Hitmen snap losing streak with big win over the Canes

By Dale Woodard - Lethbridge Herald on February 26, 2022.

With some valuable points up for grabs, the Calgary Hitmen not only found the back of the net, but snapped an eight-game losing skid.
The Hitmen downed the Lethbridge Hurricanes 8-1 in Western Hockey League play Friday night at the Enmax Centre.
In the battle for eighth place in the Eastern Conference the Hitmen got goals from Grayden Siepmann and two more from Steel Quiring in the opening 14:18 of the first period.
That chased Hurricanes starter Bryan Thomson in favour of Jared Picklyk and while Lethbridge was able to close the gap to two on a second period marker from Ty Nash, the Hitmen added five third period goals for the win that improves them to 19-23-5-2.
That puts the Hitmen – who had scored nine goals in the previous eight games – into sole possession of seventh place in the Eastern Conference, one point up on the 19-26-5-1 Swift Current Broncos, who were blanked 7-0 by the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday night in Moose Jaw.
The Canes are now 20-24-2-1, in ninth place in the East and one point back of the Broncos.
After a scoreless first half of the opening period, the Hitmen went to work quickly as Siepmann scored at the 11:09 mark and Quiring scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season 54 seconds apart for a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
The Hurricanes got on the board on the power play 3:17 into the second on a goal from Ty Nash to cut Calgary’s lead to 3-1 after 40 minutes.
The Hitmen restored their three-goal lead 7:04 into the third when Zac Funk scored to make it 4-1.
The visitors continued to pile it on as Carter Yakemchuk scored shorthanded 11:13 into the third to make it 5-1 and Blake Stevenson added another a little under three minutes later to make it 6-1.
The Hitmen’s power play clicked twice more to end the night on goals from Oliver Tulk and Blake Allan.
Quiring added an assist for a three-point night, while Siepmann, Stevenson and Funk chipped in with a helper each for two points.
Riley Fiddler-Schultz and Sean Tschigerl each had two assists.
Thomson stopped six of nine shots before being pulled for Picklyk.
Picklyk stopped 21 of 26 shots, while Hitmen netminder Ethan Buenaventura made 24 saves.
The Hurricanes were 1-for-3 on the power play.
Friday’s announced attendance was 2,534.
The Hurricanes are back at the Enmax Centre tonight when the Medicine Hat Tigers pay a visit at 7 p.m.
After that, the Canes hit the road for seven games as the Brier comes to the Enmax Centre and return home March 16 when they host the Regina Pats.

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