Canes named finalists for WHL awards

By Lethbridge Herald on April 4, 2025.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Lethbridge Hurricanes players and their front office have made the finalists lists for the WHL’s annual year-end awards.

The Canes find themselves in the running for the WHL Business Award for the fourth time in the last seven seasons and won the award in the 2019-2020 season.

“The Canes saw a growth in attendance for the third straight season, including a 26 percent increase on Saturday after instituting 6 p.m. game times,” as read in the release.

“Lethbridge continued to strengthen their community partnerships with local businesses, non-profit charities and Lethbridge Minor Hockey during the 2024-2025 season. After collaborating with minor hockey on branding, the Hurricanes achieved a 31% increase in merchandise sales from the previous year. Additionally, the club helped contribute over $175,000 to

local charities this season.”

The Canes also saw an increase in their social media and digital content presence.

Forward Shane Smith is up for the Humanitarian of the Year Award for a second consecutive season for his efforts with causes such as the one he created in Shane Scores for Maia Campaign, where $25 was donated to  the Canadian cytomegalovirus (CMV) Foundation  from every point he collected in honour of his niece Maia who was diagnosed with the disease from birth.

Smith tacked on 75 hours of volunteer time in the community with various sporting and other organizations in the community.

Brayden Yager is a finalist for the Most Sportsmanlike Player for a third consecutive year.

“The 20-year-old is one of only seven skaters to earn the award multiple times and could become the first to complete the major award hat trick,” as read in the release.

“Yager averaged more than a point per game for a fourth straight season after putting up 25 goals and 57 assists for 82 points in 54 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Moose Jaw Warriors while only getting dinged with 22 penalty minutes.”

He was the leading point getter for the Canes after joining them in December and  his points per game of 1.43 was good enough for ninth among WHL skaters.

 All-Stars Nominations

Yager was named to  the Second All-Star team and Captain Noah Chadwick landed on the First All-Star team.