Hurricanes gearing up for Saskatchewan road trip

By Lethbridge Herald on February 4, 2026.

Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are loading up the bus for a northern Saskatchewan road trip.

Lethbridge will take on the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre before locking horns with the Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre on Saturday.

Hurricane head coach Matt Anholt says Lethbridge will need to play well in order to return home with a successful result.

“It’s going to be a really challenging trip. Two really good teams, I’m sure Saskatoon’s got a little bit of a better taste in their mouth after losing that game to us a week ago now. It’s always fun to get on the road. We got a few Saskatchewan guys and they can see their families. We don’t have a lot of road trips left but when you have them, you want to savor them a little bit and make sure you’re taking the time to be with your teammates.”

Friday’s game will mark a bit of a homecoming for Hurricane forward Oli Chenier. Lethbridge acquired the 18-year-old forward from the Raiders just ahead of the trade deadline last month in exchange for a fourth round pick.

Chenier was originally a third round pick by the Raiders, taken 60th overall in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft. In parts of three seasons in Prince Albert, Chenier skated in 146 regular season games registering 17 goals and 31 assists. He also appeared in 16 playoff games across two seasons with the Raiders tallying just one assist. 

Just ahead of the Christmas break, the WHL conducted a midseason player survey asking several different questions. With nearly 300 players polled, 22.9% voted the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert as the most difficult building to play in as the road team. The rest of the top five included the Angel of the Winds Arena (22.2%, Everett), accesso ShoWare Center (17.3%, Seattle), Toyota Center (5.2%, Tri-City) and Co-op Place ( 4.9%, Medicine Hat).

Chenier says he is looking forward to returning to his old WHL stomping grounds. 

“Obviously it’ll be pretty fun, we’re getting prepared and we know what they’re all about. I think for me it’s just being excited to get back in that building and being on the opposite end. I know the atmosphere in that rink so I’m ready for it.”

Friday will be the fourth and final meeting of the season between the Raiders and Hurricanes. The Raiders have won all three matchups including a 5-1 win over Lethbridge at the Art Hauser Centre on Dec. 13. Prince Albert is ranked second in the CHL Top 10 rankings. 

Lethbridge has posted a 1-2-0-0 record against Saskatoon this season. The Hurricanes defeated the Blades 5-2 at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena last Wednesday as part of their three game winning streak that was snapped by the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday. 

Saskatoon pulled out an 8-3 win over the Hurricanes during their lone meeting at the SaskTel Centre on Dec. 12. 

Since the trade deadline at the start of last month, Lethbridge has not gone on a lengthy road trip as they have played all their games in the province of Alberta. 

Chenier says he is looking forward to getting on the bus with his teammates.

“I think it’s really important as a group just to grow together. We’ve had a bit of a home stand here so to be able to get on the bus, do some fun things on the bus and then get into a new city and stay in the hotel together is pretty awesome to get to glue together even more. Our group has really come together in the past couple weeks now but just getting the opportunity to get out of the hometown here and get into some new places together is always awesome.”

Puck drop on Friday in Prince Albert is scheduled at 6 p.m. Alberta time.