“Seniors Era” Anderson rinks Hall of Fame bound again

Foursome to enter Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame

Larry Pavloff, left, and Sherry Anderson shake hands.

Sherry Anderson didn’t have to wait long to see her teams from her “Senior’s Era” continue to get Hall of Fame calls.

On Wednesday during a news conference at the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds, Anderson’s senior curling teams from 2016 to 2023 were announced as inductees in the team category for the 2025 class going into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame. The rink includes Anderson at skip, Patty Hersikorn at third, Brenda Goertzen at second and Anita Silvernagle at lead.

The official induction dinner will take place on Saturday, November 1 at Prairieland Park.

Together curling out of Saskatoon’s Nutana Curling Club, they have won five Canadian Senior Women’s Curling titles coming in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. 

They also laid claim to three World Senior Women’s Curling championships coming in 2018, 2019 and 2023.

Previously, Anderson herself had entered the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame from a combination of teams that competed in the women’s play, her senior teams and as a solo athlete. Her senior’s teams have already gotten calls to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

“When you compete and you play and you get a chance to win and you get a chance to travel all over the world like we did, that alone is pretty much the reward for playing well,” said Anderson. “It is certainly nice to get the accolades afterward and get into the (Canadian) Curling Hall of Fame and Saskatchewan and now the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is just nice to be recognized.”

Anderson, who is 61-years-old, has built a long and storied career in curling. On the women’s side, she has appeared in 10 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and her first appearance came as a skip of a team from the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club way back in 1994 and 1995.

Her last appearance at the Scotties came just a short time ago in 2021 skipping a squad out of the Nutana Curling Club.

While she was still having success in women’s curling, Anderson was looking for another competitive outlet when her senior women’s team got together.

Sherry Anderson, left, is seated at a press conference on Wednesday.

“When you get to that 49-50 age when you turn seniors, it is a little harder to compete with the young one coming up,” said Anderson. “I had known Anita (Silvernagle) for years because of the coaching she did, and of course, curling against her.

“I had asked her originally and said, ‘Do you want to play?’ Then, we ended up getting Patty (Hersikorn) and then Brenda (Goertzen). It just sort of mushroomed from there.

“You look for a team that wants to go and do the same kind of things, and that is how it just turned out.”

Anderson’s rink made the championship final of the 2016 Canadian Women’s Senior Championship falling to a Nova Scotia foursome skipped by another Canadian curling legend in Colleen Jones. 

After that loss, Anderson’s rink would win the Canadian Women’s Senior Championship the next five consecutive times it was contested.

Curling Canada didn’t hold any seniors championships in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that had gripped the world.

Over the years, Anderson said her squad enjoyed all the places they were able to see competing in the senior’s game.

“The travel was a lot of fun, and we had a lot of good times together,” said Anderson. “Being competitive as an athlete, everybody I think is competitive, but there are just different levels of it.

“It was a lot of fun being that together as a team.”

Brenda Goertzen, right, shakes hands with Jillian Gallays.

Over the years, Anderson herself was always popular wherever she went in the sport of curling, and she always enjoyed getting to meet people from all over the place through her travels in the game. That was something that carried on in the senior’s game.

“The sport is one thing, but it is not the whole package,” said Anderson. “Making friendships and socializing and getting to meet people from other provinces and other provinces and other countries, you get some lasting relationships and friendships from that.

“That is a lot of it.” 

Of course, Anderson and her rink enjoyed their Canadian and world championship wins and the opportunities those wins brought along.

“If you don’t win, you don’t get the chance to travel like we did,” said Anderson. “We went to some beautiful places across Canada and met some great people that volunteered and were part of the events.

“Winning the Canadians was another added bonus. Then, we got to travel outside of the country, and we got trips to Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and South Korea. They were places that I might not have ever gone to just travel, certainly not South Korea, so that was a real big added bonus for sure.”

While the Hall of Fame accolades are coming her way, Anderson has no plans to leave the sport. Going forward in curling, Anderson believes she will take on a different primary role.

“I actually think I’m going to turn to coaching, and that probably will be my future for the next while,” said Anderson. “I don’t know about playing.

“I don’t know how much I’m going to play next year. It is kind of all or nothing for me, so if I play, I’m going to play lots. If I don’t play, I’m not going to play at all, so we’ll see.

