Playoff Series Preview – Round 4 Vs Spokane

Calgary, AB. – The Western Hockey League has announced the initial schedule of games for the 2025 WHL Championship Series presented by Nutrien, featuring the Western Conference champion Spokane Chiefs and Eastern Conference champion Medicine Hat Tigers.

 

This marks the first time the Tigers and Chiefs have battled for a league title.

 

The 2025 Championship Series will follow a 2-3-2 format, with Game 1 slated for Friday, May 9 at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.

 

The action will shift south of the border for Game 3 at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena on Tuesday, May 13.

 

Times and dates for the final three games, if necessary, will be released at a later date.

 

All seven games of the WHL Championship Series will be broadcast live by TSN – the national broadcast partner of the WHL and Canadian Hockey League- for Canadian viewers.

 

Spokane punched its ticket to the big dance by completing a sweep of the U.S. Division rival Portland Winterhawks on Thursday, May 1. The Chiefs are the highest-scoring team in the postseason, breezing past the Vancouver Giants (4-1) in Round One and eking out a pair of double-overtime thrillers to down the B.C. Division Champion Victoria Royals (4-2) in the second round.

 

Medicine Hat has only lost one game in the 2025 WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien and is 22-1-0-0 dating back to February 22, 2025, in the regular season. The Central Division Champions dispatched Swift Current (4-1) in the first round before dominating in sweeps of Prince Albert (4-0) in Round Two and Lethbridge (4-0) in the Eastern Conference Championship.

 

This is the first time in WHL history that the two remaining teams swept their respective Conference Championships.

 

The matchups will see three WHL Player of the Year finalists, Berkly Catton and Andrew Cristall (Spokane), face off against the Whitehorse Wizard Gavin McKenna (Medicine Hat).

 

McKenna will put his modern CHL-record 53-game point streak on the line in hopes of helping Medicine Hat lift the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time since 2007.

 

Both teams won the WHL Championship in their last trip to the final round, with Spokane clinching the Ed Chynoweth Cup and the Memorial Cup in 2008.

 

By The Numbers

Regular Season

Record

• Medicine Hat
  • Overall – 47-17-3-1
    • League – 2nd
    • Eastern Conference – 1st
    • Central Division – 1st
  • Home – 25-7-2-0 (4th)
  • Away – 22-10-1-1 (3rd)
• Spokane
  • Overall – 45-20-1-2
    • League – 4th
    • Western Conference – 3rd
    • U.S. Division – 2nd
  • Home – 23-9-1-1 (6th)
  • Away – 22-11-0-1 (4th)

 

Leading Scorers

• Medicine Hat
  • Gavin McKenna – 56 GP – 41 G – 88 A – 129 PTS
  • Oasiz Wiesblatt – 66 GP – 36 G – 67 A – 103 PTS
  • Ryder Ritchie – 53 GP – 29 G – 32 A – 61 PTS
• Spokane
  • Andrew Cristall – 57 GP – 48 G – 84 A – 132 PTS
  • Berkly Catton – 57 GP – 38 G – 71 A – 109 PTS
  • Shea Van Olm – 66 GP – 49 G – 43 A – 92 PTS

 

Goaltenders

• Medicine Hat
  • Harrison Meneghin – 36 GP – 23-10-1-1 – 2.58 GAA – .900 Save %
  • Jordan Switzer – 32 GP – 23-6-2-0 – 2.65 GAA – .901 Save %
• Spokane
  • Dawson Cowan – 51 GP – 34-14-0-2 – 2.67 GAA – .905 Save %
  • Carter Esler – 18 GP – 10-6-1-0 – 3.23 GAA – .894 Save %

 

Special Teams

• Power Play
  • Medicine Hat – 67/240 – 27.9% (4th)
  • Spokane – 74/256 – 28.9% (1st)
• Penalty Kill
  • Medicine Hat – 212/265 – 80.0% (4th)
  • Spokane – 211/261 – 80.8% (3rd)

 

Head-To-Head

Record

• Medicine Hat – 1-0-0-0
  • Home – 0-0-0-0
  • Away – 1-0-0-0
• Spokane – 0-1-0-0
  • Home – 0-1-0-0
  • Away – 0-0-0-0

 

Games This Season

• Medicine Hat 3 @ Spokane 2 (Jan 24 2025)

 

Leading Scorers

• Medicine Hat
  • Gavin McKenna– 1 GP – 1 G – 2 A – 3 PTS
  • Josh Van Mulligen – 1 GP – 1 G – 1 A – 2 PTS
  • Ryder Ritchie – 1 GP – 0 G – 2 A – 2 PTS
• Spokane
  • Assanali Sarkenov – 1 GP – 1 G – 0 A – 1 PT
  • Shea Van Olm – 1 GP – 1 G – 0 A – 1 PT
  • Three Players Tied – 1 GP – 0 G – 1 A – 1 PT

 

Goaltenders

• Medicine Hat
  • Harrison Meneghin – 1 GP – 1-0-0-0 – 2.00 GAA – .931 Save %
• Spokane
  • Dawson Cowan – 1 GP – 0-1-0-0 – 3.07 GAA – .900 Save %

 

Special Teams

• Power Play
  • Medicine Hat – 1/3 – 33.3%
  • Spokane – 0/3 – 0.0%
• Penalty Kill
  • Medicine Hat – 1/1 – 100.0%
  • Spokane – 2/3 – 66.7%

 

Series Schedule

Game	Visitor		Home	Date	Time (MST)
1	Spokane	@	Medicine Hat	Friday, May 9	TBD
2	Spokane	@	Medicine Hat	Sunday, May 11	TBD
3	Medicine Hat	@	Spokane	Tuesday, May 13	TBD
4	Medicine Hat	@	Spokane	Wednesday, May 14	TBD
5*	Medicine Hat	@	Spokane	TBD	TBD
6*	Spokane	@	Medicine Hat	TBD	TBD
7*	Spokane	@	Medicine Hat	TBD	TBD

*- If necessary