Kings prospect Jared Woolley, OHL-London set to begin 2025 Memorial Cup

With the Canadian Hockey League’s biggest trophy on the line beginning today – Thursday, May 22nd – Kings fans have good reason to watch and pay attention. For the second consecutive season the Kings have a Memorial Cup participant and for the second consecutive season it’s defenseman Jared Woolley, who recently won an OHL championship with the London Knights. Woolley and the Knights repeated as the OHL champions this season as they raised the J. Ross Robertson Cup for the second consecutive season, in dominant fashion. The league’s champion earned an automatic bid to the annual Memorial Cup along with the champions from the QMJHL, WHL and the host city’s major junior team.

How The Memorial Cup Works
⁃ Each team will face the other three teams in a four-team, round-robin tournament.
⁃ Teams will be rewarded two points for a win and zero points for a loss.
⁃ After pool play has concluded, the team with the least accumulated points will be eliminated, unless there is a tie for third, in which case there will be a tiebreaker game played.
⁃ The team with the most points after pool play will earn a bye directly into the finals.
⁃ The second and third-seeded teams will face off in a one-game tilt on May 30th with the winner earning the final spot in the Memorial Cup Championship game.
⁃ The winner if the lone semifinal game will then face the top-seeded team from pool play June 1st in the one-game winner-take-all Memorial Cup Championship.

Meet the teams –

OHL Champion: London Knights
Regular Season Record: 55-11-2
Postseason Record: 16-1
Finals Result: 4-1 series defeat versus Oshawa Generals

The Knights rolled through the OHL playoffs with relative ease, having dropped just one game in the postseason. Having now gone back-to-back as OHL champions, the Knights enter their second straight Memorial Cup with redemption on their minds. After earning the bye with a perfect 3-0-0-0 record in the 2024 Memorial Cup pool play portion, the Knights fell 3-2 to the tournament’s host city Saginaw Spirit. Adding more salt to the wound, the Knights had defeated the Spirit in semifinals of the 2024 OHL playoffs and had beaten their foe seven times last season. With last year’s heartbreaker in the rear-view mirror, the Knights now have their sights back on a franchise’s third Memorial Cup Championship and their first since 2015-16.

As covered throughout the CHL’s postseason thus far, Jared Woolley is the only Kings prospect under the organization’s control still competing this season. Drafted in the sixth-round in the 2024 NHL Draft (164th overall), Woolley in just one season since being selected by the Kings has seemingly worked his way up within the organization’s prospect pool and already far surpassed that sixth-round tag. In 68 regular season games, Woolley totaled 28 points (9-19-28) and added another nine points (2-7-9) in 16 playoffs games. At 6-foot-5, 207-pounds, Woolley has produced offensively when given the opportunity, on top of what he’s known for which is defensive play and physicality, alongside the ability to move the puck. With the offensive opportunities on the defensive end for London favoring the Knights’ leading scorer and last year’s 11th overall draft pick Sam Dickinson, 2023’s 22nd overall pick Oliver Bonk and this year’s projected first-round pick Henry Brzustewicz, Woolley’s offense had to come from 5-on-5 play. With just two points (1-1-2) coming on the man advantage this season, Woolley’s non-power play offensive production of 26 points (8-18-26) was tied for the second most points among London defensemen. Not just an offensively capable defenseman, Woolley is an above average skater and puck mover with a knack for being a physical and tough defender.

Woolley signed his entry-level contract with the Kings earlier this season and at just 19-years-old, is on track for that contract to slide back until the 2026-27 season, when he would be eligible to play in the AHL on a regular basis.

QMJHL Champion: Moncton Wildcats
Regular Season Record: 53-9-2
Postseason Record: 16-3
Finals Result: 4-2 series defeat versus Rimouski Océanic

Already guaranteed a spot into the Memorial Cup after making the QMJHL finals due to the host city in Rimouski also making the finals, the Moncton Wildcats weren’t just satisfied with a finals appearance. Ousting the Océanic in six games to win their third Gilles-Courteau Trophy as 2024-25 champions of the QMJHL, the Wildcats are led by 18-year-old forward Caleb Desnoyers. Desnoyers ranked fifth in the QMJHL in scoring during the regular season with 84 points (35-49-84) and leads the QMJHL in points per game during the playoffs (1.57). The Wildcats led all CHL teams with a .844 point percentage during the regular season. Moncton is set to make their third Memorial Cup appearance in franchise history and are in search of their first championship.

WHL Champion: Medicine Hat Tigers
Regular Season Record: 47-17–4
Postseason Record: 16-2
Finals Result: 4-1 series defeat versus Spokane Chiefs

Entering the WHL playoffs as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but holders of the second most points in the league, the Medicine Hat Tigers eased through their four series in route to their WHL-most sixth Ed Chynoweth Cup victory. The Tigers are led by none other than Gavin McKenna, the projected top pick in next year’s 2026 NHL Draft. During the regular season and into the first round of the playoffs, the 17-year-old McKenna set a CHL record with a 54-game point streak where he notched an astonishing 137 points (40-97-137). Since snapping his point streak in Game 2 of the first round, McKenna finished the postseason on a 14-game point streak, totaling 37 points (9-28-37). This will be Medicine Hat’s sixth Memorial Cup appearance as they are in search of a third championship after having gone back-to-back in 1986-87 and 1987-88.

Host City Team: Rimouski Océanic
Regular Season Record: 46-16-4
Postseason Record: 14-9
Season Result: 4-2 series defeat in QMJHL Finals versus Moncton Wildcats

After falling in the QMJHL finals, the Rimouski Océanic are deserving participants of the 2024-25 Memorial Cup. Hosts of this year’s Cup, the Océanic are looking to make it back-to-back years in which the hosts hoist the Memorial Cup. The Océanic finished the QMJHL regular season with the second most points in the league, behind only Moncton. The Océanic are led by the QMJHL’s top scorer in the regular season, Jonathan Fauchon, who was the only player with over 90 points (46-57-103) as well as the league’s top scorer in the playoff, Jacob Mathieu, who had 31 points (17-14-31) across 23 games. Rimouski returns to the Memorial Cup for the fifth time in franchise history and the first time since the 2014-15 season. The Océanic’s only Memorial Cup championship came in 1999-2000.

Memorial Cup Schedule – Round-Robin Stage
May 23 – Medicine Hat vs. Rimouski, 4:00 PM Pacific
May 24 – London (Woolley) vs. Moncton, 3:00 PM Pacific
May 25 – London (Woolley) vs. Rimouski, 3:00 PM Pacific
May 26 – Medicine Hat vs. Moncton, 4:00 PM Pacific
May 27 – Medicine Hat vs. London (Woolley), 4:00 PM Pacific
May 28 – Moncton vs. Rimouski, 4:00 PM Pacific

Tiebreaker (if needed)
May 29 – Third Seed #1 vs. Third Seed #2, 4:00 PM
*game played only in the event of a tie

Semifinals
May 29 – Third Seed vs. Second Seed, 4:00 PM

Championship Game
June 1 – SF Winner vs. First Seed, 4:00 PM

All games at the 2025 Memorial Cup are set to be broadcast on NHL Network, either live or later on that evening, including all three of Woolley’s games in round-robin play, as well as the knockout games if he advances to that point.