Hurricanes reassign MacKay and announce makeup dates after pause

By Lethbridge Herald on January 11, 2022.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes reassigned one of their players on Monday and announced some makeup dates after being put on pause due to having players and staff in the Western Hockey League COVID-19 protocol Jan. 1.

The Canes announced they reassigned 2004-born forward Reid MacKay to the Lloydminster Bobcats of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

MacKay, 17, was a third-round and 65th overall draft pick of the Hurricanes in the 2019 WHL Prospects Draft.

The product of Irma played 17 games with the Hurricanes this season, posting one assist.

MacKay has played in 22 career games with the Hurricanes with two assists.

“We want to give Reid an opportunity to go to the Bobcats to get some quality ice time and playing time,” said Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt in a release.

“He hasn’t played a lot over the last couple of seasons with injury and COVID, so this will be a great opportunity for him to go and play.”

The Hurricanes return to action after being paused on New Years Day when they host the Swift Current Broncos Wednesday at the Enmax Centre at 7 p.m.

On Monday, three of the Hurricanes’ four postponed games were rescheduled.

The Canes Jan. 2 home game against the Broncos will now be played Feb. 2 and their home game against the Moose Jaw Warriors – originally slated for Jan. 7 – will now take place Feb. 17.

As well, the Hurricanes originally-scheduled game in Red Deer against the Rebels has been moved to March. 28.

The Hurricanes Jan. 1 game in Calgary against the Hitmen has yet to be rescheduled.

Tickets for the original dates will be accepted for the rescheduled home games.

The Hurricanes are back at the Enmax Centre this weekend when they host the Prince Albert Raiders Friday at 7 p,m. and the Edmonton Oil Kings Sunday at 6 p.m.

The Canes are in Medicine Hat Saturday to take on the Tigers.

Also on Monday, the WHL announced the Edmonton Oil Kings, Everett Silvertips, Medicine Hat Tigers, Prince Albert Raiders, Red Deer Rebels, Saskatoon Blades, Spokane Chiefs and Winnipeg Ice have all been cleared to resume all team activities in accordance with WHL COVID-19 protocols.

Those teams join the Hurricanes, Warriors, Portland Winterhawks, Regina Pats, Broncos and Tri-City Americans, who previously returned to team activities.

As on Monday, the 14 WHL Clubs are all participating in team activities.

The updated schedule can be viewed at https://whl.ca/schedule/275.

On Monday, the WHL announced the postponement of four WHL regular season games as a result of capacity restrictions in Manitoba.

The four postponed games are Regina at Winnipeg (Jan. 15 and 16) and Regina at Brandon (Jan. 21 and 22).

The four postponed games will be rescheduled at a later date.

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