Canes look to fix compete levels

By Lethbridge Herald on February 13, 2024.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are having a less than ideal four game road trip and it appears a lack of compete is a challenge for them right now.

The Canes have been outscored 22-2, have gone 0-for-9 on the powerplay, giving up between 30-40 shots a game and are winless in their last five road games.

“We didn’t come ready to play those games and we didn’t play our best ,”said forward Miguel Marques.

“So obviously that’s something we need to do as a team, we need to compete to be able to beat these top teams. That’s our biggest strength, we play hard, and that’s kind of like our system and how we play. So we got get back to that on the road, and we struggle on the road, so we’ve got to find a way to go on the road next time and get some wins here.”

Marques thinks there is a lack of shots on net.

“We haven’t done a lot of that,” said Marques.

“We got to get back to putting pucks on net and getting traffic at the goalie’s eyes, and stuff so that we can bang home a couple of rebounds, find a greasy one, (and) get our offence back and going.”

Captain Joe Arntsen has seen the team be a little bit snake bitten on the road as of late.

“I mean only scoring two goals, it’s hard to win when you do that in three games,

 said Arntsen.

“I don’t know if our starts are too bad. I think it’s just kind of we’re not playing a full 60, we fall asleep at times and we couldn’t seem to get a bounce back shift if we went down a goal or something, or we just couldn’t get a timely goal it seemed like on the road.”

Assistant coach Ryan Aasman said it was about mindset.

“It’s about getting our guys back into a pro mentality where we show up to the rink with a purpose, every rep matters and be competitive amongst our group, so that we’re competitive on Wednesday,” said Aasman.

The Canes will look to salvage a win on this road trip as they play in Swift Current against the Broncos tonight.

“Obviously, the last time we went in there, we came out with a sour taste in our mouths (a 6-0 loss on Jan. 31),” said Marques.

“We have that in the back of our minds coming back. They (have) got a good team, we know that, but if we play our best and we compete, we have a chance to beat them and we got to show that (tonight).

Marques thinks the team will need find their legs in warm up to get off to a good start.

Arntsen said they’re a team that’s rolling right now and they’ve got a lot of high-end skill.

“So it’s going to everybody and it’s going to take a full 60 to get it done,” said Arntsen.

Aasman thought of connected for the group right now.

“I think connected is a big word for us right now,” said Aasman.

“(And) is finding the way to play our shifts … right from goalie touch breakouts, how we exit our zone as a five-man unit, how do we forecheck as a five-man unit, how do we attack off the rush with layers and (in) the ‘O’ (offensive) zone, how do you create movement with five guys. I think connected and compete are the two big words for us moving forward.”

Puck drop is at 6 p.m. tonight.