Tigers Win 4-2 to Claim Their Sixth WHL Championship

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WHL Medicine Hat Tigers

Tigers Win 4-2 to Claim Their Sixth WHL Championship

May 17, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Medicine Hat Tigers News Release


The Tigers and Chiefs faced off in Game 5 of the WHL Championship Series presented by Nutrien on Friday night at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The Tigers took a 3-1 series lead with a 5-2 win on Wednesday night and were looking to wrap up the series in Game 5.

The two teams went back and forth in the first period looking for the important opening goal. Both teams had some opportunities but neither team was able to light the lamp.

The Tigers finally opened the scoring 12:42 into the second period. Ethan Neutens won an offensive faceoff back to Niilopekka Muhonen at the point. Muhonen let a low wrister go that snuck under the goalie's glove to give the Tigers the lead. The goal was Muhonen's first career WHL playoff goal.

Gavin McKenna gave the Tigers a little breathing room early in the third period with a power play goal. Jonas Woo swung the puck across to McKenna on the left side. He took a stride in and let a wrister go that found the back of the net to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Andrew Basha picked up the secondary assist on McKenna's ninth of the season.

Medicine Hat would make it a 3-0 game only 44 seconds later. Mathew Ward went in on a breakaway but he was hauled down and slid into the netminder. Hunter St. Martin was following up though and he grabbed the puck and fired it in before the net came off the moorings. Basha picked up another assist on St. Martin's seventh of the postseason.

While it seemed that the Tigers had all the momentum, the Chiefs would respond less than a minute later while on the power play. Brayden Crampton walked the line and passed it back to Andrew Cristall. He skated into the high slot and let a wrister go that found the top right corner. The goal was his first of the finals and league leading 21st of the playoffs.

Spokane cut the lead to a single goal just before the midway point of the third period. Sam Oremba skated out of the corner with the puck and fed a pass to Assanali Sarkenov in front of the net. He snapped the puck top corner on right side for his ninth of the playoffs.

With time running out and the Chiefs trailing by a goal, they decided to pull their goalie for the extra attacker. It wouldn't work out as they had hoped though. Bryce Pickford fired a puck from the Tigers end into the open net. The goal was his 13th of the playoffs and extended his goal streak to eight games. Both are modern WHL playoff records. St. Martin picked up the assist on the empty netter.

The clock ticked down and the Tigers secured the 4-2 victory to win their sixth WHL Championship.

Harrison Meneghin continued his fantastic play in net for the Tigers. He stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced. His play throughout the playoffs earned him the WHL Playoff MVP trophy. Dawson Cowan was solid in net for the Chiefs. He allowed only three goals against on 35 shots.

Shots:

Medicine Hat - 36

Spokane - 36

Special Teams:

PP: 1/3 - 33.3%

PK: 4/5 - 80%

Stringam Law Three Stars:

Brayden Crampton - Spokane

Shea Van Olm - Spokane

Rasmus Ekstrom - Spokane

Supplement King Hardest Working Player: Hunter St. Martin

The Tigers now head to the Memorial Cup in Rimouski, QC as the WHL representative. Their first game is May 23 against the host, Rimouski Oceanic.

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Western Hockey League Stories from May 17, 2025


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