U15AAA Golden Hawks, U18 AAA Hurricanes ready for new seasons

By Lethbridge Herald on September 26, 2025.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes U18AAA hockey team start a new season today knowing with the inexperience they have that wins will have to be earned through hard work this season.

“It’ll be a much older team than it was last year,” said Kevin Higo, U18AAA head coach.

“Last year we had seven 15-year-olds, which is really rare for this level. This year we’ll only have three but like I said we only have four players that have U18AAA experience. So even though we have a big group of 17-year-olds, (a) majority of them will be first year at this level.”

Higo sees  players having to adjust to the speed and strength of the U18 level.

“It’s just going to be an adjustment and one of the things we talked about with the group was they have to respect the level that this league is,” said Higo.

“It’s a good league, it’s a heavy league, it’s a hard league. If you take it for granted, this league will really show you what it’s all about.”

The Canes will have to be a hard-working team that plays as a group and scores and defends by committee.

“I don’t think you’ll see anybody on our team in the top 10 scoring,” said Higo.

“But I think if we play as a 20-man unit every night that’s where we’re gonna get our success.”

The coaching staff was impressed with training camp.

“I think the training camp portion of the season has gone very well,” said Higo.

“We started with a smaller number than we have in the past couple of years. (It) took us a little bit longer than we anticipated to get down to the number 20 but that was  just due to the competition for spots. This would be the first year that we didn’t run into any injuries during training camp, so that was good.”

Lethbridge opens the Alberta Elite Hockey League  season on the road this weekend when they take on Okotoks today followed by a game against the Calgary NorthStars tomorrow with both games starting at 4:45 p.m.

Golden Hawks

The Val Matteotti Golden Hawks U15AAA hockey team hit the ice for a new season last night and will lean on their competitiveness and gradual increased confidence level in practice to help them with their success this season.

“I think the strength is just  going to be the speed and the competitiveness of the overall group collectively ,” said  Charlie Mattersdorfer, Golden Hawks head coach.

The goal is to have a team that is hovering over .500.

“Our days are comprised of getting better each day in hopes of after Christmas, you know, come that midway point, our kids are peaking and they’re in stride getting ready to play some playoff hockey,” said Mattersdorfer.

Matterdorfer and his coaching staff have  had to prepare players for the big jump from peewee to bantam.

“Honestly,  I think making the kids as comfortable as they can be in practice,” said Mattersdorfer.

“Just encourage them to bring their best everyday and be the best person that they can possibly be.”

Mattersdorfer credits the players for the work they have done to make the jump.

 “I think the kids, in general, who are with us now did a good job themselves,” said Mattersdorfer.

“The kids that are coming into hitting for their first time, they’ve  done a really good job and learned that stuff through the spring and the summer.”

Mattersdorfer thought preparation went great ahead of the new season.

“I feel every week they’ve (the players) been making strides (and) becoming closer and closer together as a group,” said Mattersdorfer.

The Golden Hawks opened the  regular season with a  6-4  home loss against the Calgary Cannex Bisons on Friday night.