Memorial Cup field is set

WHL

MONCTON – The field is set for the 2025 Memorial Cup.

The Medicine Hat Tigers secured the final spot in the tournament on Friday night, defeating the Spokane Chiefs 6-0 to win the Western Hockey League championship in five games. It's the first WHL title for the Tigers since 2007.

Medicine Hat joins an impressive tournament field featuring the Rimouski Oceanic (host), Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) and London Knights (OHL champion).

The Tigers are headlined by 2026 NHL Draft top prospect Gavin McKenna, who posted 38 points in 16 playoff games. This could be McKenna's final games of junior hockey as it's been speculated that he'll make the jump to the NCAA next season.

Medicine Hat goaltender Harrison Meneghin was named playoff MVP. Meneghin, who lost his father just before the playoffs started, was given this special moment by Tigers captain Oasiz Wiesblatt.

Harrison, you're getting this one too 🧡

Your 2025 Ed Chynoweth Cup champs 🏆@TigersHockey | #WHLChampionship | #FeedingTheFuture pic.twitter.com/MYGVQXS98q

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) May 17, 2025

The Memorial Cup begins next Friday with the Tigers taking on the host Oceanic. The next day, the Wildcats face the Knights.

Oceanic send series back to Moncton

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Eriks Mateiko scored as the Rimouski Oceanic staved off elimination on Thursday night.

The former Saint John Sea Dogs captain was one of five Oceanic players to score in a dominant 5-1 victory over the Moncton Wildcats, keeping their Gilles-Courteau Trophy hopes alive. The Wildcats lead the QMJHL championship series 3-1.

Rimouski came flying out of the gate, scoring three goals in the first 7:08 and carrying a 4-0 lead into the first intermission. The Oceanic outshot the Wildcats 23-7 in the opening frame and were 2/5 on the power play.

The Wildcats simply didn't show up for this game. Once Rimouski got things going early, Moncton had no answer. They struggled in their own end at times and were too undisciplined. 

Mateiko's goal was his first since scoring in double overtime of Game 7 in of the QMJHL semifinals. The former Sea Dog also had six shots and was a +1.

ERIKS MATEIKO MAKES IT 5-0 RIMOUSKI

That's his first of the series! 🇱🇻 pic.twitter.com/dlGEuPIHSp

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 16, 2025

The good news for Moncton: they still carry a commanding series lead. Game 5 will take place Saturday night at Avenir Centre – a building they are 8-0 in during these playoffs.

The Wildcats are now 15-2 overall in these playoffs.

Moncton will try and win the third QMJHL championship in team history on Saturday. Both of their previous titles were clinched on home ice.

Both the Wildcats and Oceanic have already secured spots in the Memorial Cup tournament. Another team locked in their spot on Thursday with the London Knights defeating the Oshawa Generals 5-2 to win a second straight OHL championship.

In the WHL, the Medicine Hat Tigers have a 3-1 series lead over the Spokane Chiefs. Game 5 is Friday night in Spokane. 

New homes for former Sea Dogs

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A few former Saint John Sea Dogs are on the move as the NHL's free agency period opened on Monday.

Forward Boko Imama has signed a one-year, two way contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. According to the Pens, the deal "holds an average annual value of $775,000 at the NHL level."

Imama spent last season with the Ottawa Senators organization where he appeared in six NHL games and 53 games with AHL Belleville. He'll likely see a similar split of games with the Pens next season.

This will be Imama's fourth NHL organization since turning pro, which has included stops in Los Angeles/Ontario/Manchester, Arizona/Tucson and Ottawa/Belleville.

The 27-year-old spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Sea Dogs, helping the team win the President Cup in 2017.

Defenseman Vincent Sevigny, meanwhile, has signed a one-year, one-way contract with the Laval Rocket, the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens.

The former Sea Dogs captain – who wasn't drafted into the NHL – has spent the past two seasons playing alongside William Dufour with the AHL's Bridgeport Islanders. The 23-year-old had a goal and four assists in 33 games with Bridgeport last season.

Sevigny captained the Sea Dogs to the Memorial Cup in 2022.

Notebook: Beaten by the champs

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs can at least say they were eliminated from this year's QMJHL playoffs by the eventual champions.

The Drummondville Voltigeurs took down the Sea Dogs in a four game sweep in the opening round en route to a league championship. It's the third time in franchise history that the Sea Dogs were eliminated from post-season play by the league champion.

2010: Moncton Wildcats (league final)

2013: Halifax Mooseheads (first round)

2024: Drummondville Voltigeurs (first round)

Saint John, although they did win the 2022 Memorial Cup tournament, has not won a playoff series since the 2017 QMJHL final.

ROUGH PLAYOFFS

In terms of entertainment, this was a rough post-season in the QMJHL. There was only one Game 7 and, remarkably, only two series went six games or longer. There were eight sweeps.

What an incredibly disappointing #QPlayoffs from an entertainment standpoint. Only two of 15 series make it past Game 5 👎

— David McKnight (@mcknight_david) May 15, 2024

The situation is probably a one off but, even before this year, there was a valid conversation to be had about adjusting the league's playoff format, whether that be returning to the 1vs 16 setup or simply reducing the amount of teams that get in.

