Hurricanes reflect on the season it was

By Lethbridge Herald on May 2, 2022.

Herald photo byJustin Seward The Lethbridge Hurricanes skated off the Enmax Centre ice for the last time this season on April 28 after being swept by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round of the playoffs.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

This year’s edition of the Lethbridge Hurricanes gathered one last time at the Enmax Centre on Monday for exit interviews, locker clean out and saying good-byesbefore breaking for the off-season.

This was 20-year-old Justin Hall’s last season with the team and was proud of the what the group was able to accomplish.

“I think probably from the first half, you could probably say we kind of underperformed a little bit,” he said.

“We had a lot of good players and then we ended up making a few moves at the deadline or even earlier than that. We traded a few guys away, kind of got a bit younger —  (and)got some young guys. But they came in, fit in right away and had a big role. Guys like (Brayden) Edwards, we picked up (Miguel) Marques in the draft there and he was great for us down the stretch. So I think those guys really stepped up for us and really helped us along the way.”

Hall said in the second half they overperformed.

“You look at the last month-and-a-half, we were probably one of the best teams in the league,” he said.

“So, I think it’s a lot to be proud of. I mean obviously playoffs didn’t go the way we wanted to. But it’s a good team (Edmonton)over there. We battled hard; we can’t hang our heads.”

Logan Wormald was one of eight rookies on the roster and felt his confidence grew as the season went along.

“At the start, I think I was probably a little scared,” he said.

“But yeah, it’s gotten better over time for sure.”

Alex Thacker had 64 points (14goals, 50 assists) this season and says the team had its ups and downs.

“At the end of the year, we were doing really well and our whole team bonded pretty good,” he said.

“I think that helped with winning seven of eight games at the end of the stretch there.”

Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio thought the group came a long way this season.

“I think if you looked where we started at, a lot of turnover in bodies and we had a rough start to the season,” said Kisio.

“But as we went along, we got better and better and I think we had really good stretch run there playing a lot of good teams. We played some really good hockey down the stretch and hey, in playoffs we ran up against Edmonton — they’re one of the top teams in our league. I think we gave them a good fight. It only went four games but we battled and we competed. I was proud of the way our guys played and couldn’t ask for much more this year.”

Kisio liked the player’s overall improvement, team game and personally for individuals.

General manager Peter Anholt ended the morning of interviews and gave his perspective on what he thought was an interesting year in a so many different ways.

“I think when we started the year, we were an older team, we were a big team, not as skilled as we would have liked and I think that really showed in our play,” said Anholt.

“Then we were able to make some moves to get younger and more skill on our team. So I think all in all, I think it was a pretty successful year. I think our guys, the last month-and-a half of the season … played really well.”

It terms of the type of season it was, Anholt said it was a quiet rebuild in a sense.

“I think we certainly added some skill to our group and I look out on the ice at some periods of times and there would be a 17-year-old and two 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old out on the ice and played well,” he said.