Hurricanes swept in first round by Warriors

By Lethbridge Herald on April 5, 2023.

Lethbridge Hurricanes’ Brayden Edwards battles for the puck with Moose Jaw Warriors defenceman Denton Mateychuk during Game 4 WHL playoff action Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre. Herald photo by Justin Seward

Justin Seward – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – sports@lethbridgeherald.com

The Moose Jaw Warriors are off to the second round of the WHL playoffs after a 5-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre.

With the win, Moose Jaw swept the series in four games.

“We battled,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio.

“Our guys competed tonight and we had our opportunities. Their goalie played well and he  played well all series long. It just seemed like we couldn’t get the bounces that we needed.”

Kisio felt a disappointment after the game.

“It’s really disappointing,” said Kisio.

“I think (I’m) proud of the way we played in the regular season. We fought hard but playoffs is a whole new level  —  a whole new level of hockey, and physicality, and compete and what it takes to win. Our group is still learning about that. I think this year Moose Jaw had some experience there and they  played the right way. I thought in Game 1 we did a great job and  I thought tonight we competed hard but we kind of  lost our way in between and you just can’t do that.”

The Hurricanes got their first lead of the series when Tyson Zimmer wrist shot in his first of the postseason, as he took an Anton Astashevich pass from behind the net and scored  while Warriors goalie Connor Ungar was stumbling to get back into position.

Brayden Yager tied the game at 1 when he tapped in his first of the playoffs in the crease from Martin Rysavy and Jagger Firkus at 13:56 of the first period.

Maximus Wanner’s shot deflected up and over Harrison Meneghin and dropped in the net to give Moose Jaw a 2-1 lead at 5:15 of the second period.

Firkus and Atley Calvert had the assists on Wanner’s marker.

The Canes Hayden Smith quickly redirected a pass through the five hole of Ungar to tie the game 2-2 with a minute to go in the second period.

Chase Pauls and Brayden Edwards had the assists.

Lynden Lakovic gave Moose Jaw a 3-2 lead at the 4:48 mark of the third, when he skated down his off wing and squeezed the puck over the pad of Meneghin. 

Yager and Wanner drew the assists.

Denton Mateychuk doubled the Warriors lead to 4-2 at the 14:32 mark of the third period from Calvert and Wanner.

Yager sealed the win with an empty net goal with 31 seconds in the game from Riley Niven.

Shots were 30 apiece.

This was Cole Shepard’s last game in the Western Hockey League as he aged out.

“Yeah, I think we were right there and let it slip in the third,” said Shepard.

“You know I felt that we were right there a lot of times in this  series … But we needed to put together a 60-minute effort and it wasn’t there tonight.”

“Yeah, it’s always tough to lose, especially when the season is on the line,” said Jett Jones, who also played his last WHL game.

“You know we came out again had a great first period (and) second period. Tonight, some bounces just weren’t going our way and it’s kind of been like that the whole series. So that’s the game of hockey, sometimes you get the bounces, sometimes you don’t.”

In Kisio’s mind, what this team learned is about compete and  battle.

“Like playoffs is a whole different game,” said Kisio.

“And we’ve had teams here in the past that have experienced that and know what it takes to win in playoffs and over COVID we lost it a bit and we’re still trying to figure it out.”

Kisio said there’s a lot of work to be done.

“It’s not good enough and I think we’re all tired of shaking hands on home ice after four games,” said Kisio.

“So that’s got to stop right away and there’s going to be a lot of work put in this off season.”

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