Matt Anholt hired as 16th head coach in Hurricanes history

By Lethbridge Herald on June 25, 2025.

Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD Matt Anholt speaks after getting introduced as the 16th head coach in Lethbridge Hurricanes history, while general manager Peter Anholt and the Canes coaching staff of Ryan Aasman, Torrin White and Matt Weninger look on at VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday morning.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes did not have to look too far down the line to replace Bill Peters as head coach.

Long-time assistant coach Matt Anholt was hired as head coach, and it was officially announced in the Canes dressing room in front of a crowd on Wednesday morning at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

Anholt, who now is the 16th head coach in team history, spent the past seven seasons on the Canes coaching staff and that included the positions as associate head coach and assistant general manager.

“Extremely honoured to be leading the next era of Hurricanes hockey,” said Anholt.

“When you get into coaching, everybody wants to have the opportunity to be a head coach in their life, especially in a prestigious league like the Western Hockey League is and I’m no different. You look back and you realize how lucky you are to be given the opportunity (and) how lucky you are to work with extremely good mentors and leaders over your years.”

Anholt talked about what his strategy will be and how that will be different from past coaches in Bill Peters and Brent Kisio.

“Your team personnel decide how you want to play,” said Anholt.

“I think a good coach can understand what he has on his roster and manage how he wants to play based off what he has in front of him.”

Anholt feels he owes a lot to Kisio and Peters for learning under them and for this opportunity.

“Brent had (an) unbelievable understanding of how to win in this level,” said Anholt.

“Bill was as detailed as it comes in all facets of hockey. It wasn’t just hockey, it was scheduling, it was meals (and) it was how we did our day-to-day (operations) to make it easier on the players.”

 Anholt thinks there are good players returning who he wants to have playing time with the puck.

“We wanna make plays,” said Anholt.

“And if they fail and turn a puck over, then work twice as hard get it back.”

The new Canes head coach wants to place more of a focus on skill and development with the players.

“They’re gonna get better here,” said Anholt.

“They can improve here (and) this a place that they can get better and get opportunity,”

Player retention is another focus of Anholt’s.

“Player retention is at an all-time struggle I would say in the CHL as of today,” said Anholt.

Anholt says he wants to be a coach that is player friendly.

“I want this to be an open situation where the kids can come to me with problems,” said Anholt.

Anholt’s father Peter is the Canes general manager that hired him as head coach.

“You see and you watch how guys around our league interact with your staff and specifically with Matt and how he is respected around the league,”  said Peter.

“And knowing for a fact that if we didn’t hire him, somebody else was and I think that really stood out for me.”

Peter addressed the concern of hiring his son and the outside optics that come along with it.

“That’s always something that you think about, but I think when it’s all said and done, it’s the right thing to do,” said Peter.

There are always the naysayers, there’ s always the optics of this and that.”

Matt helped the Canes to being the fourth-best defensive team and the best penalty killing team in the WHL, which operated at 82.5 per cent last season, and he helped the team qualify for playoffs in all of last six seasons that playoffs were being played.

Matt has international experience, having assistant coached at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in 2024 and 2025, in which he won a gold medal with Canada red in 2025.

He played at the University of Alaska-Anchorage in the NCAA and in junior with the West Kelowna Warriors prior to joining the Canes staff in 2018.

The Canes also announced their coaching staff for the 2025-2026 season which will include the return of assistant coach Ryan Aasman and the additions of Torrin White as an assistant coach and local Matt Weninger as the goaltending coach.