Hurricanes feel excitement ahead of B.C. road trip

By Lethbridge Herald on November 16, 2023.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Hurricanes goalie Harrison Meneghin makes a pad stop during practice on Tuesday.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes begin their five-game road trip tonight through the B.C. Division with the focus of trying to re-establish aspects of their game.

Head coach Bill Peters agreed the trip will be a test of the club.

“Like we’re 20 games in, so let’s just call it a third of the season in, (we) kind of know what we’re all about, we got to re-establish a few things and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to do that starting Friday in Victoria,” said Peters.

Peters said it comes at a good time and it sets up well.

“We got a whole a week of practice, we can leave tomorrow (on Wednesday) (and) get out there. Obviously there’s a little bit of travel involved but it’s spread out,” said Peters.

“It’s a good trip and you look at it, we got a lot of B.C. guys. They’re smiling and they want to play well in front of family and friends, so they’re going to be jacked up and we’ll have a good week in preparation and then go out west and play hard.”

Peters thought the team had a bit of a foundation that was starting to be established prior to the road trip when it comes to strengths and weaknesses.

“It kind of went away from us a little bit,” said Peters.

“Now we’re in the process of re-establishing that. So we’ll know more here in the next two weeks.”

Road trips are usually good for bonding and that does not change for this Hurricanes team over the next couple of weeks.

“Yeah for sure they’re always good,” said Peters.

“Lots of time together. We got a ferry ride to and from out of Victoria. So it’s going to be good to spend some time together and play some games.”

Assistant coach Matt Anholt was doing most of the scouting for the road trip.

“I think that we’re going to see a lot of speed,” said Anholt.

“Lots of those teams out there are maybe a little on the smaller side but they play with a lot of pace and they have a lot of skill. So we need to shore up our penalty kill because all those teams have a pretty good powerplay and that’s going to be a big time factor.”

Canes goalie Harrison Meneghin hales from South Surrey, B.C. and is one of the six B.C. players on the roster.

He thinks the guys are already motivated heading out west.

“We got a lot of guys from B.C.,” he said,

“So everyone’s really excited to go play in front of their family and friends. I think that’s going to be pretty important for us too. But also just taking it day by day, practice by practice (is) kind of the memo right now.”

Meneghin said there’s a little bit added pressure.

“It’s the first time my dad’s coming to watch a game that I’m starting in,” said Meneghin.

“So I’m really excited for that and hopefully can get a win in front of him. So that’d be great.”

After the last game, a 5-1 win over Wenatchee on Nov. 10, Miguel Marques felt the team took a step in that contest heading into the trip.

“So I think we build some momentum going in,” said Marques.

“We had a good practice yesterday (on Monday) and we just got to keep that going  the rest of the week on our way into the B.C. trip and then we should be good to go from there.”

Marques sees a little extra motivation for himself as well playing back home.

“Yeah for sure,” he said.

“Obviously my family and friends, there’s going to be lots of people there (that) come for me. So I’m going to try to obviously play my best and then hopefully we win the game.”

Other B.C. born players on the trip include Brayden Edwards (Abbotsford), Logan Wormald (Langley), Will Sharpe (Ladner) and Brady Smith (Cloverdale).

The Hurricanes open up the trip against the Victoria Royals tonight at 8:05 p.m. MST.