Hurricanes can’t hold off Wheat Kings late

By Lethbridge Herald on January 21, 2026.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes deserved a better fate than what they got on Wednesday night.

The Hurricanes led after the first and second period but couldn’t hold Brandon in the final stanza in a 5-4 loss at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

In a post game interview on Lethbridge radio broadcast on 106.7 Rock, Hurricane assistant coach Ryan Aasman says there were plenty of positives for Lethbridge.

“I liked our game. I thought we were really good. I think the whole night we were competitive and in a game. Obviously we give up some chances here and there, but I thought (Koen Cleaver) was there to make some stops for us when we needed it, but I thought we skated a lot better tonight and we were on our toes.”

Lethbridge would strike twice in the first period with a pair of power play goals coming just a minute apart. Owen Berge’s 11th of the season would open the scoring followed by the ninth of the year off the tape of Kai Anderson.

Joby Baumuller would pull the Wheat Kings within one with his 31st goal of the season at the 11:58 mark of the opening frame.

The two teams would trade goals in the second period. Cameron Allard would tie the game with his third of the season at the 6:10 mark but Lethbridge would respond at the 15:46 mark with a goal that was originally credited to Gavin Lesiuk, but the scoring was changed to credit Will Scott with his third of the season.

Entering play on Wednesday, Lethbridge was a perfect 7-0-0-0 on the season when holding a lead after two periods of play.

Brandon would tie the game just three minutes into the third period as Nicholas Johnson would tuck home his 13th goal of the season.

Ten minutes later, Luke Mistelbacher would give Brandon the lead on a breakaway making no mistake for his 23rd of the season. Ethan Young would get the lone assist, recording his first point in his WHL debut for the Wheat Kings.

Mistelbacher would add an empty netter for Brandon with just under a minute to go.

Lethbridge would get a bright spot at the 19:29 mark as affiliate player Cohen Pentney scored his first WHL goal. Will Scott and Andrew Petruk provided the assists for the Hurricanes.

“Cohen just as a person is high character.” Aasman explained. “He’s probably going to be a captain here at one point in his career. You’ve seen it by the shifts. He just gets told to go and then he works. He skates, he hounds pucks, he has a stick on pucks. He’s looking to angle guys. He’s constantly looking to get a puck touch. He’s been like that since we drafted him and even when we were scouting him, he’s always been like that.”

Lethbridge returns to action on Friday night when they welcome the Regina Pats to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.