“I don’t know yet. It is still early. It is the summer, so I’ll wait and decide, but I think I am going to throw in my coaching hat and see where that takes me.”

Members of the 2025 class for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

A total of five athletes are heading to the Saskatoon Sport Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class in Jillian Gallays in wrestling, Janet (Scott) Gattinger in track and field, Ryan Hvidston in track and field, Marcia (Porteous) Jackson in badminton, squash and tennis and Larry Pavloff in softball.

The three builders in the 2025 class include Don Hedman in track and field, Peter Loubardias in broadcast and media and Mark Millard in soccer.

The Hunter’s Fairhaven Teams in 5-pin bowling from 1998, 1999 and 2000 are also entering the Hall in the team category.

The Saskatoon Diving Club was named the Sports Organization of the Year.

Colborn featured in “Howe Happenings”

Cadence Colborn has had a spectacular last two years in softball.

Cadence Colborn was putting up big numbers as a softball freshman in the NCAA Division II ranks, so it seemed natural to feature her in the “Howe Happenings” blog.

On Monday, I went live with new content on the “Howe Happenings” blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a piece on Colborn, who had a spectacular first season with the West Texas University A&M Lady Buffs Softball Team in Canyon, Texas. She collected a trio of all-star awards helping the Lady Buffs put up a 56-8 overall record.

Colborn also turned heads last summer playing for the provincial champion Saskatoon Prairie Dog Selects, who took part in Softball Canada’s Under-19 Women’s Canadian Fast Pitch Championship Tournament that ran July 31 to August 4, 2024 at the diamonds on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds. She was named a tournament all-star after posting a .474 batting average and nailing three home runs.

Currently, Colborn is back in Saskatoon playing for the CT&V Selects U19A team. The “Howe Happenings” piece on Colborn can be found by clicking right here.

I also put together a photo roundup that features the return of the Saskatoon Berries playing their second WCBL season. It also features action from baseball, football, softball and track and field. The photo roundup can be found by clicking right here.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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I am out of here outside of cameo on Wednesday

Break time has come again which will seem short

A picture of myself outside The Arena in Medicine Hat.

That time has come again where I take time away from creating content for this blog for an extended stretch.

The break will be interrupted for one story on Wednesday. The Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame is announcing its class for 2025 in the main hall of the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds that day. I will write about that announcement here, and then I don’t plan to be in this space until the CJFL season starts for the Saskatoon Hilltops.

Even for me, that season is going to come way too fast when I see their Alumni Game is set for July 31 at 7 p.m. at Ron Atchison Field.

Over the past couple of years, the pressure has been mounting on my shoulders to be present at home more from my family. There was a time I felt family was “all in” when it came to my involvement in covering sports.

The real truth is that when someone is involved in sports it creates an unfair situation with their relationships in their blood family. Basically, the family members that are not involved with sports have to shoulder extra responsibilities in the home and the family. In a lot of cases, that unfair relationship gets challenged where it does need to evolve.

I’ve been more involved in planning fun family things, but even those fun things have their stress. There are other things that take up time.

During winter, I am hands on with snow clearing in my household as well as trying to get out to clear the snow from the homes of the seniors in the family. Last winter was a hard one on that front in Saskatoon, and I estimate I spent 106 total hours involved in snow clearing. When that happens, it pushes off and cancels other things.

The list of things I need to do around the home keeps getting larger. I have things on the hobby side I want to get to as well, but it seems impossible to get to those things.

These breaks I take from this blog coincide with the hockey off-season. The past two hockey off-seasons before this one I spent a tonne of time archiving photos from the games I worked in the WHL Playoffs and that ate away time at trying to focus on other things.

All the photos on that front this year have been looked after, so I am hoping that helps with the home life and maybe getting a break.

The Tigers run to winning the WHL title was big in Medicine Hat.

Last season, I basically cut out working University of Saskatchewan Huskies live events. The only one I worked was when the Huskies Men’s Hockey Team won the Canada West Conference title on March 9 at Merlis Belsher Place. The Huskies blanked the Mount Royal University Cougars 3-0 in a series deciding Game 3 of the Canada West final.

