Memorial Cup 2026: Kitchener's title, every result and the 2027 host
The 2026 Memorial Cup, the 106th edition of the Canadian Hockey League championship, ended on May 31, 2026 in Kelowna, British Columbia, with the Kitchener Rangers beating the Everett Silvertips 6-2. Kitchener went through the tournament without a loss. This guide covers every result, the award winners, how the four-team format works, the Quebec side of the story with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, and where the 2027 Memorial Cup will be played.
Memorial Cup 2026 at a glance
| Edition | 106th Memorial Cup |
| Dates | Late May 2026, final on May 31 |
| Arena | Prospera Place, Kelowna, B.C. |
| Host team | Kelowna Rockets (WHL) |
| Champion | Kitchener Rangers (OHL), 4-0 in the tournament |
| Final | Kitchener 6, Everett 2 |
| Most outstanding player | Sam O'Reilly (Kitchener) |
| Top scorer | Jack Pridham (Kitchener), 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists) in 4 games |
| TV in Canada | TSN |
| Next tournament | 2027 in Guelph, hosted by the Guelph Storm |
The four teams and how they got there
The Memorial Cup brings together four teams: the playoff champions of the three CHL leagues and a host team.
- Kitchener Rangers, champions of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
- Everett Silvertips, champions of the Western Hockey League (WHL), in the tournament for the first time.
- Chicoutimi Saguenéens, champions of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL, or LHJMQ in French). They beat the Moncton Wildcats 4-2 in the final for the Gilles-Courteau Trophy, closing the series with a 5-1 win in Game 6. It was the third league title in club history, after 1990-91 and 1993-94.
- Kelowna Rockets, the host team from the WHL. The CHL named Kelowna host on November 27, 2024, from five bids. Kelowna had also been picked for 2020, but that tournament was cancelled because of COVID-19.
Our QMJHL (LHJMQ) guide covers the 18 teams of Chicoutimi's league and how its playoffs work.
Round-robin standings
Each team plays the other three once. First place goes straight to the final, and second and third meet in the semifinal.
| Team | W-L | Goals for-against | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchener Rangers | 3-0 | 14-4 | Bye to the final |
| Everett Silvertips | 2-1 | 11-9 | Semifinal |
| Chicoutimi Saguenéens | 1-2 | 8-10 | Semifinal |
| Kelowna Rockets (host) | 0-3 | 2-12 | Eliminated |
Kitchener opened with a 5-0 win over the host Rockets, beat Everett 6-2, and edged Chicoutimi 3-2. Everett ended Kelowna's run with a 4-0 win. The bye gave the Rangers four days off before the final.
Semifinal: Everett 6, Chicoutimi 1
On Friday, May 29, Everett beat Chicoutimi 6-1 to reach the final. Defenceman Landon DuPont scored twice for the Silvertips. The loss ended the Saguenéens' season, after a QMJHL title that had ended a 32-year wait.
Final: Kitchener 6, Everett 2
The final was played on Sunday, May 31, at Prospera Place.
| Period | Time | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 5:47 | Luke Ellinas, Kitchener (1-0) |
| 1st | 6:15 | Matias Vanhanen, Everett (1-1) |
| 1st | 6:45 | Dylan Edwards, Kitchener (2-1) |
| 2nd | 4:34 | Jared Woolley, Kitchener (3-1) |
| 3rd | 0:26 | Jack Pridham, Kitchener, power play (4-1) |
| 3rd | 1:03 | Sam O'Reilly, Kitchener, power play (5-1) |
| 3rd | 2:59 | Carter Bear, Everett (5-2) |
| 3rd | Late | Christian Humphreys, Kitchener, short-handed into an empty net (6-2) |
Kitchener scored twice in the first 63 seconds of the third period, on a five-on-three power play, to put the game away. O'Reilly finished with a goal and three assists. Goalie Christian Kirsch made 30 saves for Kitchener, and Anders Miller stopped 26 shots for Everett. DuPont had both assists on the Everett goals.
Everett was trying to become the fourth American franchise to win the Memorial Cup, after Portland (1983, 1998), Spokane (1991, 2008) and Saginaw (2024).
Award winners
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy (most outstanding player) | Sam O'Reilly, Kitchener |
| Ed Chynoweth Trophy (top scorer) | Jack Pridham, Kitchener |
| Hap Emms Memorial Trophy (best goalie) | Christian Kirsch, Kitchener |
| George Parsons Trophy (most sportsmanlike player) | Matias Vanhanen, Everett |
The all-star team: Christian Kirsch in goal, Landon DuPont (Everett) and Cameron Reid (Kitchener) on defence, and Sam O'Reilly, Jack Pridham and Matias Vanhanen up front.
Kitchener's third Memorial Cup
The 2026 title was Kitchener's third Memorial Cup, after 1982 and 2003. Counting 1952, when the franchise played as the Guelph Biltmores before moving to Kitchener in 1963, it was the franchise's fourth. The Rangers also beat Everett twice in the same tournament, once in the round robin and once in the final.
