Game Day: Lethbridge vs. Vancouver

The Hurricanes got back on the winning track in a big way earlier this week. The Canes' trounced the visiting Prince George Cougars 6-1 improving to 8 and 4 on the season. Lethbridge looked like it was out on a mission, out shooting their BC opponents 40 to 11. All around, it may have been the Hurricanes most solid performance in 12 games this season. The power play was unable to connect in that game, but it looked very dangerous coming close several times. The addition of Zach Boychuk added, I think a lot of energy up front. I also feel that right now offensively, Lethbridge is one of the more dangerous teams in the WHL. It's funny how getting back two of your best scorers can do that to a hockey club!
Tonight will be a very good test for the Hurricanes. The Vancouver Giants are here for the first of two trips to Lethbridge this season. They're at the top of the Western Conference standings, coming off a 6-3 win in Red Deer last night, and are showing again why they will be one of the teams to be beat. Overall, this should be a doozy of game tonight. Maybe even the marquis match-up in the WHL.
If you take a look at the history of these two teams, Vancouver holds the edge. In fact, the Giants have had a lot of success against the Canes'. They are 8 and 2 over Lethbridge in the last 10 meetings, including two wins last year. I know it's still early in the season, but this might a good game for the Hurricanes to measure themselves up against one of the top teams in the West.
Adam Chorneyko and the Saskatoon Blades will be here tomorrow for a Sunday night game at the Enmax Centre. After that it's out on the road for a while with games next Wednesday in Chilliwack, Friday in Kamloops, and a week from today in Kelowna on Novemeber 1st.

If you have a comment or question send us an e-mail up in the broadcast booth tonight at hurricanes@pttwireless.ca or call in the post game show at 403-388-4646
P.S.
As we're on the road next week, I'll be giving daily reports from the road and maybe I'll post a few pictures along the way too! Should be fun to get away for few games!

Lethbridge and Vancouver... Here's how the two teams match-up:

Head to Head Record 2008-09 Regular Season
Lethbridge 0-0-0-0
Vancouver 0-0-0-0
Head to Head Record 2007-08 Regular Season
Lethbridge 0-2-0-0
Vancouver 2-0-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams
Lethbridge 2-7-1-0
Vancouver 8-2-0-0
Lethbridge vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at Lethbridge
Lethbridge 1-4-1-0
Vancouver 5-1-0-0
Lethbridge vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at Vancouver
Lethbridge 1-3-0-0
Vancouver 3-1-0-0

Let's Play Some Ol' Fashioned Pond Hockey!

Well, last night Dick and I had a chance to MC some hockey down at the Enmax Centre. It was Pond Hockey put on by Enmax Energy where Atom hockey players ages 9 and 10 were able to skate and play some hockey and learn a few skills with some of their Hurricanes heroes. Two local Atom teams squared off with 3 Hurricanes playing on each team. Carter Bancks, Dwight King, and Ben Wright played for team white while Juha Metsola, Mitch Fadden, and Colton Sceviour laced up the skates for team black. To say the least, it was a lot of fun! Canes' coach Michael Dyck headed from bench to bench giving the youngsters some encourgament and pointers along the way. All 6 of the Hurricane players seemed to enjoy playing with the kids, especially Mitch Fadden. He was all smiles during the game and chatted it up with the young players on the bench. I thought it was great as well. The parents sitting in the stands watching their sons skate with the Canes, I'm sure got a good kick out of it too!
I'll tip my hat to the folks at Enmax Energy as well. What a great thing to have. A few other communities in South and Central Alberta will host pond hockey over the fall and winter.
Oh yeah, the game ended in a tie and went to a shootout with every player including the Canes' getting a chance in the shootout.
This is also one of the many things the Lethbridge Hurricanes do help out in the community. These young players look up to the Canes'. To them, they are local heroes and someday maybe hope to be playing in their shoes.....or maybe their skates!
Great job by everyone involved!