For the WHL Playoffs, I was going to fall off that road once both the Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders were eliminated. I stayed on that trail as the Medicine Hat Tigers, who I have a lot of links to, marched on to win their sixth WHL championship.

The Tigers made it to the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion. In that title clash played last Sunday at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec, the Tigers fell 4-1 to the OHL champion London Knights.

I do admit my trips to Medicine Hat were super valuable on numerous levels. I don’t even think I know how many levels of my life the trips to Medicine Hat positively affected me on the personal and work fronts.

I was thinking about following the Saskatoon Valkyries 2025 campaign to a conclusion on this blog. I shot photos today of their 16-12 regular season victory over the Manitoba Fearless for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex social media lines. I also did interviews for their teams’ videos to be used on their various platforms.

The Valkyries finished the WWCFL regular season with a 4-0 record and will host a WWCFL semifinal at a date and time to be announced. I decided I needed to use the time I would put into the Valkyries on this blog into other things.  

With that said, the Valkyries are one of my favourite teams in the whole city of Saskatoon. Best part is the Valkyries players, coaches and staffers are very understanding when other things come up that take you away from the team.

The other thing I want to get back into is regular workouts. I got my regular workouts done for a week in the last week of May. Before that week, I hadn’t worked out since March.

My body physically feels like it is in the worst shape it has ever been in since I became an adult. With that said, I think I am still doing better than 80 per cent of the population.

Also, it is on my mind that the sports media industry is cut as bad as it has ever been, and there are tonnes of sports organizations that don’t get the coverage they deserve including a number of CFL teams. I also accept I can’t fill that void, and I do have to be mindful of looking out for myself.

The Valkyries do a cheer after their victory on Sunday.

Along with that, I don’t mind getting a break from all the fallout of what it will look like this off-season as players from the three CHL leagues can join hockey teams in the NCAA this coming season if that is the path they want to pursue. I’ve already seen freak outs in cases where it appeared potential returning WHL players are leaving for the NCAA for the start of the 2025-25 campaign.

Anyways, it is time to go, but I will be back. I will be involved in the sports world, but that involvement will depend upon what the cards are that life deals my way.

Elliott is forever a CHL championship goalie

Austin Elliott with the Memorial Cup. (Photo by Vincent Ethier/CHL)

With my past links to the Medicine Hat Tigers, it would come as no surprise that I really wanted to see them win the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions.

The WHL champion Tigers made the final of the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion and fell 4-1 to the OHL champion London Knights last Sunday at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec. While the Tigers didn’t win that title game, I was happy that the Knights winning goalie was overager Austin Elliott.

When the 2024-25 campaign began, I didn’t think Austin Elliott would be a WHL castoff having played two complete seasons from 2022 to 2024 for the Saskatoon Blades. In the 2024 WHL Playoffs, he lost the job as the Blades starting netminder to Evan Gardner, who would be selected in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets and would later sign an entry-level contract with that club.

If Elliott wasn’t starting for the Blades as an overager, I thought he would be a starting goalie in the WHL in the 2024-25 campaign. I believed you could argue that only about six other goalies were better than Elliott, and I likely should have pushed that point during the 2024 off-season.

I did have a couple of WHL observers come to me and say that Elliott was done as far as major junior hockey goes.

At the start of the 2024-25 regular season, Elliott made three starts with the Blades collecting wins in all three outings posting a 2.33 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. When Gardner returned from camp activities with the Blue Jackets organization, Elliott became a victim to the numbers game. He was released by the Blades and cleared WHL waivers.

In most cases when that happens to a player in the WHL, that player ultimately ends up playing junior A.

The Knights, who have been the top franchise in the CHL for the last 21 years, had other ideas. They were about to show why they are arguably the smartest organization in the CHL, which results in their continued winning ways resulting in dismay for their ever growing number of haters. The Knights haters are there, because the Knights always win.

Elliott was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but that didn’t deter the powerhouse Knights. On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott. The puck stopper never played a game for the Colts.

Elliott, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 180 pounds, played in 33 regular season games for the Knights posting a 32-1 record, a 2.10 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and three shutouts. Thanks to Elliott’s work, the Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25.

He started all of the 17 games the Knights played in the OHL Playoffs posting a 16-1 record, a 2.46 goals against average and one shutout as London claimed a second straight league title.

