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'Battled to the end': Spokane Chiefs fall 4-2 in Game 5, Medicine Hat claims sixth WHL Championship

All season, the Spokane Chiefs relied on offensive excellence, but ultimately it escaped them when they needed it most. And though there was a late push, in the end it wasn’t enough.

Harrison Meneghin made 34 saves, Gavin McKenna scored a power-play goal in his return to the lineup, and the Medicine Hat Tigers beat the Chiefs 4-2 in Game 5 to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as Western Hockey League champions at the Arena on Friday.

“Right now, it hurts a lot,” Chiefs captain Berkly Catton said. “But I mean, from what we did two years ago to now, it’s pretty impressive. We had kind of that core group of guys that turned this thing around, you know, and that’s awesome. But it just really hurts right now.”

“Every guy in that room battled to the end,” overage defenseman Brayden Crampton said. “We did everything we could and unfortunately it just didn’t go our way.”

The Chiefs went from a 15-win team two years ago to playing for the league title.

“If you were to ask anyone, they probably wouldn’t have expected us to be here,” Catton said. “But you know, we did, and we earned it to be here. I’m just proud of how much we grew.”

“I love every one of those guys in there,” Crampton said. “And I’d do anything for them.”

Meneghin was voted MVP of the WHL playoffs. He went 14-1 in 16 games with a 2.35 goals against average and .906 save percentage. In Medicine Hat’s four wins in the championship series, he surrendered just five goals.

The Chiefs averaged 5.26 goals per game in the playoffs entering the series.

Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Harrison Meneghin (35) hoists the Ed Chynoweth Cup after winning the WHL Championship Series during the third period in Game 5 of the Western Hockey League Championship against the Spokane Chiefs on Friday, May. 16, 2025, at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash. Medicine Hat won the game 4-2. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)

Medicine Hat went 6 for 17 (35.2%) on the power play in the series. The Chiefs, who led the WHL regular season at 28.9%, went 3 for 18 (16.7%).

“They had a good goalie,” Catton said. “They’re a good team, obviously. But a couple of those power plays we had open nets and we were missing them. Sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

“Give credit to Medicine Hat, they played a very good game,” Chiefs coach Brad Lauer said. “They’re a fast team. They they played us very well. They did those little things of taking away our time and space, and they didn’t give us a lot of time to make plays with the puck at times.”

Coming into the finals, Catton, Andrew Cristall and Shea Van Olm had combined for 39 goals and 61 assists in 15 playoff games. In the championship series, they combined for six goals and eight assists in five games, with just three even-strength goals. The Chiefs’ top line was a combined minus-26.

“That big line is an incredible line. They’re so, so talented,” Desjardins said. “We have a really good defense corps, and Meneghin was exceptional. But our forward group worked really hard coming back and taking away their time. If you give that big line time, they’re going to put up tons of goals.”

It’s the sixth time in WHL history that Medicine Hat has claimed the title, and first since coach Willie Desjardins led them to the championship in 2008. Desjardins, who now has three WHL titles on his resume, has the fourth-most wins in WHL Playoffs history with 84 – three behind WHL legend Ernie “Punch” McLean of the New Westminster Bruins.

“I’m going to be really excited to see our fans, and for the boys to have (the Ed Chynoweth Cup) because it they put a lot in to get it. So it’s pretty special,” Desjardins said. “I never thought we’d win three here. I was hoping to get back to Medicine Hat when we came in. That’s what I was hoping – I hoped we’d get one.”

The Chiefs trailed 3-0 early in the third, but Cristall and Assanali Sarkenov scored 2 1/2 minutes apart to make it a one-goal game midway through the period.

Cristall’s goal – his first of the series – gave him 20 for the postseason, three off the WHL playoff record for goals in a playoff season, set by Blair Chapman of the Saskatoon Blades, who registered 24 goals in 20 games during the 1976 WHL Playoffs.

Spokane pulled goalie Dawson Cowan for the extra skater with 2 minutes, 18 seconds left, but Bryce Pickford scored an empty-net goal from long range with 1:14 remaining to ice it.

Pickford extended his modern WHL playoff record for consecutive games with a goal for defensemen to eight.

“(The record) definitely feels good, but it’s not even close to compared to the feeling of winning here,” Pickford said. “This group is so special, and I’m so thankful to be a part of it.”

Leading 1-0 after two periods, McKenna’s goal put Medicine Hat up 2-0 five minutes into the third. The presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft missed Games 3 and 4 with an undisclosed injury.

“He’s a special player,” Lauer said of McKenna. “Their power play was very effective this series for them, as it has been all playoffs. They have some personnel on there that can do some things with the puck. And obviously they were able to do that.”

Hunter St. Martin made it 3-0 just 44 seconds later with a controversial goal, banging home a loose puck after Mathew Ward collided with and took out Cowan.

For the first time in the series, there was no scoring in the first period.

With just about four minutes expired in the second Chiefs defenseman Saige Weinstein was called for holding – his second penalty of the game. McKenna hit the post with 10 seconds left in the infraction and the game stayed tied.

The Tigers were called for too many men midway through the second, but Cristall and Van Olm both fanned on shots and the advantage went unfulfilled.

Medicine Hat struck with 7:18 left in the period. Marcus Pacheco won an offensive zone draw to defenseman Niilopekka Muhonen. He skated to the top of the slot and sent a wrist shot glove side that Cowan whiffed on for his first goal of the playoffs and a 1-0 lead.

The Chiefs allowed the first goal in 15 of their 20 playoff games, including all five in the championship series.

The Chiefs have allowed the first goal in 15 of their 20 playoff games, including all five in the championship series.

St. Martin was called for hooking behind the Spokane goal, giving the Chiefs a power-play opportunity with 1:09 left in the second. They generated a couple of good chances but couldn’t convert.

Medicine Hat went to the power play with Rasmus Ekström sent off for high-sticking with 16:36 to go. With 23 seconds left in the advantage, the puck found McKenna alone at the top of the left-wing circle and he whipped it past Cowan for his ninth of the postseason.

Just 46 seconds later, Mathew Ward crashed into Cowan after contact and St. Martin knocked in the loose puck. After a lengthy review the goal stood, giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead.

Cristall cut the deficit to two a few moments later with a power-play goal, taking a pass from Brayden Crampton point-to-point, walking in and beating Meneghin with a laser high glove side.

Sarkenov made it 3-2 with 10:47 left in the game, knocking in a pass from Sam Oremba while camped out in the slot. It was the Kasakh import’s ninth goal of the postseason.