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Wranglers Recap: Alex Young scores Calgary’s first and only pre-season goal in 3-1 loss

Photo credit: Photo Credit: Darren Scott Francis/Abbotsford Canucks

By Paige Siewert

Sep 29, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 28, 2026, 23:34 EDT

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After a Sunday evening shutout for the Calgary Wranglers, they were looking for a better result to build their confidence in their last pre-season game. They played the Abbotsford Canucks once again with a more stripped down lineup of guys who will mostly make up some of their depth options. Leaders in this game were Alex Gallant, Sam Morton and Will Dineen, sporting letters. The Canucks got things going in this game first and the Wranglers got their first of the pre-season from Alex Young in the second period. This ended up being Calgary’s only goal and they fell 3-1 in the back end of this series.

Lineup notes

In – Alex Young, Alexander Campbell, Ryan Hofer, Tyson Feist, Kent Anderson, Hunter Donohoe, Ryder Boulton, Quinn Olson

Out – Alex Nylander, Rory Kerins, William Stromgren, Dryden Hunt, Ben Jones, Hunter Brzustewicz, Mike Benning, Jake Livingstone

Wranglers lines

Alex Young – Jonathan Castagna – Andrew Basha

Carter Wilkie – Sam Morton – Will Dineen

Alexander Campbell – Tyson Gross – Alex Gallant

Ryan Hofer – Quinn Olson – Ryder Boulton

Abram Wiebe – Tyson Feist

Axel Hurtig – Kent Anderson

Hunter Donohoe – Kyle Walker

Kirill Zarubin (starter)

Arsenii Sergeev (back-up)

Game at a glance

Both teams swapped their goaltenders for this game with Kirill Zarubin getting the start for the Wranglers and Aku Koskenvuo starting for the Canucks. Abbotsford got the scoring going early in this game again when Vilmer Alriksson broke into the zone and beat Zarubin on a wrist shot. This was the first shot of the game. The Wranglers settled in after this goal and tried for a few chances of their own. The top two lines were testing the Canucks netminder early but it was the home team that would light the lamp for the second time.

At 10:22, Braeden Cootes snuck the puck in short side and put Abbotsford up 2-0. 10 seconds after this goal, Calgary was called for the first penalty of the game when Abram Wiebe was called for cross-checking. They managed to kill this penalty off and the rest of the opening 20 was played with minimal stoppages. At the end of the first period, the Canucks were up 2-0 and ahead 13-7 in shots.

The second period continued with back and forth chances for each side and when a stoppage hit at 11:15, the Canucks swapped out their goaltenders to get Mitchell Weeks some reps. Just over a minute and a half after the goalie change, the Wranglers netted their first goal of the pre-season with a goal from Alex Young. Jonathan Castagna managed to settle the puck from Kyle Walker and it led to this goal for Calgary at 12:50.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

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Alex Young scores the Wranglers' first preseason goal. Jonathan Castagna had a hand in this by batting down the puck and maintaining possession.

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9:19 PM · Sep 28, 2026

Scoring stat summary

Alex Young – 1G

Jonathan Castagna – 1A

Kyle Walker – 1A

Standouts

On the back end, Abram Wiebe was very strong in this game. He was physical, quarterbacked the power play and had a few decent looks from the point including a shot late in the game. Axel Hurtig also led the way in shot attempts for Calgary with three. The natural centres stood up on the front end with Sam Morton leading the team as one of the more experienced skaters in this game.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

·Follow

Good recovery here. Sam Morton tries a shot, prevents a breakaway the other way and Carter Wilkie gets a scoring chance as a result.

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9:17 PM · Sep 28, 2026

Next up

This game wrapped up their two game pre-season series and the Wranglers and Canucks will play for real in a game that counts in Calgary’s home opener on Friday. This will be the final season opener for the Wranglers in the dome and puck drop goes at 7:00 p.m. MT.

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