2025 Memorial Cup Game 2 Player to Watch: Ryder Ritchie, Medicine Hat Tigers

Rimouski, Que.- At the Memorial Cup, the difference between a win and a loss is heightened tenfold.

The Medicine Hat Tigers (1-0-0) stand at a diverging fork in the tournament’s road to glory.

A win against the QMJHL Champion Moncton Wildcats (0-0-1) on Monday night would guarantee a berth in the semifinal, at the very least.

A loss presents the possibility for a three-way draw and a tiebreaker game.

Forward Ryder Ritchie sure knows which path he’d like to take.

“We’ve just got to come out and play our game, just what we’ve been doing all year, kind of playing Tigers hockey and playing within our structure,” The Minnesota Wild prospect said after morning skate. “We’ve got to get really excited for a chance to put us in the semi-final.”

Ritchie set the tone early with the very first goal of the tournament in a 5-4 win over the host Rimouski Oceanic on Friday night, driving the Oceanic’s net to swat a Gavin McKenna rebound past a defender and into a yawning cage.

The first goal of the 2025 Memorial Cup goes to Ryder Ritchie and the @tigershockey!@mnwild | #MemorialCup pic.twitter.com/toQWsUTjch

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) May 23, 2025

While the Tigers ultimately pulled out the win, the deciding goal came in the dying minutes and required a tremendous third-period comeback after allowing three goals on the penalty kill.

Ritchie, 18, believes the Tigers have much more to give in their second game of the tournament.

“I think we can just be more sharp,” The 6-foot-1, 185-pound winger said. “I think our discipline wasn’t great. We gave them a lot of power plays, and they capitalized. I think we can kind of clean that up and just play a full 60, and I like our chances tonight.

We’ve done it all year. We’ve been down and out of games, and we’ve come back. We have so much belief in our dressing room.”

The Wildcats are coming off a hard-fought 3-2 overtime loss to the OHL Champion London Knights on Saturday.

Calgary Flames defensive prospect Etienne Morin and 20-year-old rearguard Dyllan Gill (Tampa Bay Lightning) struck for Moncton in the narrow loss.

The Wildcats locked down their own zone as the QMJHL’s stingiest team in the 2024-25 regular season, bolstered by four NHL prospects on the blue line.

“We’ve just got to be ready right off the bat,” Ritchie added. “I think we know they’re not happy with how their last game went. We know that they’re going to give it their all tonight, so we’ve just got to be ready, and we’ve got to match their intensity.”

Intensity has been the name of Ritchie’s game.

The son of longtime NHLer and former WHL Champion Byron Ritchie, the Kelowna, B.C. product racked up 18 points (9G-9A) in 18 matches in the 2025 WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien.

He also bagged 29 goals and 32 assists for 61 points in an injury-shortened 53 regular-season games.

Ritchie and the Tigers clash with the Wildcats in the all-CHL catfight at 5:00 p.m. MST on Monday, May 26.

Canadian viewers can tune in on TSN, while fans in the United States and around the world can stream the match on Victory+.