Rockets dismantle Hurricanes

By Lethbridge Herald on December 16, 2022.

Herald photo by Justin Seward- Lethbridge Hurricanes Jett Jones fights for a loose puck in front of Kelowna Rockets goalie Talyn Boyko during Western Hockey League action at the Enmax Centre on Friday night.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes got behind the eight ball early, and it showed the rest of the way in a 6-0 loss to the Kelowna Rockets on Friday night at the Enmax Centre.

“Yeah, just played disconnected and (didn’t) really play as a team,” said Hurricanes assistant coach Matt Anholt.

“And we struggled getting goals past their goalie, obviously.”

Anholt thought the team’s effort was OK.

“… We didn’t play as a group like what we usually do,”he said.

“We didn’t play connected forwards to defence and as linemates and as partners. So it cost us tonight.”

In a game like that, Anholt said it just  goes to show how important our team systems are.

“If we play like that, stuff like that happens,” said Anholt.

“We don’t score easily and we have to defend way better.”

The Rockets Carson Golder scored his 12th goal of the year just 3:56 into the game, where he picked up  his own rebound behind Canes Goalie Harrison Meneghin and shot it in the net.

Assist went to Andrew Cristall.

Kelowna score three more goals in the second period to pad their lead.

Caden Price made it 2-0 Rockets at 14:00 of the second period, as he deposited the puck into an empty net while Meneghin was trying to slide over to make the save.

Max Graham and Nolan Flamand drew the assists on Price’s fifth of the season.

Cristall  made the score 3-0 after tapping in a rebound off of a Meneghin save at the top of the crease at the 17-minute mark of the second from Dylan Wightman and Golder.

Noah Dorey redirected in his first of the season from Cristall and Golder to make the score 4-0 Kelowna with nine seconds to go in the middle frame

Wightman jumped on a rebound all alone in front of Meneghin and scored his sixth of the season at 9:21 of the third from Cristall and Golder.

Meneghin was pulled near the halfway point of the third period in favour of Brady Smith.

“It was a message to our guys that we weren’t quitting on the game,” said Anholt, on the decision to let Meneghin start the third period.

“I felt as if we put Brady in, it would have been a message to our guys that we’re mailing it in and playing for tomorrow. I wanted him to get at least a chance to rebound because we came out pretty hard and then we couldn’t score. And then we gave up that goal and we decided to give him a little bit of a rest.”

Logan Peskett made it 6-0 Kelowna with his second goal of the season at 11:23.

“I think for us, it was just  a lack of compete,” said Jett Jones.

“A lot of guys didn’t step up and come ready to play today. So it’s a good thing we can reset for tomorrow (Saturday night)  (and) finish off the right way here.”

Meneghin and Smith combined for 29 saves.

The Hurricanes (19-12-0-1) will wrap up the first half against the Calgary Hitmen (15-9-3-1)tonight at the Enmax Centre before the Christmas break.