Canes mount massive comeback to defeat Hitmen

By Lethbridge Herald on October 18, 2025.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Hurricanes Grady Pichette shields Harrison Lodewyk of the Calgary Hitmen from the puck during WHL action at VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday night.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Down 6-1 over halfway through the second period, the Lethbridge Hurricanes overcame the big deficit to knock off the Calgary Hitmen 7-6 in  overtime for their first home ice win of the season on Friday night at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

Kai Anderson scored the overtime winner with 21 seconds left in the extra time.

Logan Wormald and Nathan Maloney assisted on the winner.

“It was a pretty  crazy game to say the least,” said Canes forward Shane Smith.

“It says a lot about our group that we don’t give up in here.”

Canes head coach Matt Anholt broke down a key moment in the second period that helped turn the tides in the Canes favour after being down 6-1.

“Gavin Lesiuk stepping up and getting into a little bit of tilt there (in the  second period) really changed the game when it’s all said and done,” said Anholt.

“And then the emotional leaders  that we had on  the bench in third period when we were rallying  was outstanding.”

Calgary’s Landon Amrhein opened the scoring 4:17 into the game from Brandon Gorzynski and Wyatt Pisarczyk.

The Hitmen got out to a 2-0 lead when Andrei Molgachev found the back of the net 13 seconds later.

The Canes Gavin Lesiuk scored his third of the season from Matteo Fabrizi and Will Scott 13:40 into the first period to cut the Hitmen lead to 2-1.

It was a 1:20 later when Axel Hurtig found the back of the net to give Calgary a 3-1 lead.

Lethbridge product Rylan Ng and Keaton Jundt notched the assists on Hurtig’s marker.

Gorzynski gave the Hitmen a 4-1 lead with a 1:53 to go in the opening frame from Kale Dach.

The Hitmen increased their lead to 5-1 8:34 into the middle frame when Koy Funk scored his first goal of the year from Shaun Hildebrandt and Luc Trevors.

Calgary went up 6-1 thanks to a Gorzynski powerplay goal at the 9:42 mark of the second period.

Dach and Ethan Moore assisted on Gorzynski’s second goal of the evening.

After that goal is where Lethbridge started their monstrous comeback.

Jack Toogood scored his first goal as a Cane at the 12:23 mark of the second period from Smith, while Logan Wormald scored with 31 seconds to go in the second period to make the score 6-3 at the intermission.

Luke Cozens brought the Canes to within two goals 32 seconds into the third period and then over two minutes later brought Lethbridge to within a goal to make the score 6-5.

Wormald and Easton Daneault assisted on Cozens first goal, while Wormald and Tomas Malinek got the helpers on the second goal.

Smith then tied the game at the 4:53 mark of the final frame from  Malinek.

“It was incredible,” said Smith, on what it meant as a 20-year-old to get the tying goal.

“Malie made a  pretty good play on a 3-on-1 and I just put (it) in the net. But yeah, it was one I’ll definitely remember as a pretty surreal moment.”