Rimouski, QC - MAY 22: Medicine Hat Tigers (Western Hockey League) practice during the 2025 Memorial Cup on May 22, 2025, at the Colisée Financière Sun Life in Rimouski, Qc. (Photo by Vincent Ethier/CHL)

By Will Bryant

Medicine Hat Tigers open 105th Memorial Cup against hosting Oceanic

May 23, 2025 | 9:50 AM

One week removed from claiming their sixth WHL championship in franchise history, the Medicine Hat Tigers now aim to add another trophy to the mantle, the Memorial Cup.

The Tigers defeated the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Championship series to move on to this event.

READ MORE: Canes eliminated from WHL playoffs as Tigers complete series sweep

Last having claimed the Memorial Cup in 1988, it has been 37 years since the Tigers last held the most prized possession in all of Canadian junior hockey.

Standing in their way?

Nighttime construction on Hwy 3 in Lethbridge starts April 17

Apr 17, 2025

SASHA launches #BuyABed fundraiser to support vulnerable Lethbridge residents

Apr 04, 2025

$20K grants available: TELUS STORYHIVE Pan-Asian Edition opens applications April 1

Mar 18, 2025

The OHL champion London Knights, QMJHL champion Moncton Wildcats, and their opening night opponent, the hosts, the Rimouski Oceanic.

Rimouski didn’t walk through the front door to the tournament, falling in the QMJHL Finals in six games to Moncton, but they are certainly worthy of their spot.

Finishing with a regular season record of 46-14-2-2, Rimouski held the QMJHL’s second-best record in the regular season, only finishing behind eventual league champion, Moncton.

The Oceanic boasted the QMJHL’s leading scorer in the regular season, Johnathan Fauchon, who had 103 points through 64 games.

Fauchon wound up taking a backseat in the postseason to teammate Jacob Mathieu, who led the QMJHL in playoff scoring with 31 points.

Despite their star-studded offense, the goaltending of the Oceanic stands above all.

Rookie netminder William Lacelle led the QMJHL in goals-against-average in the regular season at 2.38 and supplemented it with a solid 0.909 save percentage.

Despite those numbers, the Oceanic saw backup netminder Mathis Langevin steal the show in the playoffs, appearing in 18 games while putting up a stunning 1.57 GAA and 0.944 SV%.

Video game numbers.

With a two-headed snake between the pipes and a dynamic offense, the Tigers will have their hands full with a Rimouski club fresh off a Game 6 Finals loss in front of their home crowd.

The Oceanic will aim to avenge that defeat and start the tournament off on the right foot, against a Tigers club that only saw losses twice on their path to a WHL Title.

Medicine Hat will have to combat what is sure to be a raucous SunLife Financial Coliseum in Rimouski, something they did routinely on their Championship run, going 8-1 away from Co-op Place.

Expect a chippy game as well.

The Oceanic, like the Tigers, led their league in PIMS in the playoffs, which suggests the special teams battle will be critical in this matchup.

The Tabbies only failed to score on the man-advantage four times over the course of 18 playoff games, while their penalty kill was stout and scored a WHL-high five shorthanded goals in the playoffs.

A trend the Tigers will look to keep going will be scoring first, something they did in all five games of the WHL Finals, three of which came in the opening minute.

If the Tigers can accomplish that, it would quiet what will be a rowdy and sold-out building in Rimouski as the hosting Oceanic take on the Tigers.

Puck-drop for the Tigers’ first Memorial Cup game since 2007 is set for 5 p.m. MST, and the pre-game show gets underway at 4:45 p.m. live on WILD 94.5.

For local news delivered daily to your email inbox, subscribe for free to the Lethbridge News Now newsletter here. You can also download the Lethbridge News Now mobile app in the Google Play and the Apple App Stores.