How the Memorial Cup format works
- Four teams. The OHL, QMJHL and WHL champions plus a host team. A host team was added in 1983; Portland was the first American host that year, and the Winter Hawks became the first host to win.
- Rotation. Hosting rotates each year between the three leagues.
- If the host also wins its league, the runner-up of that league takes the open spot. That happened in 2006, when the Quebec Remparts got in that way and won.
- Round robin, then playoffs. Each team plays three games. If two teams tie for third place, they play a tiebreaker. Second and third then meet in the semifinal, and the winner faces the first-place team in the final.
A short history of the cup
The Ontario Hockey Association donated the Memorial Cup in 1919 for the junior hockey champion of Canada. It was proposed by Captain James T. Sutherland, then OHA president, to honour young hockey players killed in the First World War. It was rededicated in 2010 to honour Canadians who died in conflict.
The three-league tournament began in 1972. Since then, the WHL and the OHL have won 19 titles each and the QMJHL 14. The Toronto Marlboros have the most Memorial Cups with seven, and the Oshawa Generals lead active teams with five.
Recent Memorial Cup winners
| Year | Champion | Final | Runner-up | Host team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kitchener Rangers (OHL) | 6-2 | Everett Silvertips | Kelowna Rockets |
| 2025 | London Knights (OHL) | 4-1 | Medicine Hat Tigers | Rimouski Océanic |
| 2024 | Saginaw Spirit (OHL) | 4-3 | London Knights | Saginaw Spirit |
| 2023 | Quebec Remparts (QMJHL) | 5-0 | Seattle Thunderbirds | Kamloops Blazers |
| 2022 | Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL) | 6-3 | Hamilton Bulldogs | Saint John Sea Dogs |
| 2020, 2021 | Cancelled (COVID-19) | |||
| 2019 | Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL) | 4-2 | Halifax Mooseheads | Halifax Mooseheads |
| 2018 | Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL) | 3-0 | Regina Pats | Regina Pats |
| 2017 | Windsor Spitfires (OHL) | 4-3 | Erie Otters | Windsor Spitfires |
| 2016 | London Knights (OHL) | 3-2 (OT) | Rouyn-Noranda Huskies | Red Deer Rebels |
| 2015 | Oshawa Generals (OHL) | 2-1 (OT) | Kelowna Rockets | Quebec Remparts |
The OHL has now won three Memorial Cups in a row. The last QMJHL winner was the Quebec Remparts in 2023.
The 2027 Memorial Cup in Guelph
The CHL picked the Guelph Storm to host the 107th Memorial Cup in spring 2027, announced in November 2025. The Kitchener Rangers were the other finalist in the OHL bidding. An independent five-member committee judged the bids on business operations, community engagement, event logistics and hockey operations. It will be Guelph's third time as a host city, after 1962 (shared with Kitchener and Hamilton) and 2002. Exact dates had not been announced at the time of the selection.
Betting on the Memorial Cup
A bet on which team will win the tournament is a futures bet, and a single game is usually a moneyline bet. A four-team event over about ten days leaves little room for form to even out, so one hot goalie can decide it. Our guide on whether sports betting is legal in Quebec explains your legal options, and Mise-o-jeu is Loto-Québec's own platform. Set a deposit limit before you bet.
Sources
- Wikipedia, 2026 Memorial Cup (edition, venue, host, round-robin standings, award winners, all-star team, host selection).
- TSN, Kitchener overpowers Everett in Memorial Cup final to cap off undefeated run (final, Kitchener's round-robin results, semifinal 6-1, bye).
- Associated Press via WTOP, Kitchener Rangers beat the Everett Silvertips 6-2 to win the Memorial Cup (goal times, saves, previous titles, US winners).
- CHL, Chicoutimi wins its third QMJHL title (final against Moncton, Game 6).
- Wikipedia, Gilles-Courteau Trophy (Chicoutimi's titles).
- CHL, Guelph Storm selected to host the 2027 Memorial Cup (2027 host, process, Guelph history, cup origins).
- Wikipedia, Memorial Cup (1919 origins, format history, host rotation, tiebreaker, rededication).
- Wikipedia, List of Memorial Cup champions (winners, scores and hosts, titles by league, most titles).
Key terms
- Futures bet
- A bet on something decided way down the road, like the Stanley Cup champion, that ties up your money until it settles.
- Moneyline
- The simplest hockey bet: you pick who wins the game, overtime and shootout included at most books, and the odds set your payout.
- Mise-o-jeu
- Mise-o-jeu is Loto-Québec's sports betting brand: paper slips at lottery retailers and Mise-o-jeu+ online, for players 18+ who are in Quebec.
- Deposit limit
- A cap ("limite de dépôt") you pick for how much money can go into one casino account in a day, a week or a month.