U18 AAA Lethbridge Hurricanes split with Aidrie Bisons

By Lethbridge Herald on February 20, 2023.

Justin Seward – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – sports@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge Hurricanes U18 AAA hockey club spilt their last two regular season games with the Airdrie CFR Bisons on home ice over the weekend. 

The Canes started the weekend with a 4-1 win on Saturday afternoon at Nicholas Sheran Arena.

Josh Evaschesen led the way with two goals, while Deegan Kinniburgh and Carter Cunningham had a goal each.

Jack Drake scored the lone goal for the Bisons.

“You know we just played a complete game,” said Hurricanes head coach Sean Gillam, after Saturday’s game.

“I thought we stuck to our game plan and you know we just really dialled it in there in the third, and that’s the way we have to play if we want to continue to have some success down the stretch here.”

Gillam thought right from the goalie out that everyone contributed.

“Our goalie made big saves, our defence were moving their feet (and) being hard to play against and we had three lines humming today,” said Gillam.

The win snapped a five game losing streak.

“I’ll give our group a lot of credit to fight through some of the adversity that we’ve had,” said Gillam.

“We’ve had injuries, we’ve had call ups. We haven’t really had a full line-up for more than two or three games the whole year. So the way the guys dug in and got through this little stretch here with some injuries and stuff, I’m real proud of them for that. It’s only going to help us down the stretch.”

Defenceman Kaden Phillips thought the win was big for character building.

“The boys are just humming and it brings a good atmosphere into the room,” said Phillips.

“And you know coming off that little hitch there, it definitely brings a lot more character into the room and the boys are alive. So, yeah, no it’s going to be a good turnaround heading into playoffs.”

Lethbridge’s Kaige Schafer made 25 saves in the game.

Lethbridge were down 3-0 to the Bisons on Sunday afternoon and salvaged a point after a 4-3 overtime loss.

After a scoreless first period, it was the Bisons who struck three times in the second period with goals from Caleb Leischner, Johnny Lozeman and Kaden Skrenek heading into the final period.

The Canes counteracted with three of their own in the third period to send the game to overtime.

Kayson Christian, Chase Bambrick and Kinniburgh lit the lamp for the Canes.

Landon Pappas scored 49 seconds into overtime to win it for Airdrie.

The Canes (17-16-2-3)clinched fifth place in the standings and will start the playoffs on the road.

“You know what, we haven’t done anything easy all year long,” said Gillam.

“So there’s no point in starting to do it now. After (Sunday’s) game, we’ll start on the road and we’ll just see what happens.” 

Lethbridge will open the playoffs this weekend against Okotoks beginning Saturday on the road before returning home Sunday for Game 2 at 2:45 p.m. at Nicholas Sheran Arena.

U15AAA

The Val Matteotti Golden Hawks began their weekend with a 2-1 win over the Southeast Tigers on Friday in Medicine Hat.

The win was followed by a 5-4 overtime win over the Calgary North Stars in their last home game of the regular season on Sunday.

The Hawks (9-16-2-4)have qualified for playoffs.

Their regular season wraps up this weekend with three games in four nights.

U17AAA

The Headwater Hurricanes dropped both of their road games on the weekend.

Lethbridge was shutout 6-0 by the Calgary Royals on Saturday and a 6-3 loss to Airdrie/Cochrane on Sunday.

The team will wrap up their season this weekend.