2025 Lethbridge Sports Year in Review

By Lethbridge Herald on January 2, 2026.

Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Another year has ended in the Lethbridge sports scene but their were many key victories  and feel-good moments to be celebrated in the calendar year of 2025.

Cougars win first-ever provincial title

The Catholic Central Cougars varsity boys volleyball team won the program’s first-ever provincial championship in late November.

“It means a lot,” said Matt Hammel, Cougars head coach.

“I’ve had a couple of the boys since Grade 10, a bunch (of) others from last year and we’ve been just steadily improving as the years have gone on. So, yeah we were thrilled to close it out to cap off a really good season.”

The provincial win capped off a season where CCH had a record of 35 match wins and six match losses through the regular season, zones and provincials and maintained the top ranking for 4A schools.

Father-son duos make history

Two father-son duos made history in the South Zone hockey circles in January when they were the  first four-man system to officiate an elite hockey game.

The fathers-son duos of Brent and Ryan Woods and Gabe and Ty Mabin worked the Lethbridge Lightning Senior AA hockey game together.

“It’ll be a lot of fun working with not only Ryan but a good buddy of mine Gabe, and I really enjoy working with Ty as well, he’s developed as a pretty good young referee,” said Brent, in the January interview.

“Live in the moment, enjoy these guys and enjoy my dad’s time while I have it,” said Ty, on what he wanted to cherish in that game.

Eagles pull off three peat  

The Immanuel Christian High School  Eagles varsity girls basketball team pulled off the provincial championship three-peat for the program in March. 

The then #2 ranked Eagles defeated the #1 ranked Calgary Christian 59-29 in the final, which ended  the provincial championship .

“It’s pretty surreal,”  said Mike Greeno, Eagles head coach after the win.

“Coming off of last year, we lost some pretty key pieces that were big contributors on that provincial title team. And so coming into this season we had a lot of empty roles that needed to be filled in order for us to be successful. And just seeing how far our team came from when we started in late November to where we finished off this weekend is just incredible to see.”

ICHS went undefeated through the provincial championship tournament. 

Sheen makes RMLL History

Local lacrosse phenom Austin Sheen made history with the  Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League’s Junior B Tier II Southern Alberta Chaos last spring.

Sheen reached 304  regular season points (141 goals, 163 assists) with a goal in a May game to become the top regular season points leader  for the league in just 49 career regular season games played .

He broke the  previous  record of 303 points that was set by the Vermilion Roar’s Kegan Bowman at least 10 years ago in 71 games.

“Every year I found new ways to shoot or just trying  to change-up different things, or watch videos on older games and see what I could do better and every year my point total (has) always gone up a little bit ,” said Sheen.

Iwaasa captures double gold

Local racquetball star Coby Iwaasa had a successful year on the court as he conquered the feat of winning  double gold  at the Racquetball Canada National Championships in both the Men’s Open Singles and Men’s Open Doubles divisions.

Iwaasa took down defending six-time champion Sam Murray for the Open Singles Division title.

“Sometimes when you lose to the same guy over and over and over, it can be a little bit of a confidence shaker,” said Iwaasa.

“ When it finally came together, it was just a huge relief  to know that  finally everything I put into this game, everything I did for myself and all the help I received paid off.”

Iwaasa and Kurtis Cullen won the Men’s Open Doubles title in four games .

Iwaasa won a bronze medal in the Mixed Doubles event for Team Canada with playing partner Frédérique Lambert at Iwaasa’s first World Games last summer in China. 

The World Games is a competition that includes  multiple sports and disciplines that do not fall under an Olympic  Games programme.

 LCI, Winston Churchill rugby teams capture provincial championships

The LCI Rams varsity girls rugby team pulled off the repeat as provincial champions last June when they defeated the Raymond Comets, who they beat for a provincial championship in the prior season, 17-12 in the final on home turf.

“It’s probably what we would’ve wished for from the beginning of the year,” said Samantha Wiersma, LCI head coach.

“ I think we’re the top two (teams) in the province, so I think it’s a pretty accurate representation, and so for us to come away with the win and go undefeated this year, it was extra special.”

The Winston Churchill Griffins varsity girls also took home provincial gold for the 3A level that same weekend after knocking off W.R Myers 46-5 in the final.

“They just really hit  their stride starting  with zones and this weekend and it’s just been really awesome to see them grow,” said Shannon Court, WCHS head coach. 

Canada Summer Games

Raymond’s Pippa Gibb helped Team Alberta’s women’s basketball repeat as champions at the Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, NFLD.

“We just really wanted to win,” said Gibb.

“We made sure we locked down on defence and I think that led to our offence.”

Alberta defeated Ontario 62-54 in the gold medal game which capped off a tournament that they went 5-1 in.

Donna Branch, who is an assistant coach with the University of Lethbridge’s women’s basketball team, was a part of the Team Alberta women’s basketball team as manager.

Team Alberta’s men’s volleyball team, who had Picture Butte’s Corny Bergen on the roster , struck gold while U of L track and field athlete Jinaye Shomachuk won gold in Women’s Hammer Throw and silver in discus at the Canada Summer Games.