Memorial Cup Flashback: Medicine Hat Reigns in Back-To-Back Wins in 1987 and 1988

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WHL Medicine Hat Tigers

Memorial Cup Flashback: Medicine Hat Reigns in Back-To-Back Wins in 1987 and 1988

May 25, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Medicine Hat Tigers News Release


To learn how to win, sometimes you have to lose.

It was a painful lesson for the Medicine Hat Tigers to study in the spring of 1986.

The Tigers had roared into the playoffs after breezing through the regular season with an astonishing 54-17-1 record- a run that helped them clinch the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions for the first time and remains the most successful regular season in franchise history.

But all of that success went out the window when they were dispatched by the Kamloops Blazers in five short games in the 1986 WHL Championship Series.

While the following season saw players like rookie and future Vancouver Canucks great Trevor Linden burst onto the scene, the team was also moving on without solid veterans, including Captain Al Conroy, who had aged out of the league.

Medicine Hat opted not to name a captain in Conroy's absence, instead moving forward with five alternates - a rarity at the time.

In 1986-87, the Tigers were able to climb the mountain with a seven-game win over the Portland Winter Hawks to claim the team's second-ever WHL Championship and move on to the 1987 Memorial Cup in Oshawa, Ontario.

Medicine Hat dominated the tournament with flashy offensive skill, lockdown defence, bruising tough guys and all-star goaltending.

While the Tigers dropped their opening match to the host Oshawa Generals 5-3, they didn't blink after that, defeating the Longueil Chevaliers in three straight meetings before throttling the Generals 6-2 to lift the Memorial Cup for the first time.

All-Star defenceman Wayne McBean was named the winner of the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the tournament's most valuable player- though he didn't realize it at the time.

"I wasn't even sure that it was me that won because they announced it in French," McBean chuckled. "Our team was such a good team. It was a collective effort, and it was an award that basically anybody on our team could have won there. There could have been seven different MVPs on our team, and I was just lucky enough to be picked."

The cyclical nature of junior hockey meant Medicine Hat's dominant window could easily close the next season, with players like McBean and Head Coach Bryan Maxwell moving on to the professional ranks.

General Manager Russ Farwell tapped blueliner Dean Chynoweth to be the team's next captain and brought in new bench boss Barry Melrose, who was fresh off of retiring from a 10-year pro playing career- and less than impressed with the team he was helming in 1987-88.

"At Christmastime, we were in sixth place, his first coaching job, and he wondered what the hell he walked into," Chynoweth recalled. "We didn't get out of the gate very well. We had fat cat syndrome. I'll never forget, we played New Westminster, the old Bruins that are no longer, we lost that game and we had a practice before getting ready to get on the bus to go to Seattle. Barry Melrose called us all to the centre circle and just unleashed on us."

The wake-up call marked a turning point.

Medicine Hat steadily improved and got a boost with the return of McBean after the 1988 IIHF World Junior Championship. As he recalls it, the Tigers went 22-0 to roll into the playoffs.

The Tabbies were near unstoppable in the postseason, earning a bye through the first round, eliminating Prince Albert in six games and sweeping the Saskatoon Blades in the Division Final to set up a rematch of the 1986 Final against the Kamloops Blazers, where they shut down star winger Mark Recchi and company in six matches.

The second trip to the tournament, held in Chicoutimi, Quebec, in May of 1988, was also tinged with loss.

After a particularly disappointing 5-2 loss to the Windsor Spitfires in round-robin play, the Tigers returned to their hotel to learn that forward Neil Brady's mother, Helen, had passed away after a battle with cancer.

"It felt like losing a member of the team," McBean said. "The entire team went to the funeral, and he (Neil) had just been drafted second overall by New Jersey and and Neil and I played midget AAA together and went to Medicine Hat at the same time together... To see the pain that he was going through with his mom, dying of cancer, it affected the entire team, and we all rallied around Neil and and he did an amazing job in just being able to play through that with the situation with his mom."

Rally, they did.

The Tigers downed a Hull Olympiques roster that featured a young Martin Gelinas by a 5-3 score to ensure a rematch in the title match against Windsor.

At first, the Tabbies seemed destined for a repeat of their round-robin drubbing with Windsor scoring three times in the opening eight minutes- including a strike from current Dallas Stars Head Coach Peter Deboer.

But the Tigers steadily clawed their way back, tying the game at 3-3 early in the second period and Rob DiMaio giving them their first lead of the night.

It came down to a 6-6 tie with under three minutes remaining and overtime looming.

With 2:43 on the clock, Chynoweth got the puck to DiMaio to tee up Pederson for the game-winning one-timer.

DiMaio was named the tournament's MVP and Mark Fitzpatrick picked up a second Hap Emms Memorial Trophy for top goaltender.

Memorably, Chynoweth, who had played limited minutes in the 1987 tournament due to a broken rib, skated to centre ice to receive the Memorial Cup from his father, Ed Chynoweth.

"Growing up in a hockey family with the last name I have, I've been to a lot of Memorial Cups with my family," Dean said. "To get it when I was the Captain was really special. It was years of hard work for everyone involved, different sacrifices, and being able to share with families, friends... It was awesome."

At the time, the Tigers were the third team and second WHL club (following the New Westminster Bruins in 1977-87) to win back-to-back Memorial Cups after the establishment of the WCHL/WHL.

"The first time, there's kind of a euphoria around the entire dressing room and surprise and excitement, but the second year, it was humbling," McBean mused. "I remember Dean and I went and had dinner by ourselves, and just kind of reflected on the moment and what we had accomplished. I found it very surreal and quite humbling. It was a really, really amazing experience.

Pretty much everywhere I went after Medicine Hat, playing in the NHL, it always circled back to the Medicine Hat Tigers and the back-to-back Memorial Cup champions and the different players that we had on the team, how deep we were and how amazing an experience it was."

While it may not feel like it happened yesterday, the players have carried the legacy of the accomplishment with them with pride.

"Once I got into coaching and I got back to junior, I probably had a greater appreciation of our accomplishments," Chynoweth added. "When you're playing, you're getting ready for the next year, getting ready to turn pro. Later on, when you reflect on it, you come to the realization of, 'Wow, maybe it was even a bigger accomplishment than we felt at the time'."

The alumni hope to see the newest edition of the Tigers be the next to hoist the CHL's top prize as round-robin action continues this week in Rimouski.

Medicine Hat opened the tournament with a 5-4 win over the host Oceanic on Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of more than 4,500.

The Tigers return to the ice on Monday, May 26, to face the QMJHL Champion Moncton Wildcats at 5:00 p.m. MST.

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