The Medicine Hat Tigers have a legitimate shot to do something no Western Hockey League team has done in 30 years: defend their league championship.

The odds of it being a possibility weren’t so certain last summer after the team lost top-scoring superstar Gavin McKenna and a host of core players as U.S. colleges began recruiting Canadian Major Junior players.

And while nothing is certain as the WHL playoffs open this weekend, the team and its fans are celebrating a surprising season and breakout performances from young talent, as well as looking ahead.

“It’s been good in the end — lots of good things, for sure,” said longtime Tigers coach and general manager Willie Desjardins.

His current roster enters the post-season ranked among the top five teams in Canada. 

They led the WHL in goals scored by a 10 per cent margin, and topped their Central Division’s standings. 

Bolstered by captain Bryce Pickford, who scored 45 goals as a defenceman, and twin-brother forwards Marks and Liam Ruck, each with 100-point seasons, the Tigers enter the playoffs against the Regina Pats this weekend.

New stars emerge across lineup

It is a different roster than the team that won the WHL title last spring, led by McKenna, the 2025 Canadian junior player of the year. 

His signing with Penn State shook the Canadian junior hockey world. Changes to U.S.-college amateur status last season opened up schools to recruit junior players, who receive a stipend as well as pay them a portion of jersey sales and video game licensing. 

The 18-year-old from Whitehorse is considered by many as the best player entering this summer’s NHL draft. He’s now a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the top U.S. men’s college hockey player. 

He’s also facing a misdemeanor assault charge in the U.S.

Five other top Tigers who played in last year’s Memorial Cup final also left to play on college or NHL farm teams despite being eligible to return to junior club, raising big questions about the Tigers’ chances this year.

“I didn’t know where we would be,” said Desjardins, recalling his outlook in September.

“I hoped we would make the playoffs, but that’s the way you approach every year.”

Desjardins said a happy surprise this season was a number of younger players stepping into bigger roles. The 18-year-old Ruck brothers were fourth-liners on the 2025 championship team, but finished Nos. 1 and 2 in league scoring, combining for 212 points.

Pickford was predicted to have a strong season, and wound up posting the most goals by a WHL blueliner since the mid-1980s.

“We kind of just regrouped,” said Pickford, who signed with the Montreal Canadiens last summer and will likely play professionally next year.

“We knew what we had to do, and we’ve done it really well.”

James Tubb reports on the team and league for the Medicine Hat News, and said junior hockey is cyclical.

Last year’s title wasn’t a fluke, he told CBC News, but the timetable “was all building for this year.” After losing high-level talent, the Tigers successfully “reset” their game.

“I can’t remember the last time a championship team followed it up with 50 wins [in the next 68-game season],” said Tubb.

“Every championship team loses players. But to lose the best junior hockey player in the world [in McKenna] and before he’s [NHL] draft eligible?”

Desjardins feels it will be at least another year before the impact of college recruiting is clear. 

He also isn’t making any predictions about this post-season.

“Lots can happen in the playoffs,” he said.

Hatters back the orange and black

The road to the title will be tough for any team, including the top-seeded Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings, along with the regular-season champion Everett Silvertips from Washington and the expansion Penticton Vees in the Western Conference.

The Kelowna Rockets will host the Memorial Cup tournament in May.

Thousands of fans in hockey-mad Medicine Hat are filling up the team’s arena as playoffs approach. The city has announced additional bus service to Co-op Place, which saw few sellouts before last year.

“It’s the place to be,” said Greg Keen, a local realtor and season ticket holder who billets a team player. 

Keen sits in Section F, which has gained a reputation for rowdiness led by front-row fans who advertise it as “Pickford’s Porch.” It’s closest to the right faceoff dot in the visiting team’s end.

“We knew there was a lot of good, strong returning players,” said Vincent Malley, whose seat is central to the cheerleading. 

“I like to say they’re almost unbeatable at home, and hopefully the fans have a little bit of a part to do with that.”

Desjardins gives fans credit, citing an impromptu parade along the team’s bus route last spring as they travelled to Spokane for the WHL final series.

They won that series on the road, bringing home the team’s first title since 2007 and sixth overall. That total ties them for most with the Kamloops Blazers — the last team to go “back-to-back” in 1994 and 1995. 

The Tigers won two straight titles in the late 1980s when teams were led by hometown captain Trevor Linden.