WHL Championship: Berkly Catton scores twice, Spokane Chiefs even series with Medicine Hat with 6-2 win

MEDICINE HAT, Alberta – Spokane Chiefs coach Brad Lauer wondered after Friday’s loss how his team would respond in Game 2.

A four-goal barrage in a less than five-minute span in the first period told the story. So did adding to the total in the final frame.

Berkly Catton scored two goals, one in the first and another in the third, and the Spokane Chiefs evened the Western Hockey League Championship Series at one game apiece with a 6-2 win over Medicine Hat at Co-op Place on Sunday.

The series shifts to Spokane for Games 3, 4 and 5 starting Tuesday.

Despite allowing a goal in the first minute of the game for the second game in a row, the Chiefs bounced back quickly and decidedly, taking the play to Medicine Hat and handing the Tigers their first loss since April 1. In the process, the Chiefs held WHL Player of the Year Gavin McKenna scoreless, ending his major-junior record 54-game scoring streak.

“It was the response we wanted,” Lauer said. “Obviously, we didn’t want to give up that first goal that quick, but I thought our kids, it didn’t phase them. I thought we stuck with it and found a way to get a really good first period, able to score four. So, it was a good response.”

McKenna, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft, has two points in the two games.

“He’s a special player,” Lauer said of McKenna. “We’re just trying to take his time and space away when he’s on the ice.”

Catton added an assist, while linemate Shea Van Olm had a goal and an assist, and Andrew Cristall added two helpers.

“It was not just our line, but all four lines played an unreal game,” Cristall said. “We obviously wanted to have a little bit more of a bounce-back game. I thought 5-on-5 we played pretty well. So yeah, it gives us a lot of confidence, especially heading back home.”

For the second game in a row, the Chiefs gave up a goal in the first minute of play.

Right off the bat McKenna came in alone on Chiefs goalie Dawson Cowan, but the goalie was able to brush it aside. Next time down the ice, he wasn’t so lucky, and Cayden Lindstrom converted a 2-on-1 from Hunter St. Martin a mere 55 seconds into the game.

Lindstrom was playing in just his second game of the season after undergoing back surgery in the off-season. The 6-foot-4 center, drafted fourth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2024, had 27 goals and 46 points in 32 games for Medicine Hat during the 2023-24 campaign.

The Chiefs answered 6 minutes, 50 seconds into the period, and it was the top line that got it done. Cristall sent the puck into space along the right wing where it was tracked down by Van Olm. He dished to Catton coming through the center of the ice with speed, and he deked a defender and beat Harrison Meneghin five-hole for his 10th goal of the playoffs.

“I thought we got our legs going and got our legs underneath us, and we started playing the way we wanted,” Lauer said. “We looked at video and wanted to make those changes … and you could see our game coming in after that first goal.”

The Chiefs took their first lead of the series a few minutes later as Sam Oremba on the rush found Rasmus Ekström streaking through the slot. Ekström chipped it past Meneghin for his eighth of the playoffs.

On the next shift, Mathis Preston picked the pocket of Tigers defenseman Bryce Pickford behind the Medicine Hat goal and gave it to Owen Martin out front, who beat Meneghin stick-side 41 seconds later for his sixth of the postseason.

A bit later, the Chiefs’ top line generated another goal.

Catton sent a puck off the side wall that caromed into the crease. Van Olm lifted the stick of a defender to gain the puck, and he pounded it into the net to make it 4-1 in a span of 4:36.

The Chiefs were charged with a too-many-men penalty, giving Medicine Hat the first power -play opportunity of the game, but Cowan made a couple of good saves and the Chiefs killed it off.

The second period was full of penalties.

“It was a little more physical,” Lauer said. “Emotions will come out the more important the games get down the road here. I wouldn’t say it’s overly physical, but I think it’s good playoff hockey.”

Coincidental minor penalties to Martin and Lindstrom for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of the first triggered 4-on-4 play for the first two minutes of the second, but nothing came of it. A scrum after a held puck in the Medicine Hat end put Brayden Crampton and Matthew Ward in the box for roughing 4:27 in prompting another 4-on-4 session.

With a minute to go in the penalties Martin was sent off again, this time for slashing, giving the Tigers 4-on-3 for 1:02. Pickford took advantage, slipping a shot through a maze of bodies and past the screened Cowan for his second in as many games and his ninth of the playoffs.

Less than a minute later, Owen Schoettler was assessed an interference penalty, putting Medicine Hat back on the power play. With just seven second s left, Saige Weinstein tried to clear and instead lifted the puck off the ice for a delay of game penalty.

But Cowan made a couple of tough saves, notably on Pickford again, to kill off both infractions and keep it 4-2.

A couple of heavy collisions in open ice followed back at 5-on-5, and Ward was called for charging after a big hit on Cristall, but the Chiefs couldn’t cash in. Catton was tackled in the neutral zone by Oasiz Wiesblatt with 3:32 left in the period for another Chiefs power play. The Chiefs managed just one shot on goal, then Cowan was forced to make a difficult save on a Wiesblatt breakaway after he came out of the box.

The Chiefs turned it over on the ensuing faceoff and St. Martin got free on the right wing and snapped a shot past Cowan blocker side. After originally signaling a goal, review showed the puck went off the post and not in the net.

The best chance in the first half of the third came from St. Martin, whose wrap-around attempt eight minutes in popped up in the air in the crease before being gathered by Cowan.

The Chiefs made it 5-2 with 7:52 to go. Martin won a puck along the right-wing boards, did a great job to retain possession through two defenders then fed an open Preston in the slot for a one-timer – his ninth of the playoffs.

“(Nathan) Mayes just chipped it out of the zone there. And, you know, Marty made a great play,” Preston said. “And, yeah, I kind of finished it off. Didn’t have to do much.”

Catton’s stick got tied up with McKenna, putting the Tigers on the power play with 6:49 left. Cowan was forced to make one tough save, but Catton was sprung out pf the box on a breakaway and he beat Meneghin for his second of the game and a 6-2 lead.

So it’s back to Spokane.

“I think this is going to be a long series,” Lauer said.

“We’re a team that doesn’t (look) too far down the road, we’re just thinking of the next game. So obviously that first game back home is going to be important for us. You know, we’ve got to make sure we’re ready.”