Hurricanes search for consistency amidst strong start

By Lethbridge Herald on October 12, 2023.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Hurricanes' Brayden Edwards battles for a loose puck with Brandon Wheat Kings forward Brett Hyland during Wednesday night's Western Hockey League game at the Enmax Centre.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are searching for consistency in their game after what has been a strong start to the season.

The club is sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings with a 5-2-1 record.

“Well you know what, it’s been an interesting start to say the least,” said head coach Bill Peters, before Wednesday’s game against Brandon.

“But it’s good. We got our team together here. We got our three 20s back after the first couple of games and getting everybody integrated in. Now we have a very busy schedule. So we’ve got to build off a 5-2 start.”

The Hurricanes have been able to find the back of the net this far, having scored 27 goals and surrendering 20.

“We’ve been able to score some goals, but we’ve got to tighten up a little bit. We’ve given up too much and we got to find a level of consistency in that regard,” said Peters.

“So that’s what we’ll work towards and it’ll be interesting to see tonight (Wednesday’s game). We’re a little bit all over the map in our last three games and we’re looking for a standard that we can put out there each and every day.”

“It’s going good,” said Peters, on players learning his systems.

“It’s funny because you do a lot in training camp when some of the guys are gone  and then all of sudden you think you’ve bypassed Step 1 or 2 maybe or you’ve covered it. But for them, you  haven’t, so you got to go back and touch on things again. But those older guys, they’re sharp. They’re very intelligent players, lots of hockey sense, so they pick it up quick.”

The Hurricanes start maybe more impressive considering  seven of  the first 10 games are on the road.

“Yeah, you know what, it’s really good,” said Peters.

“Especially, get away early and guys get to spend some time together and us as coaches get to, you know, spend some time with them on the road and get to know their personalities a little bit. So yeah it’s been beneficial.”

Peter was asked about areas of improvement.

“There’s lots,” said Peters.

“Obviously the powerplay, right. The powerplay hasn’t been good enough.”

Peters would also like to see better defending.

“Like some nights we’re air tight and other nights we’re making some mistakes that we can clean up,” he said.

“ I think it’s just the drive everyone has this year,” said starting goalie Harrison Meneghin.

“Everyone wants to just be a playoff team (and) make a deep run. So, everyone’s kind of just excited to get going ,and yeah we want to keep the hot start going and really don’t take our foot off the gas here.”

Forward Brayden Edwards is off to a nice start having amassed seven points (4 goals, three assists )in eight games and leads in the team in goals.

“Yeah I think it’s a line thing,” said Edwards.

“I think Miguey (Miguel Marques) and Worm (Logan Wormald),  I’ve played with them for I think it’s my third year now. So just a comfort ability there and just knowing where each other are and I think things have been clicking , penalty kill, powerplay, all that.”

He has notice there are a lot of parts to Peters’ system.

“Holding on to pucks,” said Edwards.

‘”Not dumping pucks in as much and being able to play with a lot more confidence. I think a lot of our guys are really liking it and I think it’s showing.”

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