Elliott’s roll continued at the Memorial Cup tournament. During London’s five games at the Memorial Cup tournament, Elliott posted a 4-1 record, a 1.59 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. He went 55-3 including play in the WHL regular season, the OHL regular season and post-season and the Memorial Cup tournament.

When he was with the Blades, Elliott, who is from Strathmore, Alta., was an extremely likeable person. He was someone you wanted to see succeed.

It was cool to see him post a dream conclusion to his CHL career. When Elliott became an OHL and Memorial Cup champion, it showed there are times that good things do indeed come to good people.

Habscheid back in WHL with Rebels, other notes

Marc Habscheid raises the Ed Chynoweth Cup on May 13, 2019.

Marc Habscheid is back in the WHL.

On Thursday, Red Deer Rebels general manager, president and owner Brent Sutter announced that Marc Habscheid had been hired as the team’s new head coach. Habscheid, 62, replaces Dave Struch, 54, who stepped down on May 9 for personal family reasons.

Habscheid last coached in the WHL as the head coach for the Prince Albert Raiders from November 1, 2014 to July 14, 2022. He guided the Raiders to first overall in the WHL’s regular season standings in 2018-19 and WHL championship in the 2019 post-season.

He proceeded to coach two seasons of professional hockey in Austria. Last season, Habscheid had surgery on both hips, travelled a lot and bought a house in Spain.

From 1997 to 2022, Habscheid served as a head coach in the WHL for 18 seasons with the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets, Chilliwack Bruins, Victoria Royals and Raiders. He piled up 582 career wins in 1,166 regular season games coached. Habscheid’s wins and games coached total in the regular season rank as the sixth most in both departments in the history of the WHL.

In the WHL Playoffs, Habscheid posted 75 wins in 139 games coached. He guided the Rockets to a WHL championship in the 2002-03 season and a Memorial Cup title as the tournament’s host team in 2004.

Habscheid was named the WHL coach of the year twice in the 2002-03 and 2018-19 campaigns. He claimed honours as the CHL’s coach of the year for the 2002-03 season.

In 2024-25, the Rebels posted a 26-34-6-2 mark finishing ninth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and 13 points back of the Swift Current Broncos (35-30-1-2) for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the conference.

Bringing Habscheid aboard was a huge addition for the Rebels. During his introductory press conference on Friday in Red Deer, Habscheid already started setting the steps to rally the people in the city and area around the team he is coaching, which is a characteristic he successfully accomplished in his past WHL stops.

“To win in the end, it doesn’t take just one player, one line, one coach, one trainer, one owner, it takes everybody, and that includes the city,” said Habscheid. “Everybody in Red Deer and area is important, if we’re going to win in the end and be successful.

“I want the city and the fans to know that they’re going to be a part of it, and we need their support.”

Sutter was pleased that Habscheid decided to join the Rebels.

“We coached against each other,” said Sutter. “We’ve both had success as coaches, and one thing that always stuck out with me that I kept going back to was I knew when I had to coach against him that his team was going to be very well prepared.

“I’m thrilled that ‘Habby’ wanted to be in Red Deer and wanted to coach the Red Deer Rebels. There’s an identity that we have here, and his teams played with the same identity.”

• During the Medicine Hat Tigers run to winning the WHL championship and falling in the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament, I loved the work that was put in covering that run by Tigers play-by-play voice Will Bryant and Medicine Hat News sportswriter James Tubb. Just to note, I listed them by last names in alphabetical order. Anyways, both did an outstanding job. I am also proud of the fact that in the 11 years since I left the Medicine Hat News and relocated to Saskatoon that the coverage and storytelling of the sports scene in “The Gas City” is in good hands.
• On Wednesday, it was announced the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades will open the 2025-26 campaign playing a home-and-home series against each other. The two sides go at it on Friday, September 19 at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert and on Saturday, September 20 at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
• On Wednesday, it was announced the defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers will open their 2025-26 regular season hosting the Regina Pats on Saturday, September 20, at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.
• On Thursday, 22-year-old forward Conner Roulette committed to playing for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey Team starting with the 2025-26 campaign. Last season, Roulette played for the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL, and he posted 17 goals, 17 assists and a plus-14 rating in the plus-minus department in 59 regular season games. From 2019 to 2024, Roulette played in 259 career WHL regular season contests with the Seattle Thunderbirds, Saskatoon Blades and Spokane Chiefs posting 118 goals, 170 assists and a plus-69 rating.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Tigers of 2024-25 will always be Medicine Hat legends

Squad grew into family conquering adversity

The Tigers celebrate a goal by Bryce Pickford (#27) on May 9.

