It was late March, and Harrison Meneghin was preparing for the biggest games of his 2024-25 season as the starting goaltender for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League when he received news that changed his life forever.
Meneghin’s father, Derek, died unexpectedly on March 23, the final day of the WHL regular season. The 20-year-old goalie flew to his hometown of Surrey, British Columbia for the memorial service to grieve with his family, who then told him he had unfinished business in honor of his father.
Five days after Derek's passing, Meneghin recorded a 21-save shutout to open his WHL playoffs with a win over the Swift Current Broncos.
“You’ve got all these things that you start to worry about, whether it’s taking care of your family and you could say becoming the man of your house and whatnot, but I think the thing that helped me a lot was my teammates. And my mom and sister said, ‘Listen, your dad would want you to finish these playoffs and give it a run,’” Meneghin recalled on Monday at Lightning development camp.
“So, I listened, and I was like, ‘My dad would want me to do this.’... At the end of the day it was like, it’s going to be a hard time but you’ve just got to work through it, and if you win it’s going to be super special.”
The ensuing run was indeed special—Meneghin led the Tigers to a WHL championship, posting a 14-1 record, .906 save percentage and three shutouts. Meneghin thanked the Medicine Hat organization for supporting his family, and the team wore helmet stickers in honor of his father throughout their playoff run.
Meneghin then signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Tampa Bay on May 19, three days after the WHL championship game, and went on to help the Tigers reach the Memorial Cup title game.
“It's pretty special for me and my family,” Meneghin said when asked about his signing. “I think it just kind of goes to show all the hard work I put in when I was younger, all the sacrifices that my parents have made.”
Meneghin, entering his second development camp with the Lightning since being selected by the team in Round 7 of the 2024 NHL Draft, said the last few months have been difficult without his father.
And yet, it’s his father—along with his mother and sister—that continues to motivate him to be his best.
“He sacrificed a lot for me, and when he passed away I knew that he would want me to keep playing and not take away a lot of time from the team,” Meneghin said. “I knew he'd want me to support my mom and my sister, but I also knew that he'd want me to keep trying to achieve my dreams and winning. So I knew that I had to do that, and I wanted to do it for him.”
Derek loved hockey after playing in his youth and was a beloved fan of the Vancouver Canucks, but he particularly enjoyed watching his son in net. Although Derek couldn’t be there for his son’s playoff run or the signing of his entry-level contract, Meneghin knows his father is proud.
“I think he’d be super happy. He probably enjoys the happiness it brings to my mom and my sister and the rest of the family,” Meneghin said. “That's kind of something I kept in the back of my mind is doing it for my family and people that it brings some light to, so yeah, he was probably super happy to see that.”
Meneghin credited his teammates in Medicine Hat as well as coach Willie Desjardins for his strong season in the WHL, one that began with the Lethbridge Hurricanes before he was dealt to Medicine Hat in October. He finished the 2024-25 regular season with a 23-9-1 record, a .901 save percentage and three shutouts for the Tigers.
Meneghin begins his professional career this season and will rely on a playing style he described as “athletic”.
He feels the Memorial Cup experience and last season taught him about reading plays, structure and positioning.
“I rely on my positioning, but I mostly rely on my athletic ability to make saves that maybe I shouldn’t make. I’m not the widest guy, but I feel like I’m pretty quick with my reflexes,” he said. “I try to control rebounds to the best of my ability, and I think I’m pretty smart. So I can read the play pretty well, and I kind of use that to my advantage.”
Meneghin wishes his father could watch him continue chasing his dream of someday reaching the NHL, but he plans to carry the same joy and passion for the game that his father held every day.
“He just always said to go have fun and take it one game at a time. But if something doesn't go your way, just kind of brush it off and move forward,” Meneghin said. "He always said it's not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows and you're gonna have some bad days, but I think you've just gotta kind of listen to that and be ready for when things go wrong and just always stay positive.”
