a CHL official told CHAT News.

by Eli J. Ridder, Jesse Gill

Medicine Hat Tigers declare intent to bid for 2026 Memorial Cup

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