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. - There had to be times the Medicine Hat Tigers thought the dam was going to burst in 2024-25.

They faced a 1-4 stumble out of the gate, were forced to find some early season chemistry on a revamped back end, needed better early consistency in net and juggled the roster with numerous injuries that seemed to keep popping up. When they had everything corrected, it seemed there was a bad loss waiting around the corner that knocked the team down to earth.

After a stellar second half of the regular season, the Tigers faced a hurdle that could have derailed their entire campaign. When the Tigers closed their regular season schedule back on March 23 with a 5-2 victory over the Hitmen in Calgary, star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin found out about the passing of his father, Derek. Derek’s passing came in an unexpected fashion.

That news took away the high of the Tigers winning a 10^th straight game that allowed them to top the WHL’s Central Division, the Eastern Conference and sit second overall in the league standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark. Meneghin was acquired by the Tigers in a trade on October 5, 2024 with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for reliable forward Shane Smith.

Fans at Co-op Place cheer on the Tigers.

The arrival of the veteran netminder allowed the Tigers to solidify their situation in goal. Now at the start of the WHL post-season, Meneghin had to grieve for the loss of a parent.

The toughest challenge any hockey player can face is the passing of a parent during their major junior career. It is a situation that doesn’t happen often, but it comes up from time to time.

Facing a physical and skilled Swift Current Broncos team in the first round of the WHL Playoffs, things could have easily gone south for the Tigers at this point. If Meneghin wasn’t able to be at his best due to his dad’s passing off the ice, it would have been understandable.

Instead, the Tigers rallied round Meneghin, and he brought his game up to another level. On March 28 at Co-op Place, the Tigers began their journey through the WHL Playoffs with Meneghin stopping all 21 shots he faced in a 4-0 shutout victory over the Broncos.

Harrison Meneghin was the MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

The Tigers would proceed to power through the WHL Playoffs with a 16-2 mark capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup becoming WHL champions for the sixth time in team history. Meneghin was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs posting a 14-1 record, a 2.35 goals against average, a .906 save percentage and three shutouts.

On May 16 when the Tigers won the WHL title with a 4-2 victory over the Chiefs in Spokane in Game 5 of the WHL Championship Series, Tigers overage captain Oasiz Wiesblatt called Meneghin over to receive the Ed Chynoweth Cup from WHL commissioner Dan Near and be the first from the team to raise the trophy.

At that moment, it became clear to how much of an extent the Tigers in 2024-25 had become a family. It would be safe to say even Meneghin earned a deeper appreciation for how much his teammates cared about him. As an added bonus, Meneghin signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning following the WHL championship win.

Oasiz Wiesblatt became one of the Tigers best ever captains.

From there, the Tigers jetted to the Memorial Cup tournament in Rimouski, Quebec. That annual event crowns a CHL champion from a field made up of the champions of the WHL, OHL, QMJHL and a host squad.

The Tigers went 3-0 in the round robin portion of the tournament to earn a bye into the event’s championship game held this past Sunday at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial. The Tigers fell 4-1 to the OHL champion London Knights while holding a 32-24 edge in shots on goal. The Knights proved to be opportunistic in building a 4-0 advantage after 40 minutes and closing out the contest defensively in the third period.

Over the Tigers four games at the Memorial Cup, Meneghin posted a 3-1 record, a 2.54 goals against average and a .906 save percentage. It is mind blowing to think about the run Meneghin and the Tigers went on after the passing of the netminder’s father. All one has to do is look back at this history of the Tigers franchise to put that run into perspective.

Way back in 1988 at the Memorial Cup tournament in Chicoutimi, Quebec, the Tigers were the defending Memorial Cup champions and had fallen in their last round robin game 5-2 to the OHL champion Windsor Spitfires. The Spitfires advanced to the Memorial Cup title game with the win, while the Tigers had to play the semifinal.

