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Recap: Wranglers fall in back and forth battle against Condors in their first loss of the season

Photo credit: Photo Credit: Angela Burger/Calgary Wranglers

By Paige Siewert

Oct 12, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 12, 2026, 01:19 EDT

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The Calgary Wranglers wrapped up their weekend series against the Bakersfield Condors for an early afternoon game on Sunday. Calgary won their last meeting 2-1 and were looking to keep their three game streak alive. It was a scoring battle in this game that started with Ben Jones lighting the lamp in the first then the Condors coming back with two of their own. In the second, Rory Kerins and Sam Morton both got their first goals of the season to give Calgary a lead before Bakersfield evened it up once again. Quinn Hutson got two goals by the end of the second period and in the third, the Wranglers were unable to get that last equalizer despite a two goal effort from Jones. The Wranglers fell for the first time this season in a 5-4 final.

Wranglers lines

Rory Kerins – Ben Jones – Alex Nylander

Dryden Hunt – Connor Zary – William Stromgren

Sam Morton – Tyson Gross – Luke Philp

Alex Gallant – Carter Wilkie – Andrew Basha

Abram Wiebe – Mike Benning

Jake Livingstone – Hunter Brzustewicz

Axel Hurtig – Brayden Pachal

Kirill Zarubin

Game at a glance

The Wranglers rolled with the same lines this game as they did on Friday and just made a change in net for Zarubin to get the start. The Condors also swapped goaltenders, having Connor Ungar start. The Wranglers were ready to go right from puck drop and Connor Zary put up a wraparound attempt in the first minute of play.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

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Sneaky wraparound chance for Connor Zary here in the first minute of the game. #Flames

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7:10 PM · Oct 11, 2026

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The Condors would be called for another penalty a few minutes later when Viljami Marjala was whistled for slashing at 8:21. Calgary rolled with the same power play unit that scored to start this power play again, consisting of Ben Jones, William Stromgren, Andrew Basha, Tyson Gross and Hunter Brzustewicz. They didn’t put up any shots on this power play and Bakersfield tried to get out of their own zone more through the second half of the period.

At 18:50, the Condors had zone pressure and Daniel D’Amato was able to come up the slot with a wrist shot over Zarubin’s blocker side to make it a 1-1 game. Shortly after this goal, William Stromgren was looking for another set up and got the puck up to Connor Zary for another high danger scoring chance.

Calgary tried to get something going again in the offensive zone and when Abram Wiebe tried to pass over to Hunter Brzustewicz, he turned over the puck and caused a rush the other way. Wiebe was able to make up for it by breaking up the play before the Condors skater could get a shot off. However, shortly after, Aku Raty took a shot that Zarubin just missed the glove on and got Bakersfield their first lead of the game.

Less than 30 seconds later, the Wranglers had another chance on the power play to try and even things up when Ethan Keppen was called for tripping. William Stromgren had the best chance on this man advantage but his shot went just wide. The penalty and the period ended and the Condors had a 2-1 edge over the Wranglers. Shots after 20 minutes were 9-6 Calgary.

It was all Wranglers to start the second period and Connor Zary had another couple of high danger scoring chances. The Wranglers were able to even things up at 6:21, when Alex Nylander got in deep in the zone and waited for Rory Kerins to set him up for his goal of the season. Abram Wiebe picked up the secondary assist on this tally.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

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A patient play by Alex Nylander results in Rory Kerins' first goal of the season

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8:12 PM · Oct 11, 2026

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28 seconds later, the Wranglers found the back of the net again when Sam Morton’s line came up on the rush and he was able to chip the puck in for his first goal of the season as well. Assists went to Luke Philp and Tyson Gross.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

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Blink and you'll miss it. Sam Morton gives the Wranglers the lead with his first goal of the season

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8:14 PM · Oct 11, 2026

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Calgary’s 3-2 lead only lasted about two minutes, then Quinn Hutson got a far side shot past Zarubin at 8:54 to even up the scoring once again. Scoring went quiet for quite a few minutes and at 17:50, the Wranglers were called for their first penalty of the game for a too many men bench minor that Connor Zary ended up serving. By 18:42, the puck was in the back of the Wranglers net with another marker from Quinn Hutson scored in a very similar fashion to his first goal of the game.

The Wranglers tried to get another one on the board before the end of the period and Rory Kerins and Sam Morton had the best chance with a scramble play in the neutral zone that was narrowly stopped. At the end of the middle frame, the Wranglers were down 4-3 but ahead 26-14 in shots.

The Condors came out with a few shots on Zarubin in the third period but at 2:45, the Wranglers got a delayed penalty call that they pulled their netminder for to get a few extra seconds with the extra attacker. At 3:01, Connor Clattenburg took a seat in the box for holding and the Wranglers got their four power play chance of the game. At 3:57, Bakersfield took it the other way and Simon Tassy got out on a shorthanded breakaway that he scored on. Tassy picked the same low glove side Hutson scored from and made it a 5-3 game for the visitors.

There were a few minutes after this goal without a stoppage as the Wranglers were making a noticeable push to get themselves within a closer distance in the score. At 8:46, the Wranglers found that marker with Ben Jones’ second goal of the game. Abram Wiebe and Alex Nylander also picked up their second assists of the game on this marker.

Jones nearly had his third of the game shortly after this goal. At 11:19, Alex Nylander was sent to the box for high-sticking, then at the whistle to solidify this call, there was a scrum behind the Wranglers net and Axel Hurtig and Connor Clattenburg were called for offsetting roughing minors. Calgary ended up shorthanded. At the end of these penalties, Dryden Hunt was called for tripping at the Condors’ end and the Wranglers’ penalty kill needed to continue to be strong. Rory Kerins finished up this kill with a big block in the Wranglers’ zone.

At the 19 minute mark, the Wranglers pulled Zarubin for the extra attacker and Dryden Hunt played goalie during a Condors chance to block an empty net attempt. The Wranglers fought to the last second but could not get that last equalizing goal. They fell 5-4 for their first loss of the season and shots finished 36-26 for the Wranglers. Ben Jones was the only Wrangler on the three stars and earned the second star of the game.

Abram Wiebe was one of the three guys who had multi-point games. The others include Alex Nylander and Ben Jones. Wiebe’s points were the first of his professional career and he spoke to the media post-game about his performance. Wiebe said:

“Yeah, it feels pretty good. Kind of nice to get that out of the way. Obviously, the first one was kind of a fluke. Just kind of getting it off the wall and then Nyl’s (Alex Nylander) got it, made a really nice pass to Ror (Rory Kerins). Then the second one was a great finish by Jonesy (Ben Jones) so it’s pretty cool to get that out of that way.”

Wiebe went on to talk about the type of player he’d like to be this season and said:

“I think just be a person that the coaches can trust and put on the ice in all situations. I think that kinda starts in the D-zone. I’m just kind of being reliable and kind of earning my way from there.”

Scoring stat summary

Abram Wiebe – 2A

Rory Kerins – 1G

William Stromgren – 1A

Ben Jones – 2G

Tyson Gross – 1A

Luke Philp – 1A

Sam Morton – 1G

Andrew Basha – 1A

Alex Nylander – 2A

Highlights

Next up

The Wranglers have wrapped up their season opening homestand and will go on the road next week for three games in California. Their next game will be on Wed., Oct. 14, against the San Jose Barracuda. Then they’ll play the back half of that series on Friday before going and playing Bakersfield again on Saturday. Their next game will be an early game with an 11:30 a.m. MT start time on Wednesday.

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