Hurricanes lose in Kamloops....Next up Kelowna tonight

A 5-2 loss last night at Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops. The Hurricanes didn't necessarily play poorly, that had a couple of bad breaks that in the end had they gone their way the outcome could've been different. Those breaks I talk about were two crossbars and a goal post. Had the puck actually gone in the net on those three occasions, the score may have been in the Hurricanes favour. Hindsight I guess is 20-20. Again, those are the breaks. I think the real turning point last night came in the second period when Kamloops had a 3-2 lead. Dwight King rifled a blast off the cross bar. The rebound came flying out, the Blazers picked up the loose puck and 10 seconds later in was behind Juha Metsola and Kamloops was out to a 4-2 lead. Again, had King scored to tie the game, things may have been different. I also thought the Canes' were beat a few times on the back end. I recall at least three times where the Blazers managed to beat the Hurricanes "D". There's no doubt if there is any area on this team that needs some help, it's the back end. This is still a very young defensive corp that continues to learn game by game. One player that really stands out when it comes to defenceman I think is Derek Ryckman. The young blueliner from Red Deer has impressed in the early going and very well could be one of those diamond in the rough kind of players. Last night's loss drops the Canes record to 9 and 7 on the year.
Tonight the Hurricanes close out this BC road trip as they take on Kelowna for the second time in the past 3 weeks. Lethbridge managed a solid performance against the Rockets in that game, but since then Kelowna has been a different team. They're 10 and 7 on the season now, have scored 69 goals, and have allowed 54 against. The Hurricanes have scored 48 goals in 16 games have have allowed just 43. This should be a pretty good game this evening. The Canes' have been practicing here in Kelowna all week, so they should be fairly familiar with the ice at Prospera Place.
After tonight, the schedule for Lethbridge doesn't get any easier. The Hurricanes will be off until next Saturday when they play the first place Hitmen in Calgary. After that it's pretty much a game every other night for a week. Following that game in Calgary on the 8th, the Canes play in Medicine Hat on the 10th, in Spokane on the 12th, in Kootenay on the 14, and then it's finally back home to host the Edmonton Oil Kings at the Enmax Centre November 16th. It's a busy stretch here for the Hurricanes to say the least.
Tonight's game from Kelowna is an 8 o'clock start. The pre-game show on CJOC at 7:30.