Gavin McKenna was the Tigers must-watch superstar.

Following that contest, the Tigers found out Helen Brady, who was the mother of veteran forward Neil Brady, passed away after a battle with cancer in Calgary. Led by captain Dean Chynoweth, the Tigers rallied around Brady.

The Tigers downed the QMJHL champion Hull Olympiques 5-3 in the tournament’s semifinal and outgunned the Spitfires 7-6 in the event’s title contest. To this day, that Tigers team considered it a major accomplishment to be able to rally back and win the Memorial Cup after finding out about Helen’s passing.

The 1987-88 season was the lone campaign Barry Melrose served as the Tigers head coach and he would go on to guide the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings to a Stanley Cup final appearance in 1993. Melrose said the most proud moment he had of his coaching career was seeing the Tigers rally back in 1988 to win the Memorial Cup after Helen’s passing. Had that Tigers team lost out after hearing of Helen’s passing, it would have been an understandable result.

What the 1987-88 Tigers did was incredible and that was just over the course of two games. The 2024-25 Tigers rallied around Meneghin for about two-and-a-half months after the passing of his father and won a WHL title and came up one win short of taking the Memorial Cup for the third time in team history.

Ryder Ritchie helped the Tigers have a stellar top line.

Wiesblatt will also go down as one of the most remembered players in the history of the Tigers. You could even argue he was the best captain the team ever had. For myself, he is the best WHL captain I have ever seen in the 26 seasons I have covered the circuit.

He played a huge role in helping steady the Tigers ship over the slow start, injuries and rallying around Meneghin. Even before this season rolled around, you could argue Wiesblatt was one of the most loved players in the history of the team.

If you spend any sort of time in Medicine Hat, stories are numerous of Wiesblatt going out of his way to sign items for kids, joke around and play with youngsters and do things to make their day. He is the type that would help an elderly person in a wheelchair to get across the street and help get a Tim Horton’s order or go out of his way to visit with team supporters who are battling illnesses like cancer.

On the ice, Wiesblatt finished fifth in WHL regular season scoring with 103 points coming off 36 goals and 67 assists to go with a plus-47 rating in the plus-minus department. He also had 148 minutes in penalties coming from the fact he wears his heart on his sleeve.

Tanner Molendyk played at an all-world level on defence.

The Tigers in 2024-25 emulated their captain. The fans in the Hat picked up on that by giving the team’s bus big sendoffs and welcome home greetings starting in the second round of the WHL Playoffs and continuing for the rest of the post-season.

The Tigers were also able to navigate the rough waters thanks to Wiesblatt’s linemate and 17-year-old superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna. McKenna was named the winner of the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s player of the year for the 2024-25 campaign.

McKenna finished second in the WHL regular season scoring race with 129 points coming off 41 goals and 88 assists to go with a plus-60 rating in 56 games. The product of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory took his game up to another level making national highlight shows on a regular basis. He had outings where he could put the Tigers team on his back to pull out victory.

McKenna, Wiesblatt and star right-winger Ryder Ritchie formed arguably the Tigers best line since Tom Lysiak, Lanny McDonald and Boyd Anderson were on a unit together helping the franchise win its first league title back in 1972-73.

A couple of Tigers fans raise popular signs at Co-op Place.

The Tigers got so many great contributions from their forward unit including Hunter St. Martin, Mathew Ward, Ethan Neutens, Marcus Pacheco, Kadon McCann, Misha Volotovskii and their rookie kid line of Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll and twin brothers Liam and Markus Ruck. Andrew Basha and Cayden Lindstrom came off long term injuries in the WHL Championship Series and added a spark with their respective returns.

Due to the fact the Tigers can score, it sometimes overshadowed the fact their back end was strong. Back on January 6, Medicine Hat acquired star defenceman Tanner Molendyk along with Volotovskii in a blockbuster trade with the Saskatoon Blades. Molendyk played at an all-world level and really raised the level of a solid back end.

The Tigers picked up veteran blue liners Bryce Pickford and Jonas Woo in trades before the campaign began. Veeti Vaisanen and Niikopekka Muhonen came from Finland via the Import Draft, while local product Josh Van Mulligen was the reliable defensive-defenceman.

