Cotton moves into top-10 in defenceman scoring, Hurricanes top Hitmen

By Dale Woodard on April 26, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDsports@lethbridgeherald.com

One defenceman for the Lethbridge Hurricanes scored his first career Western Hockey League goal, while another cracked the top-10 in franchise scoring for blue-liners.

Canes rookie defenseman Logan McCutcheon scored his first WHL goal and Alex Cotton moved into a tie for ninth in scoring among defensemen as Lethbridge topped the Calgary Hitmen 4-1 in Western Hockey League play Sunday night in Calgary.

Cotton, a 2020 draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings, had a pair of assists to up his career totals to 102 points in 142 games to move him into a tie with Lee Sorochan for ninth on the all-time list.

The win comes after a 7-2 loss to the Hitmen Saturday night at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge and a 6-3 setback Friday in Calgary that ends a three-game losing skid and improves the Hurricanes to 8-10-2-0. The Hitmen are 8-7-2-0 with the loss.

Logan Barlage scored two goals for the Hurricanes, Noah Boyko added another late in the third and goaltender Carl Tetachuk turned aside 40 of 41 shots.

Sunday’s game was only the second time the Hurricanes managed a win after giving up the game’s first goal, having gone 1-10-2 when getting scored on first prior to that.

That first goal came early as Sean Tschigerl continued to wield a hot hand after a hat trick performance Saturday night, scoring 2:43 into the first period for a quick 1-0 lead.

But the Canes pulled even with 6:13 left in the first on McCutcheon’s first career snipe as the product of Saskatoon took a feed from Boyko, broke in down the right wing and sent a shot past Hitmen goaltender Brayden Peters as the teams skated into the first intermission tied at 1-1.

It stayed that way until late in the second when the Hitmen took the first penalty of the game when Zac Funk was called for holding.

It took the Canes four seconds to capitalize on the man advantage as Barlage knocked down a point shot from Cotton for a 2-1 lead with 2:19 left in the second.

Barlage thought he had added his second the game and handed Lethbridge a 3-1 lead early in the the third, but the goal was waved off.

The Humboldt native didn’t miss on his next chance soon afterwards with his second of the game and seventh of the season for a 3-1 Hurricanes lead 3:14 into the third.

Lethbridge added to their lead as Boyko scored his 10th of the season — matching his career high for goals in a season — to make it 4-1 with 3:33 remaining.

Boyko added an assist for a two-point night.

Tetachuk’s 40-save performance improved the local product’s record to 3-6-2-0 this season. Peters, who hails from Taber, stopped 18 of 22 shots he faced.

The Hurricanes power play went 2-for-3. The Hitmen were 0-for-4 on the man advantage.

The Canes are back in action this weekend when they face the Medicine Hat Tigers in a trio of games.

Game 1 goes Thursday at the Enmax Centre before heading to Medicine Hat Saturday.

The teams wrap up the weekend Sunday in Lethbridge at 7 p.m.

The Hurricanes complete their 24-game regular season May 4 in Edmonton against the Oil Kings.

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