Hurricanes edged by Blades

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on October 20, 2022.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Hurricanes forward Cole Shepard battles looks to move the puck past Saskatoon Blades Lukas Hansen during WHL action Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes were edged 3-2 by the Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.

“I thought we played really hard and I thought we did a lot of good things throughout the whole 60 minutes,” said Hurricanes assistant coach Ryan Aasman.

“I thought our details were really good. I thought we had a lot of good looks (and) just couldn’t find a way to bear down around the net and get us a goal. I thought Saskatoon played good — you know they did a good job plugging the middle and making it hard for us — and they collapsed really good to the house and denied a lot of those chances.”

Aasman thought the Hurricanes did a really good job of opening up space for themselves in the offensive zone and getting looks.

The Canes Jett Jones opened the scoring at 12:49 of the first period, as he a tipped a shot past Blades’ goalie Ethan Chadwick.

Tyson Zimmer and Laventure drew the assists.

Saskatoon tied the game at 7:36 of the second period as Trevor Wong scored his second of the season from Josh Pillar.

The Canes would restore the lead as Dustin Renas pounced on a Joe Arntsen rebound for his first goal as a Hurricane and in the Western Hockey League at 9:33 of the second period.

Chase Pauls drew the other assist.

“I honestly kind of blacked out,” said Renas.

“I mean it was pretty exciting, (and) that rebound came out and I tapped it in É Like I was so pumped but (I have) been waiting to get the monkey off my back for a while. It was a really good feeling.”

Lethbridge’s lead would be short-lived as Jayden Wiens backhanded his own rebound past Canes goalie Jared Picklyk on the powerplay at 12:48 of the middle frame to tie the game at two.

Tyler Parr and Aidan De La Gorgendiere scored notched the assists on the marker.

The Blades pulled ahead 3-2 at 16:39 of the second as Brandon Lisowsky broke in on a breakaway and beat Picklyk stick side for his third of the season.

Pillar and Charlie Wright assisted on Lisowsky’s third of the season.

Renas thought the team was really good at even strength with the Blades.

“They’ve got some good players on there and it’s good to compete against them and makes us better too,” said Renas.

The Hurricanes will face off against the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday night at the Enmax Centre.