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Recap: Wranglers give up two shorthanded goals in Halloween loss to Laval

Photo credit: Photo Credit: Angela Burger/Calgary Wranglers

By Paige Siewert

Nov 1, 2026, 11:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 1, 2026, 03:29 EDT

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The Calgary Wranglers wrapped up their two game series against the Laval Rocket this week with an early afternoon game on Halloween. It was a themed game with fans wearing costumes, giveaways, and trick-or-treating in the concourse. The Wranglers got on the board first off a goal from Alex Nylander then three consecutive fights broke out in 40 seconds and the Rocket ended up scoring twice shorthanded. Calgary was low on shots in this game and ended up falling 2-1 and splitting the series.

Lineup notes

As expected, the Wranglers lost a couple of players between last game and this game due to call-ups to the Flames. Arsenii Sergeev was called up to backfill Devin Cooley, who is out with a week-to-week injury and William Stromgren was called up to fill in for Brennan Othmann, who is out with a day-to-day injury. Friday also cleared up some details on the injury to Connor Zary. He underwent knee surgery on Thursday and is listed now as week-to-week as he recovers.

The Wranglers already called up Alex Campbell to have an extra body for Zary but they also made a couple more calls to Rapid City with the Sergeev and Stromgren developments. Owen Say was called up and was the expected call-up in net, but instead of the forward, they opted to call up Kyle Walker on the back end instead. Wranglers opted to skate 11 forwards and an extra defenceman for this game.

Wranglers lines

Dryden Hunt – Tyson Gross – Rory Kerins

Alex Nylander – Ben Jones – Luke Philp

Sam Morton – Carter Wilkie – Andrew Basha

Nikita Pavlychev – Will Dineen

Abram Wiebe – Hunter Brzustewicz

Axel Hurtig – Mike Benning

Jake Livingstone – Brayden Pachal

Kent Anderson

Kirill Zarubin

Owen Say (back-up)

Game at a glance

The goaltending match-up for this game swapped from last game with Kirill Zarubin getting the start for Calgary and Kevin Mandolese getting the start for Laval. Calgary needed to penalty kill early due to a delay of game call against Abram Wiebe at 1:38. The Rocket ended up getting most of the chances through the first half of the period, especially with another penalty against Calgary for roughing at 7:41.

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Solid save from Kirill Zarubin early in this game

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6:15 PM · Oct 31, 2026

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At 12:08, the Rocket were called for holding the stick, then Dryden Hunt and Alex Belzile got tagged for roughing and Rory Kerins ended up serving an extra call against Dryden Hunt for interference. There wasn’t much even strength time to get things going through the first period and these teams were scoreless after 20 minutes. The Wranglers were outshot 6-2 through the opening frame.

The Wranglers needed to penalty kill again early in the second period when Jake Livingstone was called for holding the stick just 18 seconds into the frame. Calgary killed this off, then at the six minute mark, Alex Nylander scored his third goal in as many games off a set up from Luke Philp. Mike Benning earned the secondary assist.

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Alex Nylander gets the Wranglers on the board for his third goal in three games.

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7:11 PM · Oct 31, 2026

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At 9:53, Axel Hurtig and Tyler Thorpe dropped the gloves to get their teams going. Hurtig seemed to fare better in this fight.

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Axel Hurtig vs. Tyler Thorpe #hockeyfights

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8:02 PM · Oct 31, 2026

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Three seconds later off the draw, Brayden Pachal and Braden Hache fought in what felt like a repercussion fight from Pachal’s big hit in Thursday’s game.

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Brayden Pachal vs. Braden Hache #hockeyfights

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8:05 PM · Oct 31, 2026

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37 seconds later, Dryden Hunt and Alex Belzile fought for the third fight in 40 seconds.

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Dryden Hunt vs. Alex Belzile #hockeyfights

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8:07 PM · Oct 31, 2026

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Hurtig was asked about this fight and said,

“I thought he had a bad hit at the end of the first and then as a team you want to make a statement. You’re not going to come in here and run around. So it was a good time to go at him. Trying to get the guys going.”

He continued about the fights that followed and said,

“It was something. It was pretty tight in the penalty box there when everyone got in. But it’s good to see the guys sticking up for each other.”

After these fights, there were more penalty calls, with Jared Davidson and Ben Jones getting called for roughing at 12:51, then Ben Berard getting called for interference at 13:18. The Wranglers gave up their first goal of the game when Laval was able to spring Jared Davidson on his way out of the penalty box. This goal came at 14:59 and was shorthanded for Laval.

The Wranglers got another power play at 15:44 when Mike Benning was called for cross-checking, Braden Hache was called for roughing and Sasha Pastujov was called for goaltender interference. There were better chances for Calgary to take the lead on this one, with chances from Dryden Hunt and Rory Kerins. At the end of an eventful period in the penalty box, the Wranglers and Rocket were tied 1-1 and shots were up to 18-9 for Laval.

It was all the Rocket to start the third period and the Wranglers weren’t able to get a shot on goal in the opening minutes. At 7:03, Laval was called for hooking and when a loose puck came back into the zone, Kirill Zarubin went out to play it and it deflected off Xavier Simoneau and into the back of the net on his clearing attempt. Short handed goal number two for Laval.

The Wranglers stayed at nine shots for most of the third then at 17:40, they pulled Zarubin for the extra attacker for an offensive zone faceoff. Shortly after, they called a timeout and before time ran out in this game, only Hunter Brzustewicz and Alex Nylander managed shots on goal for the home team. Calgary fell 2-1 and were out-shot 28-11. The only Wrangler who cracked the three stars was Jake Livingstone, who was named as the third star of the game.

Scoring stat summary

Mike Benning – 1A

Luke Philp – 1A

Alex Nylander – 1G

Highlights

Next up

The Wranglers have just under a week before their next series where they will travel to Loveland, CO, to play the Colorado Eagles. It’ll be a back to back series on Nov. 6 and 7 with a start time of 8:05 p.m. on Friday and 7:05 p.m. on Saturday ABT.

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