Josh Van Mulligen was a steady defensive-defenceman.

Tigers rookie netminder Jordan Switzer made a splash as a rookie and should be a player to watch as an 18-year-old sophomore in 2025-26.

With everything the Tigers went through, the team’s legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins was the right person to guide the squad in 2024-25. 

The master of social work degree he earned a while ago at the University of Calgary gives him a unique skill set that was needed for the storied Tigers squad more than ever.

His staff that includes associate coach Joe Frazer, assistant coach Josh Maser, goaltending consultant Matt Wong and video coordinator and son Jayce Desjardins are some of the best in the business.

Owners and brothers Darrell and Brent Maser still offer a steady hand and never make any rash or pressured decisions. Their family has been part of the Tigers ownership since the team’s start in 1970, and they have seen their share of ups and downs. They won’t overact to anything when adversity ultimately comes around.

Liam Ruck turned heads with a big rookie campaign.

Of course, the other huge part of the Tigers story this season has been the fans. The Tigers have always had some of the best fans in junior hockey. The passion for the team from the folks in Medicine Hat hit a whole new level in 2024-25, and it might be the best it has ever been.

The players took a reminder of that with them to Rimouski with a sign the fans signed for the team that was displayed in the club’s dressing room.

After a 1-4 start, the Tigers got their record up to 19-14-1 at the halfway point in the regular season. They posted an impressive 28-3-2-1 mark in the second half of the regular season. Including action in the regular season, WHL Playoffs and Memorial Cup tournament, the Tigers won 29 of their last 32 games.

In Medicine Hat sport lore, the 2024-25 Tigers have vaulted their way to legendary status.

Tigers players take part in a prayer circle after a win.

Their journey was one only they could navigate, and it is one that will likely never be emulated.

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Not to be for Tigers, Knights win Memorial Cup

Experience gave London slight edge in CHL final

Experience matters.

In Sunday’s Memorial Cup championship game between the OHL champion London Knights and the WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers in Rimouski, Quebec, the Knights had an edge due to falling 4-3 to the host Saginaw Spirit in last year’s tournament final. A total of 13 players from the 2023-24 Knights returned to play for the 2024-25 Knights.

That included stars like Easton Cowan, captain Denver Barkey, Jacob Julien, Sam O’Reilly, Sam Dickinson and Oliver Bonk. While it can be argued the experience factor gave the Knights a slim edge over the Tigers, it was still an edge.

The Knights took a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, pushed their advantage out to 4-0 in the second and posted a 4-1 victory over the Tigers before a sellout crowd of 4,512 spectators at Coliseum Sun Life Financial.

Another difference in the contest came down to the fact the Knights capitalized on their scoring chances. The Tigers had their scoring chances and weren’t able to finish them off. They outshot the OHL champs 32-24 in the contest.

The Knights benefitted from getting another stellar outing from overage netminder Austin Elliott, who came up with 31 saves. During the 2024-25 campaign that began with three games with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, Elliott had a spectacular 55-3 record including play in the WHL regular season, the OHL regular season and post-season and the Memorial Cup tournament.

During London’s five games at the Memorial Cup tournament, Elliott posted a 4-1 record, a 1.59 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. Between his time with the Blades and Knights, Elliott had a 7-1 career record against the Tigers.

Elliott’s journey to the OHL started after he was cut by the Blades and cleared WHL waivers. He was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but the powerhouse Knights wanted to bring him to their squad.

On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott. The puckstopper never played a game for the Colts and had a sensational run with the Knights that concluded with a Memorial Cup title win.

In Sunday’s game, London broke through on the scoreboard with 8:39 remaining in the first period. Knights defenceman Henry Brzustewicz fed a pass from his own blue line to spring Julien into the Medicine Hat zone on a breakaway. The 19-year-old centre went forehand to backhand and tucked the puck in behind Tigers star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers came with a big push back after Julien’s goal which included veteran right-winger Ethan Neutens ringing the crossbar. The teams went into the first intermission with the Knights holding on to their one-goal edge.

In a crazy second period, the Tigers outshot the Knights 17-9 in the frame, but London outscored Medicine Hat 3-0 in the stanza.

