McSweeney’s WHL Community Collective: Medicine Hat Tigers

The Western Hockey League strives to promote and foster a welcoming environment in communities close to our 23 teams in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Each club has the creative freedom to allow its players and staff to work with the organizations and groups that they are most passionate about. The end goal is to create and maintain long-lasting relationships and ongoing partnerships within their community.

Through McSweeney’s WHL Community Collective, we aim to highlight these outstanding initiatives done by each club throughout the season.

---

Last May, hundreds of Medicine Hat Tigers fans packed along roads throughout the city to cheer their team on as they journeyed south of the border to battle the Spokane Chiefs for the 2025 WHL Championship.

When they returned days later with the Ed Chynoweth Cup in tow, there was another crowd gathered at Co-op Place to greet the returning heroes.

But on November 18, 2025, fans found themselves on the bus, packed shoulder to shoulder with members of the Tabbies’ leadership group to support a cause bigger than hockey.

Captain Bryce Pickford and alternate captains Jonas Woo, Kadon McCann, Ethan Neutens, Josh Van Mulligen and Misha Volotovskii covered all corners of the city to help collect donations for the annual Wild 94.5 Food Drive in support of the Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub.

We are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this year's @wild945country Food Drive and support this great initiative! 🧡

This year's Wild Food Drive collected 306,814 pounds of food for the Root Cellar! 🐅 pic.twitter.com/ge3nw5M3VT

— Medicine Hat Tigers (@tigershockey) November 21, 2025

“Our city does so much for us, so it’s the least we can do,” Woo said. “Just to give back a little bit, going out in the community and doing our part, it’s good to meet new people.

We all got to meet new people, shake their hands and, yeah, just have little conversations here and there. We’re super grateful that we get to do that with them and it definitely does mean a lot.”

The Root Cellar has noted a rise in food insecurity in Medicine Hat and the surrounding area.

According to the charity’s 2025 annual report, last year saw 15,459 households and 33,503 individuals (including 11,887 children) utilize the Root Cellar’s emergency food bank.

Initiatives like the Wild Food Drive provide critical support for those in need- especially through the holiday season.

This year’s food drive saw volunteers collect 306,814 pounds of food from businesses, schools, organizations and individual donors across the community.

“It was a lot of food, and we’ve got to carry all that. It was a good workout for the day,” Woo joked (and no, the group did not get out of their Tigers workout for the day).

One of the most heartwarming donations came from young twin brothers Chance and Levi, who spent several months selling firewood to raise $500 to buy food for the cause.

“Those kids were super well-mannered and definitely inspiring,” Woo added. “Those kids are going to be great men when they grow up. So that was definitely cool to see.”