Hurricanes get character win over Calgary Hitmen

By Lethbridge Herald on March 17, 2023.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Hurricanes Chase Pauls gets good body positioning on a CALGARY HITMEN player and makes sure the puck stays in front of him during Western Hockey League action at the Enmax Centre on Friday night.

By Justin Seward

Herald Sports

The Lethbridge Hurricanes scored four third period goals to edge the Calgary Hitmen 6-4 in what was a hard-fought game on Friday night at the Enmax Centre.

“Well I thought we played a pretty solid game throughout our line-up,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio.

“You know it was hard for us to get that lead. Every time we score (d), Calgary responded. They played a hard game and they’re a well-coached team. But I thought our guys showed true character tonight and we found a way to get it done.”

Kisio agreed it was big third period from his squad.

“I thought we came out,” he said.

“Calgary’s a desperate team and we knew they were going to work hard for it,  and they took the lead again on us. But I loved our response. We got a big powerplay goal there and  then we had some guys really follow up. Eddy (Brayden Edwards) had a nice goal as well and obviously Wilke, (and) just kind of getting scoring throughout our line-up was key tonight.”

 The Hitmen got on the board first, as Matteo Danis scored his fifth goal in as many games against the Hurricanes at 3:02 of the first period.

Riley Fiddler-Shultz and Maxim Muranov assisted on Danis’ 12th goal of the season.

The Canes Tyson Laventure picked off a Hitmen cross-ice pass and skated  in all alone and beat Hitmen goalie Brayden Peters five hole to tie the game at one at the 15:14 mark of the first.

Fiddler-Schultz tipped in his 30th goal of the year just 11 seconds into the second period to give Calgary a 2-1 lead.

Danis and Grayden Siepmann assisted on the goal.

It was later in the second period that the Hurricanes went  in on a shorthanded rush and defencemen Logan McCutcheon found the loose puck, and wristed the puck past Peters to tie the game 2-2 at the 13:38 mark of the second.

Tristan Zandee and Hayden Smith got the helpers on the goal.

London Hoilett tipped home his 12th of the season off an Ethan Moore pass to give the Hitmen a 3-2 lead at the 2:41 mark of the third period.

Fiddler- Schultz supplied the other assist.

Cole Shepard took a Joe Arntsen shot off the end boards and shot it top shelf to tie the game 3-3 on the powerplay at 5:57 of the third period.

Laventure got the other assist.

Trae Wilke pulled the Canes ahead 4-3 at the 9:57 mark of the third as he snapped the puck over Peters for his second goal of the season.

Miguel Marques assisted on the goal.

Brayden Edwards notched his 10th goal of the season at 13:07 of third to give Lethbridge a 5-3 lead.

Logan Wormald and Noah Chadwick assisted on Edwards’s tally.

Muranov brought the Hitmen to within a goal as he found the back of the net for his sixth of the season at 14:27 of the third period from Danis.

Jett Jones solidified the win for the Cans with an empty net goal with 34 seconds to go.

“I think we just took it more seriously,” said Zandee.

“We were a lot more intense (and) harder on battles. Ultimately, I think how hard we competed was the difference. It showed I think.”

The Hurricanes  (34-24-3-3) will be right back it tonight in Edmonton against the Oil Kings.