Canes blank Hitmen to open series

By Lethbridge Herald on April 10, 2025.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes took Game 1 of their second round WHL playoff series by a  4-0 score over the Calgary Hitmen on Thursday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

The Hurricanes opened up the scoring 4:25 into the first when Kooper Gizowski took advantage of a bad clearing pass from Hitmen goalie Daniel Hauser and deposited it into an empty net for his second goal of the postseason.

Brayden Edwards gave the Canes a 2-0 lead when he quickly one-timed in a Luke Cozens pass from behind the net 13:14 into the first period.

“We’ve played these guys lots this year but I think that just kinda settle the nerves … down and just let us go  and play freely a little bit,” said Matt Anholt, Canes associate head coach on how the team rode the momentum on the two early goals.

Logan Wormald also notched an assist.

Wormald capitalized on his own rebound four minutes into the second period on the powerplay  to give the Canes a 3-0 lead.

Miguel Marques and Chadwick assisted on Wormald’s first of the playoffs.

Chadwick walked into the slot and scored Lethbridge’s second powerplay of the game 14:52 into the third period to give his team a 4-0 lead.

Marques and Edwards drew the assists on Chadwick’s goal.

Anholt considered Canes goalie Jackson Unger outstanding on the evening.

“Just overall very sticky (and) not a lot of stuff around his feet,” said Anholt.

“I thought we did a really good job in front of him blocking shots when we needed to.”

Calgary threw everything they had at Jackson Unger in the third period and outshot them 13-1 in the process.

“They were definitely pushing,” said Anholt.

“They were trying to get back in the game and we were playing pretty safe I would say. I think We had a couple other looks too that didn’t hit the net but obviously made good on our one shot on net.”

Lethbridge went 1-for-3 on the powerplay and Calgary went 0-for-4.

Calgary outshot the Canes 33-24 in the game.

Game 2 goes Saturday.

“I’m sure they’ll make some adjustments in their five-on-five game and as well as on their special teams and we gotta be able to weather the storm early and slowly chip away at the game on Saturday,” said Anholt.

For Saturday’s  game story please visit https://www.lethbridgeherald.com.