The Medicine Hat Tigers celebrate their sixth WHL Championship in franchise history following a 4-2 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. Photo Credit: Larry Brunt/Spokane Chiefs

By Will Bryant, Eli J. Ridder

Sports

Medicine Hat Tigers claim sixth WHL title in franchise history

May 17, 2025 | 8:25 AM

The Medicine Hat Tigers beat the Spokane Chiefs on Friday to claim the Western Hockey League championship and book a ticket to the Memorial Cup in Rimouski.

The 4-2 Game 5 victory added a sixth WHL title to the franchise’s collection and their first since 2007.

Now, the Tigers will go in search of a third Memorial Cup and the first since claiming two back-to-back in 1987 and 1988.

Niilopekka Muhonen opened the scoring for the Cats 12:42 into the middle frame, marking the fifth consecutive game the Tigers opened the scoring.

It remained a 1-0 Tiger lead until Gavin McKenna tallied his first of the series on the powerplay, pushing the lead to a pair.

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Less than a minute later, Hunter St. Martin followed it up to extend the Tiger lead to three.

The Chiefs wouldn’t go down without a fight as forwards Andrew Cristall and Asanali Sarkenov scored three minutes apart to shrink the Spokane deficit to one.

Bryce Pickford rounded out his torrid postseason run with an empty net tally to restore the Tiger two-goal advantage and all but assure the club their sixth WHL Championship in franchise history.

The goal was Pickford’s 13th of the playoffs, a modern-day CHL record for goals in a single postseason by a defenseman.

It also marked the eighth consecutive game Pickford has found the back of the net, adding to his own WHL record.

Harrison Meneghin was named WHL Playoff MVP, going 14-1-0 with a 2.35 GAA and 0.906 SV%.

The Medicine Hat Tigers will prepare to head to Rimouski, QC next week as they will make their sixth Memorial Cup appearance in team history.

The Tigers will open the round-robin action, taking on the Rimouski Oceanic on May 23rd at 5 p.m. MST.

The team will then have a pair of days off before taking on the Moncton Wildcats, and London Knights to wrap up round robin play.