Mistakes loom large as Hurricanes fall to Seattle

By Lethbridge Herald on January 7, 2026.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes couldn’t overcome a slow start on Wednesday night, falling 6-3 to the Seattle Thunderbirds at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

“There’s lots of good things in that game.” Matt Anholt said in an interview following the game. “Obviously, again, giving up five goals, take away the empty netter. It’s hard to win games when you now we have to score six. Chasing after the first shift, that’s probably my mistake of having guys on the ice that don’t really know what to do on center-ice losses because they’re brand new to the team. We end up getting scored on, so we’re chasing right from the get-go.”

It would take just twelve seconds for the Thunderbirds to open the scoring. Dallas Stars prospect Cameron Schmidt would break through past a Hurricane defender and feed Coster Dunn on a partial two-on-one for Dunn’s 17th goal of the season. Ashton Cumby would pick up the secondary assist.

16-year-old Brock England would be sprung on a breakaway at the 7:37 mark and would make no mistake with his 15th goal of the season, coming unassisted.

Tyden Lafournaise’s fourth goal of the season would bring the Hurricanes within one at the 18:27 mark of the opening frame. The 16-year-old would walk into the left circle and fire a shot over the shoulder of Seattle netminder Marek Sklenicka.

Shots favoured Lethbridge 9-6 after twenty minutes of play.

A short handed goal from Dunn would restore the two goal Seattle lead at the 7:27 mark as the 20-year-old would strike on a partial breakaway for his second of the night. Ethan Bibeau had the only assist on the play.

Just a minute later, Carsen Adair would pull the Hurricanes within one after a good passing play by Lethbridge gave the Clavet, Sask. product a yawning cage for his fourth goal of the season. Lafournaise and Nathan Maloney provided the assists.

A turnover by the Hurricanes in their own end would prove costly as Cameron Schmidt would strike for his 28th goal of the season, outwaiting Hurricane netminder Leif Oaten and tucking the puck around Oaten’s pad for the unassisted goal.

Lafournaise would pull Lethbridge back within one at the 7:27 mark with his second goal of the contest. Owen Berge and Nathan Maloney picked up the helpers.

Wednesday was the first multi-goal career for the young 16-year-old Lafournaise.

“He’s an exceptional young man. Couldn’t say enough good things about the person and what he’s kind of went through in adversity in his young life.” Anholt said about Lafournaise. “Really happy with where his games kind of came along. That’s a big, heavy team. That’s a hard game. For a kid to make plays, but also want the puck, just goes to show how far he’s came. He’s worked at it. He’s done a ton of video with one of our assistant coach Torrin White and done a lot of work off the ice and put a lot of time and effort into his body. I think the upside is extremely high there.

Tai Riley would strike late while Ethan Bibeau iced the game with an empty netter for Seattle.

Chenier, Heger make Hurricane debuts

Lethbridge got a look at a couple of new trade additions as both Oli Chenier and Kyle Heger made their first appearances in Hurricanes sweaters.

Chenier was acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders earlier in the week in exchange for a fourth round pick. Heger was brought in from the Medicine Hat Tigers as part of the Luke Cozens trade announced earlier in the day on Wednesday.

“I think they showed exactly what they are in a good way.” Anholt explained. “There was lots of messiness too, but that’s hard in your first game. You look at the first goal against, both of them don’t really know what to do on center ice losses. Again, that’s on me. Obviously, we haven’t prepared them enough in our short time with them to know what to do. I think you saw lots of good things. I think the way Kyle moved the puck and made some things happen on the power play show that he can do that stuff. Oli had said good things on the bench, you can tell he’s been around good players, good coaches, where he knows how to play and when to say things on the bench and I think he’s gonna be a good glue guy.”

The Hurricanes return to action on Saturday night when they travel to Co-op Place for a matchup with the Medicine Hat Tigers. Puck drops at 7 p.m.