With the CHL to NCAA pipeline officially in full swing as many high caliber prospects from the Canadian Hockey League have opted to take the American collegiate path and discourse on the topic is now at its zenith, now is the time to actualize a plan I have had for a long time now. The Canadian Hockey League has a rich lineage that many American ice hockey fans are not very familiar with. As such, with even further implications beyond NHL talent production, this is a great time to teach American fans, especially dedicated followers of top NCAA D1 programs, more about the history of the environment their new talent is coming from. There will be some content coming out this summer that addresses more present day topics pertaining to the CHL, as well, but I think this is a useful point of prioritization as it illustrates just how decorated some areas of CHL history are.

With the top of the pile being the most recent major announcement in the form of LW Gavin McKenna (2026 NHL Entry Draft) committing to Penn State, it seems most logical to address the most successful incarnation of his now former team in the Western Hockey League. As six time WHL champions and fantastic producers of NHL players past and present, the club has had plenty of noteworthy pockets of success (including winning a league championship with McKenna at the core this past season) but there is one specific two year window of their history that is most noteworthy. This is an ode to one of the greatest junior hockey teams of all-time. Read on to learn about the back-to-back complete conquests the Medicine Hat Tigers conducted in the late 1980’s.

The story truly begins at the conclusion of the 1985-86 postseason. Medicine Hat had stormed through the regular season with the best record at 54-17-1 (109 points) and a goal differential of +139. However, they fell short of their ultimate aspirations, losing to the Kamloops Blazers (who were just starting a great era of their own) in five games in the President’s Cup (now known as the Ed Chynoweth Cup) final. The following season would present some challenges to be overcome. The look of the team was going to be quite different due to veteran departures, including that of graduating C/captain Al Conroy (who would later play 114 career NHL games, all with the Philadelphia Flyers, but primarily spent his professional career in Europe and later Japan). As noted in the previous link, the team opted not to replace Conroy as captain, instead running with five alternates. There was reason to be eager, as local kid Trevor Linden would be playing his D-1 in the WHL full-time, marking his rookie WHL campaign. However, he’d have to cut his teeth, and it would be up to the vets to shoulder the load. LW Mark Pederson (later of the Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens, and San Jose Sharks) would answer the call well, recording 102 points in 69 regular season games. The team was generally quite balanced, not really having any glaring weaknesses, and had some characters such as RW Rob DiMaio (who would play for a number of NHL teams and is perhaps most well remembered for his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers, and Boston Bruins) who were eager to play physical hockey. Their 48-19-5 record (101 points, with a +119 goal differential to represent their well-roundedness) earned them the first seed in the East Division and a bye from the first round. They defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 4 games to 2 in the division semi-finals and the Saskatoon Blades in the division finals in a tense seven game matchup to face the Portland Winter Hawks in the championship. Taking the hard way yet again, the series went seven but Medicine Hat ultimately prevailed, winning their first league championship since 1973 and just their second overall. They were headed to Ontario for the Memorial Cup, where their biggest test would be the OHL’s most historic and vaunted franchise, the Generals – That year’s champions in their respective league (for the tenth time in their history) and tournament hosts.

The start of the tournament was less than auspicious, as Medicine Hat dropped their opening round robin game to Gens, 5-3. However, they responded with a 4-2 win against the QMJHL champion Longueuil Chevaliers to put themselves in good form for the semifinal. In the two-legged semi, Medicine Hat defeated Longueuil by an aggregate of 9-1 to earn a chance to enact vengeance on the Generals and the capture the crown. The rookie Trevor Linden chipped in, scoring two goals as the Tigers won 6-2 to win their first ever Memorial Cup championship. That year’s fourth overall selection (by the Los Angeles Kings, though he’d spend most of his 211 game NHL career with the New York Islanders), captain/D Wayne McBean (who had been rock solid on the blue line for the Tigers all season and a major contributor to them more than arguably having the best defensive core in the entire CHL) was awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP, while G Mark Fitzpatrick (also an eventual King who would spend considerable time as an Islander, as well as the Florida Panthers, playing 329 career NHL games) was awarded the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as goalie of the tournament. Joining Fitzpatrick and McBean on the tournament All-Star Team were C Jeff Wenaas (who would spend the next three seasons on the IHL’s Salt Lake Golden Eagles before calling it a career), LW Dale Kushner (future 84 gamer in the NHL with the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers), and RW Guy Phillips (who later played in the IHL, AHL, ECHL, and in Germany), as the team nearly swept all the spots, saving only one defensive selection for Oshawa D Scott McCrory. It was a great capoff to an outstanding redemption campaign by the squad assembled by GM Russ Farwell (indeed, the same one who later engineered the Flyers’ successful trade for Eric Lindros and has long been the most influential figure within the Seattle Thunderbirds). The dominance they asserted over the individual superlatives reflects what sort of team they had. In the words of McBean, as quoted in the article by Cami Kepke: “I wasn’t even sure that it was me that won [the Stafford Smythe] because they announced it in French […] 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.”

