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Former Medicine Hat Tigers alumni meet in Western Conference quarterfinal

Without Willie Desjardins, who knows where the Medicine Hat Tigers would be these days?

Hired in 2002, the native of Climax, Sask., led the WHL franchise to its first playoff berth in five years that season, breathing life into a struggling Tigers product.

The next season, he took them all the way to the top of the mountain, leading the Tigers to their fourth WHL championship.

Three years later, Desjardins did it again, taking the Medicine Hat team to within one win of a Memorial Cup title, this time losing out to the host Vancouver Giants in the 2007 Memorial Cup.