Rangers defenseman part of elite group
Posted May 22, 2026 01:48:44 PM.
Last Updated May 23, 2026 08:54:42 AM.
For most junior hockey players, winning a league championship and competing in a Memorial Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
For a select few, the opportunity comes around more than once.
Jared Woolley, a defenseman for the Kitchener Rangers, is one of those players for whom championships have come regularly.
When the Rangers swept the Barrie Colts last week, Woolley became a three-time Ontario Hockey League champion, joining his teammate Sam O’Reilly and former Kitchener Ranger (and Windsor Spitfire) Scott Timmins in an elite club. They are the only three players in OHL history to win back-to-back-to-back league titles.
For O’Reilly, the statistic is even more staggering when you consider that, as a rookie in 2023, he was on a London Knights team that went to the OHL final, only to lose to Peterborough. Still, O’Reilly has been to four straight OHL championships, winning three, and now competing with Woolley in a third straight Memorial Cup.
“It feels pretty good,” Woolley laughs humbly. “It’s a long journey to do that, but it feels pretty good to have it happen. It’s unreal.”
Woolley and his London Knights suffered a heartbreaking Memorial Cup loss in 2024, making the final and erasing a 3-0 deficit in the game before the Saginaw Spirit scored with 22 seconds remaining to capture their first ever championship. But Woolley and the Knights were back last year, beating Medicine Hat and securing a Memorial Cup of their own.
Now, Woolley is hungry for more.
“Especially after winning one, you’re just waiting for the next playoffs,” the LA Kings prospect says. “It takes a special group from top to bottom. You can’t just have players, and you can’t just have staff; everyone’s got to mix together, and everyone’s got to like each other. Everyone has to be good at their job, and when that happens, it does you well.”
For the Rangers to do well at this Memorial Cup, beginning May 22, they’ll rely heavily on the experience of O’Reilly and Woolley, who have played a combined 104 playoff games. Woolley relishes the opportunity to help his younger teammates during the tournament.
“It’s not a series where you have to win four, but you might play seven, so you just take it game by game,” Woolley shares. “There are high-pressure moments in this tournament, just like there are throughout the playoffs. It’s important to look back and think of things you’ve done in the past, and it keeps you calm.”
Woolley is one of 12 NHL-drafted players on the Rangers roster, the most of any team at the tournament.
Kitchener’s first game is against the host Kelowna Rockets, and you’ll hear every moment on 570 NewsRadio. Our pregame show begins at 8:30 ET.
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