It wasn't a great year of playoff hockey across the CHL, as Ken Campbell of The Hockey News points out. There are high hopes for this year's Memorial Cup given how each champion earned their spot via sweep in the league final.

Notebook: Roy scores first NHL goal

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SAINT JOHN - Former Saint John Sea Dogs forward Joshua Roy netted his first career NHL goal on Wednesday.

Roy scored in the Montreal Canadiens' 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. The 20-year-old was playing in just his third NHL game after getting recalled from the AHL's Laval Rocket last week.

Roy, the first overall pick in the 2019 QMJHL Entry Draft, spent his first one-and-a-half seasons of junior hockey with the Sea Dogs before being traded to the Sherbrooke Phoenix.

SCHEDULE TALK

QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini spoke with the Wildcast Podcast on his trip through New Brunswick last week. Cecchini had a few interesting comments on potential changes to the league's schedule and the format for this year's QMJHL Entry Draft in Moncton.

Drakkar, Wildcats heading to Game 7

Blizzard Facebook

The Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Moncton Wildcats have had an excellent first round playoff series - and it's not over yet.

The Drakkar forced a Game 7 with a 4-3 overtime win over the Wildcats on Monday at Avenir Centre. Matyas Melovsky scored just 23 seconds into the extra frame to secure the Drakkar the victory.

It wasn't looking like the game would even need overtime. The Drakkar held a 3-2 lead into the final minute when Vincent Labelle scored from a bad angle to tie things up. The goal came at five-on-five but with Moncton on a penalty kill and their goaltender pulled.

Labelle sends it to OT with a late shortie! https://t.co/UYssA7EM2x pic.twitter.com/paVZfBSbTM

— Moncton Wildcats (@monctonwildcats) April 11, 2023

Earlier in the third period, former Sea Dogs forward Marshall Lessard was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding. Baie-Comeau killed off that penalty though.

This was the fourth game of this series that required overtime.

Game 7 will take place Tuesday night at Avenir Centre. It's the only first round series still going in the QMJHL.

A few other notes...

• Brandon Casey and the Edmundston Blizzard will face Benjamin Roode and the Yarmouth Mariners in the Maritime Hockey League final (a very long distance one at that). The Blizzard completed a sweep of the Summerside Western Capitals on Monday.
• No teams from the 2022 Memorial Cup are still alive in the CHL playoffs. The Hamilton Bulldogs blew a 3-0 lead and fell 5-4 to the Barrie Colts on Monday, dropping the series in six games. The Edmonton Oil Kings missed the WHL post-season while the Sea Dogs and Shawinigan Cataractes were eliminated in the first round of the QMJHL playoffs.
• This was the final Bulldogs game in Hamilton for at least the next three seasons. The Bulldogs will be relocating to Brantford while the FirstOntario Centre undergoes massive renovations.
• The Prince George Cougars have advanced to the second round of the WHL playoffs for the first time since 2007. The Cougars eliminated the Tri-City Americans in six games in the opening round. Former Sea Dogs head coach Josh Dixon is an associate coach with the Cougars.
• Worth nothing as well that the Spokane Chiefs did not make the WHL playoffs. Former Sea Dogs assistant coach Stefan Legein is an associate coach with the Chiefs.

Legein joins Spokane staff

Vincent Ethier/CHL

The Saint John Sea Dogs' coaching staff has a couple of big holes to fill as training camp inches closer and closer.

The team still doesn't have a head coach with Gardiner MacDougall returning to the UNB Reds. On Thursday Saint John lost another member of their coaching staff with assistant Stefan Legein making the move to the Western Hockey League.

Legein, who had been an assistant coach with the Sea Dogs since the 2018-19 season, has joined the Spokane Chiefs as an associate coach.

“I am extremely honoured to be joining the Chiefs family — it means a lot to be in a place that has such good people from top to bottom,” Legein said in the news release. “With that, I’d like to thank Mr. Brett, Mark (Miles), Matt (Bardsley) and Ryan (Smith) for giving me the opportunity to join a long list of great coaches that have been in Spokane. In speaking with Matt and Ryan, the objectives of the team, as well as my personal beliefs, lined up perfect and I couldn’t be more excited for the opening of the 2022-23 season.”

✅ Coaching staff: complete! Welcome to Spokane, Stefan Legein!

📰 https://t.co/5y8llDxNHU#GoChiefsGo pic.twitter.com/pLM2E9gxyj

— Spokane Chiefs (@spokanechiefs) July 28, 2022

Legein, who was a well known player in his junior career, joined the Sea Dogs after working with the Ontario Hockey League's Mississauga Steelheads as a video coach.

“We are very excited to have Stefan join the Spokane Chiefs organization to work with Ryan, Dustin (Donaghy) and our players,” Chiefs general manager Matt Bardsley said. “His experience and strengths as a player as well as a coach will be a great addition to our team in our goal of maximizing the players’ development while achieving team success. We would like to thank the Saint John Sea Dogs organization for allowing us to speak with Stefan during this process. Finally, we would like to welcome Stefan along with his wife Shannon, and their three children Emerson, Delilah and MacKinnon to the city of Spokane.”