Head coach Bryan Maxwell was tapped to be an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Kings beginning the following season, ending his tenure with Medicine Hat after just one year. However, Farwell had his replacement locked and loaded in the form of none other than Barry Melrose (yes, THAT one). RHD Dean Chynoweth (son of Ed, later a respectable NHLer for the Islanders and Boston Bruins), another fantastic piece on the blueline replaced McBean as captain, putting a great leadership group in place. The beginning to the season was sluggish but the defending champs eventually found their form. One of the biggest narratives was that hometown son Linden had a phenomenal draft eligible season, recording 110 points by way of 46 goals and 64 assists (leading him to be drafted second overall by the Vancouver Canucks, with whom he would spend most of his 1,382 game NHL career, captaining them to the seventh game of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final and eventually having his number 16 retired to the rafters). His massive developmental surge was one of the biggest difference makers in the Tigers finishing second in the Eastern Division with 94 points (behind Saskatoon by three), earning a first round bye yet again.

Medicine Hat subsequently defeated the Prince Albert Raiders in six games before sweeping Saskatoon in four. This time, when faced with the ever-relevant Kamloops Blazers, they did not fail at the last hurdle, defeating the team that sent them on their redemption arc to capture back-to-back WHL championships. This time, their Memorial Cup journey took them to Chicoutimi, QC, although the Saguenéens did not participate due to not advancing far enough into the QMJHL playoffs. This time, the field for Medicine Hat consisted of three other teams as opposed to just two: The QMJHL champion Hull Olympiques, the QMJHL runners-up Drummondville Voltigeurs, and the OHL champion Windsor Spitfires, the lattermost of whom did not lose a single playoff game in their conquest of the Ontario junior hockey circuit and entered the Memorial Cup having won 39 of their last 40. It was going to be a tough run, but Medicine Hat had experience none of the other clubs had. The first game of the tournament saw MHT trounce Drummondville 8-3. In the Tigers’ next round robin match, they defeated Hull 7-3. Windsor got the better of them in their final round robin game by a score of 5-2, however, sending them to the semifinal for the second straight tournament. They ended up winning a pretty competitive game against Hull by a score of 5-3 to set up another rematch with a team that had defeated them in the opening round. The final was quite dramatic, with a combined 13 goals scored, but MHT found themselves on the right side of it, winning 7-6 to capture their second straight national championship. Since the Memorial Cup was first awarded in 1919, this feat has been pretty rare: The Tigers of 1988-89 are joined only by the 1939-40 Oshawa Generals, 1955-56 Toronto Marlboros, 1969-70 Montreal Junior Canadiens, 1977-78 New Westminster Bruins, 1980-81 Cornwall Royals, 1994-95 Kamloops Blazers, and 2009-10 Windsor Spitfires as teams to have won junior hockey’s greatest prize in consecutive seasons.

Since that time, Medicine Hat has won three more WHL championships – In 2004, 2007, and 2025. However, at each final hurdle, they have come up short of capturing the biggest trophy of them all in the CHL. In 2004, they fell 6-5 in the semifinal to the Gatineau Olympiques (who went on to lose the final to hosts Kelowna Rockets). In 2007, they topped the round robin standings only to lose 3-1 to hosts the Vancouver Giants in the final, who they had defeated in the WHL championship in seven games. This past season, they once again were top of the round robin standings, but fell to the very deep London Knights 4-1 in the championship game. That said, while they have had that third Memorial Cup evade them since the dynastic run, the Tigers have had one of the most successful histories in the WHL and remain a tremendous developer of talent. Happy Valley will be getting a great player cultivated in a fantastic cultural environment when Gavin McKenna arrives at State College, PA this fall. Nittany Lions fans should be the most thrilled they have been for hockey ever when the 2025-26 season starts.