Hurricanes ready for playoff clash with the Broncos

By Lethbridge Herald on March 27, 2024.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Hurricanes players skate laps during practice on Tuesday as they prepare for their first round playoff match up against the Swift Current Broncos.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are set to tangle with the Swift Current Broncos in the first round of the WHL  playoffs beginning tomorrow night in southwest Saskatchewan.

“Just dialing in on the opponent,” said Bill Peters, Hurricanes head coach.

“Obviously you know who you have and you’ve got a week to prepare. So lots of video for the assistant coaches to prepare for our guys. So we’re up on their tendencies obviously, but still just working on making sure we get our team game in order and we have some things that we think we can play to that are strengths of ours that will help us in the series.”

If the team is to have success against  the Broncos, the Canes will look to  lessen the rush chances and put in a strong effort with their defensive zone coverage.

“ You know protecting the house and they’re really good in there,” said Peters.

“They do a good job  finding some soft spot areas to free up shooters, so we got to do a good job there, and discipline will be a big factor in this series.”

Peters spoke about a key strength that will be important for the Canes in the series.

“It’s about us just being confident in our team game and going out and getting established early and not waiting around,” said Peters.

The Canes will have the tall task of trying to contain Broncos all-star forward and 99-point player Conor Geekie.

“I don’t know how you stop him totally,” said Peters.

“He’s going to play big minutes, valuable minutes, he’s got good linemates and that’s obviously a very good line. So we got to make sure we manage the puck when he’s out on the ice and make sure they do their fair share of defending also.”

The Hurricanes will also have to contend with the Broncos big defencemen as all but one are 6’2” and up.

“They’re long, really long,” said Peters.

“They do a good job with their length at the d-zone blueline. So you got to know what you’re doing with the puck before you get it ,and you got to be willing to put it in behind them and work to get it back.”

“I think we just need to be hard on the puck, especially with their (defencemen),” said Kooper Gizowski.

“So I think if we stay harder on our fore check and kind of play through their hands, and not try to play all skill and play hard ,just like playoffs is, I think we’ll be good.”

Logan Wormald said it’s a different animal in playoffs.

“As you know anything can happen in playoffs and I mean we feel confident going against Swift here, and we just got to break down their game and focus more on our game … and I think we’ll be good going into the first round here ,” said Wormald.

The Hurricanes edged the Broncos in the season series with a 4-3-0-1 record.

Games 1 and 2 go Friday and Saturday night respectively in Swift Current, while Games 3 and 4 will be at the Enmax Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday next week with the times in all games at 7 p.m.