2025 WHL Championship Player To Watch: Andrew Cristall, Spokane Chiefs
Medicine Hat, Alta.- Game 1. WHL Championship Series.
This is exactly where Andrew Cristall and the Spokane Chiefs aimed to be when the U.S. Division powerhouse acquired the prized Washington Capitals prospect at the 2025 WHL Trade Deadline.
“That was obviously the goal when I got here,” Cristall grinned after morning skate on Friday. “All the boys are kind of buzzing and we’re pretty excited to play. I think we know it’s going to be a pretty packed house tonight and it’s going to be pretty electric.”
The Chiefs are expecting a raucous, sellout crowd as the Eastern Conference Champion Medicine Hat Tigers host the first leg of the Championship.
But if shutting down Gavin McKenna is objective No. 1 for the Chiefs, the Tigers have to be having the same discussion about Cristall, who recently won the Bob Clarke Trophy as the WHL’s regular-season scoring leader with 132 (48G-84A) points in 57 contests.
The 20-year-old is on the verge of snapping decades-old WHL records with a league-leading 20 goals and 17 assists for 37 points in 14 games, helping Spokane reach the big dance for the first time since 2008.
But it’s not just about point volume.
After all, Spokane and its top line of Cristall, Captain Berkly Catton and Shea Van Olm basically seem to score at will.
It’s how and when Cristall strikes that has made the biggest difference for the Chiefs.
The Burnaby, B.C. product has three game-winning goals (including one series-clincher), two hat tricks, three games with four or more points, and hasn’t been held off the scoresheet in the 2025 WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien.
Cristall recorded back-to-back overtime winners in Games 5 and 6 (which came late in 2OT) in Spokane’s second-round series against the Victoria Royals.
“I think the bigger the stage, the more he embraces it,” Chiefs Head Coach Brad Lauer, who won a WHL Championship in 2022 with the Edmonton Oil Kings, said. “He’s one of those kids that, you know, looks forward to these moments. It’s exciting. It excites him. He seems to really raise his level of play in these moments. So, going into this round, we expect the same thing.”
Cristall, Catton and Van Olm have combined for 39 goals and 61 assists in 15 postseason games.
Catton and Cristall were both finalists for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy for WHL Player of the Year, while Van Olm was the WHL’s regular season goals leader with 49 tallies.
“When I got here, they were both really good people, first off, off the ice,” Cristall said of the dynamic trio. “I think we kind of clicked right away and that kind of carries on the ice. I think we talk a lot and communicate really well when we’re out there.
From the get-go, the chemistry has been there.”
As Medicine Hat Tigers Head Coach Willie Desjardins said on Friday morning, completely stopping Cristall is a non-starter.
The Tabbies will aim to lock in and simply limit his opportunities in the offensive end as the WHL’s two highest-scoring attacks go head-to-head.
Game 1 is set for Friday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m. MST.
The 2025 WHL Championship Series will be broadcast on TSN for fans in Canada, while viewers in the United States and across the world can stream the series on Victory+.
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