At the 3:13 mark of the frame, O’Reilly had the puck down low in the right corner of the Medicine Hat zone and centred a pass to Cowan, who was streaking to the front of the Tigers goal. The star right-winger tapped the puck home to push the Knights edge out to 2-0.

Just 1:40 later, Dickinson poke checked the puck off the stick of Tigers star captain Oasiz Wiesblatt at the London blue line. Dickinson knocked the puck up ice enough to spring Barkey on a breakaway. Barkey went forehand to back to tuck the puck home to make the Knights advantage stand at 3-0.

At the 10:01 mark of the stanza, Cowan appeared to net his second goal of the contest, but the tally was waived off after the officials ruled O’Reilly bumped into Meneghin before setting up Cowan for the tally. The officials made an incidental contact ruling on O’Reilly, which nullified the goal.

With 7:52 remaining in the second, Barkey tallied on the power play for his second goal of the night. He fired home a mid range shot from the left side boards past a screened Meneghin to the top right corner of the Medicine Hat net to give London a 4-0 edge.

Just 2:43 into the third, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna was finally able to solve Elliott. McKenna snapped home a shot from the front of the London net to trim the Knights lead to 4-1.

Gavin McKenna had the Tigers lone goal on Sunday.

The Knights at that point proceeded to trap things up through the centre ice zone and lock down the game defensively. While the Tigers were only able to hold a 4-3 edge in shots on goal for the frame, the Knights close out wasn’t all smooth.

With 5:21 remaining in the third, McKenna fired home a shot to the top left corner of the London net off a chance from the front of the goal. The officials reviewed the goal and determined Tigers star right-winger Ryder Ritchie knocked the puck down with a high stick earlier in the play causing McKenna’s tally to be disallowed. The officials added nine seconds to the clock before play resumed.

After that scare, the Knights closed out the contest.

Meneghin turned away 20 shots in the final major junior game of his career. The Tigers netminder had a remarkable post-season playing heroically after finding out his father, Derek, passed away after Medicine Hat’s final game of the regular season.

Cowan won the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the MVP of the Memorial Cup tournament. In the five games the Knights played, he recorded three goals, four assists and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus category.

On top of being named the tournament MVP, Cowan was named to the tournament all-star team along with Barkey, Dickinson and Elliott. McKenna and star defenceman Tanner Molendyk were named to the tournament all-star team from the Tigers.

The Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25. They advanced through the OHL Playoffs with a 16-1 record.

Medicine Hat finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark and posted a 16-2 record in the WHL Playoffs capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. The Tigers were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Tigers overcame their share of adversities this season. They started out 1-4, and as they started to turn things around on the ice, the Tabbies had to battle through a massive amount of injuries.

Just when it looked like things were all ready to go full speed ahead at the end of the regular season, Meneghin’s father passed away. The Tigers rallied around their netminder, who was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs. When the Tigers were being presented the Ed Chynoweth Cup, Wiesblatt waved Meneghin in to accept and be the first to lift the trophy.

Including play in the WHL regular season, the WHL Playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament, the Tigers won 47 of their last 56 games.

For the Knights, they captured their third Memorial Cup title in team history with the two past victories coming in 2005 and 2016. Dale Hunter was the head coach for all of those Knights wins.

Over the past 21 years, the Knights are considered the standard in the CHL having won six OHL titles to go with their three Memorial Cup championships over that period of time. Whenever they make the Memorial Cup tournament, they are usually the favourites to win it.

The Tigers topped the round robin standings of this year’s Memorial Cup tournament with a 3-0 record earning a bye into the event’s championship game. It appeared they might be destined to be the team that ends the WHL’s Memorial Cup title drought.

After Sunday’s final, the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014 remain the last squad from the WHL to win the Memorial Cup. They also took the WHL title that year too.

The WHL’s drought of not winning the Memorial Cup now spans the last nine tournaments marking the longest the circuit has gone without winning the biggest prize in major junior hockey. Since the Spokane Chiefs dropped the Memorial Cup after winning it in 2008, the Oil Kings have been the only WHL club since that time to claim that trophy which leaves the feeling the “Curse of the Drop” still lingers over the circuit.

Still, the Knights’ experience – however slight it may have been – from losing the Memorial Cup final last season pushed them over the edge this season.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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