Hurricanes tame Broncos

By Lethbridge Herald on January 11, 2023.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Hurricanes Chase Pauls goes after a loose puck while swarmed by Swift Current Broncos players during first period Western Hockey League action on Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.

Justin Seward – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – sports@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge Hurricanes snapped a two game home losing streak with a 5-3 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.

“It was a big game for both teams,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio.

“I thought Swift Current came and played hard as well. We know they’re a well-coached team, they do a lot of good things. And we knew we had to be prepared and I thought we had a good response to falling behind there (in the first period) and Swift Current battled back, as they always do. We had some real solid second and third period(s).”

Kisio thought the Hurricanes played a solid game throughout.

“We were able to get pucks in deep and be physical down low,” said Kisio.

“Our defence stepped with a big goal there by (Chase) Paulsy. It was a physical game and I think we did a real good job of battling down low in the offensive zone and managing pucks to get there.”

Caleb Wyrostok curled around the circle in front of the net and backhanded the puck past Harrison Meneghin just 1:02 into the game to give Swift Current an early 1-0 lead.

Brady Birnie and Connor Hvidston assisted on Wyrostok’s 12th goal of the year.

The Canes tied the contest up at 1-1, where Blake Swetlikoff deposited a loose puck into an empty net at 16:22 of the first from Anton Astashevich and Cole Shepard.

Tyson Laventure pushed the Hurricanes ahead to 2-1 when he backhanded the puck up and over Broncos goalie Reid Dyck at 18:53 of the first period on the powerplay from Jett Jones and Shepard.

Swift Current’s Josh Davies was sprung on a breakaway by Braeden Lewis at 4:12 of the second period and made no mistake in scoring his 10th goal of the season and tying the game at two.

Hayden Smith of the Hurricanes notched his fourth of the season from Tristen Doyle at 12:23 to give Lethbridge a 3-2 lead.

Chase Pauls doubled Lethbridge’s to 4-2 as he walked into the slot and wrist shot it over the shoulder of Dyck at 13:34 of the second from Tristan Zandee.

Hvidston brought Swift Current to within one goal with 14 seconds to go in the second period as he scored into a wide open net for his eighth of the season from Birnie and Wyrostok.

Laventure beat Dyck five hole just a minute into the third period on a breakaway to give the Hurricanes a 5-3 lead.

It was Laventure’s first game back from injury and he managed to score two goals.

“Yeah I’ve been wanting to get back in the line-up for a little while here and help the team out,” said Laventure.

“And just trying to do whatever I can to help the team out there and we got the win, so that’s what matters. It was awesome.”

 The home side outshot the Broncos 33-27.

Lethbridge won the season series with a record of 5-2.

Lethbridge went 1-for-4 and Swift Current went 0-for-3 on the powerplay.

The loss snapped Swift Current’s seven-game winning streak.

The Hurricanes (22-15-0-2) will host the Prince George Cougars (17-17-3-0) on Friday night at the Enmax Centre.