FIVE MINUTE MAJOR League Finals before the Memorial Cup

The championship series in each major junior league has wrapped up with other news coming out as well.

In the WHL the Medicine Hat Tigers took down the Spokane Chiefs in five games. Tigers goaltender Harrison Meneghin was named MVP. Then on Monday it was announced he’d signed his entry level contract with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. Meneghin finished the WHL Playoffs with 14 victories including three shutouts.

On a smaller note, from the WHL, it was announced Thursday the league’s scholarship program had invested in academic pursuits of 378 graduate players from this past season.

It was also announced Monday out of Langley, British Columbia that Vancouver Giants head coach Manny Viveiros would not be returning next season. Viveiros had accepted a job at the professional level with said job yet to be announced. The Giants said a search for a new head coach would begin immediately.

Then on Tuesday it was announced by the Kamloops Blazers that Don Hay wouldn’t return as Associate Coach. He spent the last three seasons in that role after returning to the organization after spending time in a similar role with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.

It should be noted once again once the Medicine Hat Tigers wrap up their season, the team will have to lose a player to the expansion Penticton Vees. Wednesday it was announced the Vees acquired the playing rights from Spokane to forward Trevor Conelly.

If all follows the common expansion rules, Penticton wouldn’t lose a player to the yet to be named Chilliwack franchise. But that could change based on what the WHL decides for that franchise when it comes on board in 2027.

In other possible expansion news, there was a report by Patrick McNeil who manages the play-by-play broadcast and communications for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. He reported Friday morning that the QMJHL is actively working to add two expansion franchises by the 2026-27 season. He said Portland, Maine and Manchester, New Hampshire were looking like the two most likely possibilities. The league would need to work with USA Hockey for that to happen.

With the ability for players to attend NCAA institutions, expansion and expansion talks have suddenly skyrocketed. The CHL is likely to grow by quite a few franchises in the next few years with all of these changes.

It makes one wonder if there could be on ice competition between the CHL and possibly a high-level Junior-A league such as the USHL or BCHL. The next few years will be very telling with the impact the agreement between the CHL and NCAA has had.

The OHL’s championship series also ended in five games with the London Knights taking down the Oshawa Generals.

In the QMJHL, the Moncton Wildcats defeated the Rimouski Oceanic in six games. However, both teams will advance to the Memorial Cup since Rimouski is this year’s host.

Overall, the Tigers will represent the WHL, the London Knights the OHL and then the Wildcats and Oceanic for the QMJHL.