A little bit of everything for the Hurricanes

By Dale Woodard on March 16, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDsports@lethbridgeherald.com

Everything and the kitchen sink.

In a nutshell, that’s what was thrown the Lethbridge Hurricanes way last weekend in a three-day, three-game set with the Red Deer Rebels.

Quick starts, spotted leads, flurries of goals — both for and against — comebacks, a power play that clicked seven times in three games and then on Sunday hiccupped just long enough to give up two shorthanded goals during the same infraction, including the game-winner.

Amid the twist and turns, however, was the Canes first two wins of the season as Lethbridge rallied to defeat Red Deer 7-4 Friday night in Red Deer and 4-3 in overtime Saturday at the Enmax Centre before dropping the weekend finale 5-1 Sunday in Red Deer.

In that time, the Hurricanes power play went 7-for-18, but surrendered two shorties Sunday that also served as the dagger, scored six unanswered goals Friday after falling behind 4-1 8:12 after the opening faceoff, rallied from a 3-1 deficit Saturday before winning in overtime — on a power play goal, of course — before Sunday’s loss in Red Deer.

Thrown in among the weekend mishmash was Chase Wheatcroft’s first multi-goal game, Reid MacKay’s first WHL point and a bunch of other stats and figures that probably fell by the wayside.

Whew!

In the end, it was a 2-1 weekend that improves the Hurricanes to 2-3-0-0 as the team gets ready for another three-game showdown Friday through Sunday against the Calgary Hitmen.

“It was an interesting weekend,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio. “I thought in the first game we had a pretty good start and fell behind. But we all felt comfortable that if we kept with what we were doing we could battle back and be in a good spot. We had a really strong second and third period in that game and found a way to win it.”

Wheacroft and Jett Jones each scored twice in Friday’s win. Alex Cotton, Zack Stringer and Liam Kindree added one each. Goaltender Carl Tetachuk took over for starter Bryan Thomson after the Rebels went up 3-1 and stopped 24 of 25 shots for the win.

On Saturday, Cotton scored on the power play in the extra session as the Hurricanes overcame a 3-1 deficit in the second period.

Justin Hall scored twice and Alex Thacker added the other Lethbridge marker.

Tetachuk made 22 saves.

“At home (Saturday) it was just a solid game,” said Kisio.

“I think both teams were playing really well. It was a bit of a better hockey game than the previous night and that’s why it went to overtime and we were fortunate to win there. It was one of the better games we played this year.”

On Sunday, Logan Barlage’s power play goal in the second was all the offence the Canes were able to muster.

“We just fell flat (Sunday),” said Kisio. “We just couldn’t find our legs. It was our first three-in-three and it showed. Both teams were in the same boat, but we looked like the more tired team and didn’t win many battles.”

Thacker has one goal and six points in his first five games.

“I thought it was pretty good, other than our last game,” said Thacker of the weekend. “The boys had a lot of effort throughout the two games, but the last game the boys fell off after our powerplay when they got a penalty kill goal. That kind of set the tone for Red Deer. But other than that it was a good weekend. It was definitely better than the Edmonton weekend. We had better chances.”

The Hurricanes penalty kill allowed four power play goals on 11 chances.

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