History
Medicine Hat was granted a team in the Western Canada Hockey League ahead of its fifth season, and the Tigers began play in 1970–71. [2] [3] Although the team struggled in its inaugural season, the Tigers rapidly improved, led by the scoring exploits of Tom Lysiak—who won league scoring titles in 1972 and 1973—Lanny McDonald. [4] [5] The team made the playoffs in its second season, and in its third made it to the championship final. In the final, they defeated the Saskatoon Blades to win their first title. [6] [7]
The Tigers' next significant run of success came in the latter half of the 1980s. In 1986, the team secured its first regular season title and advanced to its first of three consecutive league finals. Led by the likes of Trevor Linden, Wayne McBean, and Mark Pederson, the Tigers would capture back-to-back championships and Memorial Cup titles in 1987 and 1988. [8] [9] Because of their success, the championship Tigers' teams were inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. [10]
The Tigers won two more league titles in a four-year span between 2004 and 2007. In 2004, Medicine Hat put together the best record in the Eastern Conference and advanced to the final, where they swept the expansion Everett Silvertips. [11] In 2005–06, the Tigers secured their second regular season title, before losing the Conference Final against the Moose Jaw Warriors. The following season, they would return to the championship series, where they faced the Vancouver Giants. Backstopped by goaltender Matt Keetley, the Tigers defeated the Giants in double-overtime of game seven to win the title. [12] Because Vancouver was hosting the 2007 Memorial Cup, both teams advanced to the tournament. The Tigers again defeated the Giants in overtime during the preliminary round in order to advance directly to the final, which wound up being a re-match between the two rivals. [12] In the final, the host Giants avenged their earlier losses, defeating the Tigers 3–1 at Pacific Coliseum. [13]
Since their last title run in 2007, the Tigers have missed the playoffs only twice, but have failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs, even despite securing division titles in 2016–17 and 2017–18. In 2015, the team moved from the old Arena to the new Co-op Place. [14] In 2024, Gavin McKenna became the fourth Tiger and the first since Neil Brady in 1986 to be named the winner of the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as WHL rookie of the year. [15]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
