Hitmen Stay Perfect: Sanderson Hat Trick Beats Lethbridge
By Jason LaFace | Alberta Radio
Sunday, October 4, 2026 — VisitLethbridge.com Arena
Saturday night in Lethbridge, the Calgary Hitmen chased the game for two periods, then took over in the third. Final: Hitmen 7, Hurricanes 4. Carter Sanderson buried a hat trick — his first in the WHL — and Calgary is 4-0 for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
This is the kind of junior hockey result Alberta Radio writes for: a stamped final, a prospect lighting it up on the road, and a southern Alberta barn that still packs a punch on Saturday night.
How the scoreboard flipped
Lethbridge jumped out 2-0 in the first on goals from Kai Anderson and Easton Daneault. Sanderson answered on the power play, then Wyatt Pisarczyk tied it 2-2 before the intermission.
The second period was a trade: Logan Stuart put the Hurricanes back up, Sanderson tied it again, Owen Berge restored the Lethbridge lead, and Andrei Molgachev evened it 4-4 late in the frame. Both sides finished with 33 shots.
Then Calgary's special teams took the building. Brennan Brown tipped a Julien Maze point shot at 1:53 of the third for the Hitmen's first lead, 5-4 — extending Brown's goal streak to four games. After Berge took a five-minute major kneeing penalty and a game misconduct, Blake Vanek — in his season debut — one-timed a power-play goal to make it 6-4. Sanderson sealed it with a shorthanded empty-netter with 1:33 left, completing the hat trick and finishing with four points.
Hitmen went 3-for-4 on the power play. Lethbridge went 0-for-4. Three stars: Sanderson, Daneault, and Charlie Kresl (three assists).
The read
The Hurricanes dropped to 1-4-0-0 and finished a three-game home stand 1-2. They open a U.S. Division road trip Wednesday in Tri-City. Fair enough — early October is long, and a 40th-anniversary alumni night deserved a better finish than a special-teams collapse.
For Calgary, the message is sharper. Four straight wins, a Penguins prospect lighting it up, and a road barn where they trailed three different times and still took the two points. Sanderson now has seven points in two games. That is the kind of early-season pace that travels.
What's next
The Hitmen host the Regina Pats this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. MT at Scotiabank Saddledome — first Sunday Funday of the season. Alberta Radio will watch that one too. For Saturday, the ledger is clean: Hitmen 7, Hurricanes 4. Final.
Source: Os1ris News Aggregation
www.albertaradio.ca
