The Memorial Cup tournament comes to a conclusion on Sunday as the Ontario Hockey League champion Kitchener Rangers battle the Western Hockey League title holder Everett Silvertips for junior hockey’s greatest prize.
Kitchener received a pass straight to the final after running the table in the round-robin portion of the tournament. Everett comes in as their opposition after defeating the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League champion Chicoutimi Saguenéens 6-1 in the semifinal on Friday.
Watch Kitchener battle Everett in the Memorial Cup Final LIVE at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on TSN1/3/4, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.
The Rangers have been perfect at the Memorial Cup, going 3-0 in the round-robin, including a 6-2 win over the Silvertips on Monday.
Kitchener jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and Everett answered back with a pair of goals of their own to tie the game by the midway point of the second period.
The Rangers then put up four unanswered tallies to secure the victory over the Silvertips, despite being outshot 42-22.
Kitchener secured their path to the final on Tuesday with a narrow 3-2 win over the Saguenéens, making sure their final game of the 2025-26 season will be the Memorial Cup Final.
“It’s special,” veteran forward Dylan Edwards told reporters after the win against Chicoutimi. “Talking to some of the older guys, what a treat this is for our last game in the league to be playing for a Memorial Cup, it’s pretty special. We want to go home with it an a pretty incredible experience and opportunity for us as a group.”
Tuesday’s win over the Saguenéens did not come without a cost. In the later stages of the game, Chicoutimi defenceman Jordan Tourigny stomped on the foot of Rangers forward Christian Humphreys in an attempt to free the puck from along the boards.
Tourigny was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for an attempt to injure and was later suspended for the rest of the Memorial Cup tournament for the play.
Humphreys left the game and didn’t return but is expected to play in the final on Sunday.
The Colorado Avalanche prospect had been a key contributor to the Rangers, recording 27 goals and 85 points in 63 games during the regular season. He was third in team scoring in the OHL playoffs with nine goals and 22 points and then added a goal and two points at the Memorial Cup.
Chicago Blackhawks draft pick Jack Pridham has led the way for Kitchener offensively at the Memorial Cup with four goals and six points in three games while OHL regular season and playoff MVP Sam O’Reilly has two goals and four points.
O’Reilly was a key addition at the trade deadline after being acquired, along with defenceman Jared Woolley, from the London Knights. The Tampa Bay Lightning prospect is in his third consecutive Memorial Cup tournament and both he and Woolley are looking to win back-to-back Memorial Cups after helping the Knights win last season.
Woolley and O’Reilly would become the first players to win back-to-back Memorial Cups since Noah Dobson won with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in 2018 and then the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in 2019.
Dobson and former Cornwall Royals and Rangers defenceman Robert Savard are the only two players to win back-to-back Memorial Cup titles with two different teams in the last 70 years.
San Jose Sharks goaltending prospect Christian Kirsch has been outstanding in his first season in the CHL after he was selected 44th overall by the Rangers in the 2025 CHL Import Draft.
The Basel, Switzerland, native went 27-10-3 during the regular season with a 2.42 goals-against average and .899 save percentage. He then dominated the playoffs going 16-2 with a .900 save percentage and 2.32 GAA to help Kitchener win their fifth J. Ross Robertson Cup in the franchise’s history.
Kirsch started all three games for the Rangers at the Memorial Cup and has a 1.33 GAA and .957 save percentage in the tournament, including making 40 saves against Everett.
Kitchener are in the Memorial Cup Final for a CHL record seventh time and are looking for their third national title, previously winning in 1982 and 2003.
Everett is in the Memorial Cup for the first time after winning their first Ed Chynoweth Cup as champions of the WHL.
The Silvertips went 2-1 in the round-robin with their only loss coming to the Rangers.
Their loss to Kitchener meant they had to appear in the semifinal against the QMJHL champion Saguenéens on Friday in order to create the rematch with the Rangers in the final.
After Everett and Chicoutimi traded goals to open the first period in the semifinal, the Silvertips overpowered the Saguenéens, scoring five unanswered goals to secure a 6-1 victory.
Phenom defenceman Landon DuPont was the star of the show on Friday, recording a pair of goals. DuPont, who turned 17 on Thursday, was originally questionable to play in the semifinal after missing the Silvertips’ final game of the round-robin with an undisclosed injury.
The 5-foot-11, right-shot blueliner has lived up to the hype after he became the ninth and most recent player to gain exceptional player status to play in the CHL a year early.
DuPont recorded 18 goals and 73 points in 63 games during the regular season with a plus-59 rating. He added five goals and 23 points in the postseason to finish tied for fourth in WHL playoff scoring.
The Calgary native has two goals and four points at the Memorial Cup and has impressed fans and scouts alike with his dangerous scoring opportunities.
Also recording a goal in the victory was WHL playoff MVP Julius Miettinen, who had been held off the scoresheet until this point in the tournament. The Seattle Kraken prospect tied for the top spot in WHL playoff scoring with 14 goals and 27 points en route to the WHL title.
He also registered 35 goals and 76 points in 52 games during the regular season.
Rookie forward Matias Vanhanen recorded two assists in the win over Chicoutimi as he prepares for his final on-ice dress rehearsal before the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo in June.
The 5-foot-10 winger leads the Memorial Cup in scoring with three goals and seven points after he paced the Silvertips in scoring during the regular season with 21 goals and 87 points in 62 games.
Vanhanen was third in WHL playoff scoring with 12 goals and 24 points and TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button ranked him No. 35 on his May draft list.
Goaltender Anders Miller is only second to Kirsch in goaltending stats, going 3-1 at the Memorial Cup with a 2.50 GAA and .907 save percentage.
The 6-foot-1 netminder has been outstanding for the Silvertips since he was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen in October, going 29-4-0 in Everett with a .920 save percentage and 2.12 GAA during the regular season.
Miller rose his game again in the postseason, going 16-2 with a .932 save percentage and 1.91 GAA to backstop his team to a championship.
Everett now goes for their first Memorial Cup title in franchise history and Detroit Red Wings prospect and Silvertips forward Carter Bear wants the experience to be something he’ll remember for the rest of his life.
“We got to treat it like it’s our last game of the season,” Bear told reporters after the win over Chicoutimi on Friday. “It’s our last game with each other. We’re never going to play with these group of guys again, so got to make it a good one.
“The Memorial Cup Final, we sometimes dream about this when we’re a kid, [we] watch these tournaments growing up, and it’s definitely exciting.”
