Hurricanes face challenging B.C. trip

By Lethbridge Herald on November 10, 2025.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes begin the B.C. Division leg of their seven-game road trip tomorrow and know they will have to stick to a simple game plan if they want to find the win column.

“It’s playing a simple, organized game, … having good structure defensively, making sure that we’re managing the puck, and getting good goaltending and then getting timely scoring,” said Matt Anholt, Hurricanes head coach.

“When we go into those rinks, on the road especially, there’s no one really that  we need to impress. Let’s just go and play a greasy road game and hopefully we can come out with more points than not.”

The Canes will have the tall task of defending the Western Hockey League’s top point getter in the Kamloops Blazers JP Hurlbert who has 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists) as of Monday.

Hurlbert and teammate Jordan Keller are tied for third in league scoring with 13 goals a piece.

Lethbridge will also be facing other elite players such as the Kelowna Rockets Tij Iginla and the Vancouver Giants Cameron Schmidt.

“They’re all elite players,” said Anholt.

“So it’s important that everybody knows when you’re on the ice with those guys that you gotta manage the puck correctly and you can’t let them get behind you and you gotta take away their time and space.”

Anholt talked about how he felt about the team’s confidence heading out on the road considering they are in the basement of the Eastern Conference standing with a 5-14-0-1 record.

“It’s OK,” said Anholt.

“I wouldn’t say that our guys are fragile in anyway shape or form regardless of where we are in the standings. I think our older guys have done a great job of keeping our guys up.”

Anholt wants the team to hold the same structure during the trip.

“Just making sure that we try to keep our structure the same on a day-to- day basis and have some fun, play some games on the bus on the way out  there and do some team builders,” Anholt.

“You don’t really  want the guys just to be laying around sitting  on their hotel beds all  the time. It’s a fun time for the boys to be hanging with each other and we’ll make sure that we can  have a good trip.”

When talking about the trip, captain Logan Wormald said it will be different for a lot of guys.

“We just take (it) one game at a time and build off each game,” said Wormald.

This will be the last B.C. trip for the Langley, B.C. product  with it being his last season in the WHL.

“ Super excited, obviously, and I know we got a bunch of guys from B.C., so I’m sure it will be fun for them too,” said Wormald.

Wormald will have lots of family and friends in the crowd.

 “Excited to perform for them and obviously try to get those wins,” said Wormald.

Lethbridge opens the B.C. swing against the Penticton Vees tomorrow night at 7:35 p.m., followed by visiting the Kelowna Rockets on Friday night (8 p.m.) and  the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday night (8 p.m.).

They then head to the west coast to face the Victoria Royals next Tuesday at 8 p.m. and the Vancouver Giants next Wednesday at 8 p.m. and conclude the trip on Nov. 21 at the Prince George Cougars at 8 p.m.

The Hurricanes kicked off the road trip with a 5-2 loss to the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday night.

Oaten

Hurricanes back-up goalie Leif Oaten backstopped Canada Red  to their first ever gold medal  at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge with a 38-save performance as they defeated Canada White 6-3 in the final game on Saturday in Truro, N.S.

Smith traded

The Hurricanes pulled off blockbuster trade on Sunday when they sent 20-year-old forward Shane Smith and  WHL playing rights to Vojtech Cihar to the Kelowna Rockets for 2006-born forward Kayden Longley, prospect Grayson Bauer and multiple draft picks.