Hurricanes can’t overcome slow start in loss to Tigers

By Lethbridge Herald on October 3, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are still in search of their first win on home ice in the 2025-26 season following a 4-2 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday night.

Hurricane assistant coach Ryan Aasman says there were peaks and valleys for Lethbridge throughout the night.

“Just an inconsistent effort tonight with our group. We obviously didn’t start on time, and then we liked the way that we bounced back in the second half to get a goal and kind of make it close. The second period started on time and had some energy moments for the majority. You get yourself into some penalty trouble, and then you’re getting lots of shots fired at you. The third, we were more on our heels than on our toes, but there’s certain moments where we did push. Maybe our play kind of healed off a bit, but just inconsistent in general tonight.”

Medicine Hat would open the scoring just one minute in as Misha Volotovskii would find the back of the net for his second of the season. Kade Stengrim and Nilopekka Muhonen had the assists.

Noah Davidson would double the Tiger lead at the 5:03 mark as the American forward would strike in transition for his second goal of the season. Liam Ruck and Jonas Woo provided the assists.

The Hurricanes would strike on the power play at the 8:26 mark as Hudson Kibblewhite would collect his own rebound and slide it through Tigers netminder Jordan Switzer for his third goal on the season. Luke Cozens and Logan Wormald were credited with helpers on the play.

Shane Smith would punish his former team with a short handed goal at the 4:08 mark of the second period to draw Lethbridge even. The 20-year-old was sprung on a breakaway from a pass by Luke Cozens and Smith would make no mistake beating Switzer to the blocker side for his fourth goal of the season. Grady Pichette received the secondary helper.

Kadon McCann would restore the Tiger lead just under 10 minutes later. McCann would shake off a Hurricane defender and sneak a shot through Cleaver for his second of the season. Cameron Parr provided the lone helper.

Yaroslav Bryzgalov’s first WHL goal would extend the Tiger lead to two, coming on the power play at the 18:24 mark of the middle frame. Markus Ruck and Kyle Heger assisted on the play.

Koen Cleaver made a career high 40 saves in goal for the Hurricanes, keeping Lethbridge in the game.

Aasman says Cleaver has impressed as the Hurricane starting goalie early in the season.

“He’s a great kid. He gets mentally tougher all the time but his professionalism is what’s driving him, he’s taking care of his practice habits. His off-ice habits are good and now they’re leading into the games. I think he likes to be a busy goaltender. We don’t want to be a busy team in that way, we got to clean a lot of stuff up in front of him but he gets sharper when he gets tested more.”

Jordan Switzer earned the win in goal for Medicine Hat, making 28 saves.

 Skadauskas becomes first Lithuanian born WHL player

It was a monumental night for Hurricanes forward Mykolas Skadauskas who became the first Lithuanian born player to play in the WHL, making his debut on Friday.

Lethbridge selected Skadauskas in the third round of the CHL Import Draft, 174th overall. Skadauskas skated on a line alongside 16-year-old forwards Jake Evans and Tyden Lafournaise.

Aasman says Skadauskas has impressed in practice since arriving in Lethbridge and looked good in his first game.

“The test today was to see if it would transfer into a game and I think it did. I think there’s a lot of innateness to his game with the puck. He always seems to put pucks in better spots, he also wants the puck a lot. I really give him a lot of credit. His first game in, he’s playing with two 16-year-olds and he made them better. I thought they did a good job also competing for him. I thought that line gave us as much as they could tonight and was good.”

The Hurricanes return to action on Sunday afternoon when they take on the Calgary Hitmen at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.