Dick's Personal Point of View

I know the topic of the number of Europeans playing in the CHL has been batted around on more than one occasion. But I wonder if the CHL would consider taking a serious look at reducing the current number of imports from 2 to 1.
Currently 2 Euros are permitted to play on each of the 60 teams under the umbrella of the CHL. This means of course, that 120 Canadians are being denied the opportunity to play junior hockey.
So I have a suggestion that the CHL reduces the imports to one per team and thus opening the door for 60 Canadians.
Of course there would be the argument that by adding another 16 or 17 year old to a team would make the teams younger and lessen the on ice product. The solution to that would be not to add a 16 or 17 year old but instead allow for 4 overages rather than the current 3. This would make each team older not younger which should result in a better product on the ice.
The imports playing in the CHL are very skilled players who certainly entertain the fans. After all we need not look any further than our own Lethbridge Hurricanes, Juha Metsola and Luca Sbisa. We certainly know what they mean to our club. But their presence means two Canadians do not have the opportunity to play major junior hockey.
A few years ago Don Cherry stated that there should be no Europeans playing junior hockey in Canada. Maybe, just maybe on this occasion, Grapes was right.
Dick Gibson is the Colour Commentator on Hurricanes’ radio broadcasts.

Canes' Take Bite out of Cougars.....Torrie Jung on the move again!

I don't think people could ask for much more from the Hurricanes last night. They were on some kind of mission as they handed visiting Prince George a 6-1 loss. The Canes' dominated their BC opponents from the drop of the puck outshooting PG 40-11. A great defensive effort by Lethbridge as well. I don't think I could find any negatives with Tuesday's performance. Everyone was on the same page. Rookie Michael Tadjdeh recorded his second win in as many weeks in goal for Lethbridge.
One thing I liked was the fact the Hurricanes didn't let up not matter what the score was. The power play failed to score, but it looked dangerous, especially with the addition of Zach Boychuk, who scored his first goal of the year late in the 3rd. The Canes' now have 2 very good PP units that will likely cause fits for opposing teams this year. Last night's win improved the Lethbridge's record to 8 and 4 in 12 games this season.
The Hurricanes are one of the least penalized teams in the WHL this season, which bodes well for the penalty killers who've done a pretty good job in the first dozen games.
On Saturday, Vancouver is here. They lead the league is lowest penalty minutes taken by any team. Lethbridge hasn't had much success over Vancouver the past few years, hopefully that'll change this weekend. It should be a good test for the Canes' too. The Giants have scored a tonne and have given up very little against.
Note:
The Hurricanes have dealt away goalie Torrie Jung whom they acquired last week from Kelowna. Here's the official release from the Hurricanes this morning:

Lethbridge, AB – Lethbridge Hurricanes General Manager, Roy Stasiuk, announced this morning that the Canes have traded 89-born goaltender Torrie Jung to the Edmonton Oil Kings in exchange for a 6th round draft pick in the 2010 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft. With the trade, Edmonton is able to address their team needs for a solid, healthy backstop.
“Torrie Jung is an incredible kid with a great attitude, this is a chance for him to start in Edmonton and certainly from our point of view it’s a chance to help a partner in our league that is a little bit down on their luck right now in that they have lost two goaltenders.” said Stasiuk adding “This allows them to remain competitive and at the same time, we have two very good goaltenders here now and we will carry on.”

Jung is a veteran of over 50 Western Hockey League games with a career record of 21-27-4-8. Last season, Jung tallied a 13-12-0-5 record with a pair of shutouts and a goals against average of 2.86, good enough to rank him 18th in the WHL. The 6’1”, 175 pound native of Nanaimo, BC was selected in the 7th round (183rd overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

I'll admit. I never saw this one coming! I guess GM Roy Stasiuk has his reasons. I suppose you never know what's in the plan! Good luck Torrie in Edmonton.

Game Day vs. Prince George

Up at em' here early today and I thought what the heck, perfect time for a little blogging. It's been 5 days since the Hurricanes last played a game, losing 4-0 in Calgary. The Canes' tonight get ready to host Prince George for the first and only meeting of the season between these two teams. The last time these teams played last season in PG, Lethbridge hammered the Cougars 8-0. Sometimes it's tough to evaluate these games, given the fact you only play them once a year. One thing we do know is that Prince George is a much better hockey club this season. They're a very respectable 7 and 5. The Cougars have been on the road for a few weeks now, maybe the Canes' can take advantage of that. We'll have to see.

More good news off the ice for Lethbridge. Word yesterday that Zach Boychuk is on his way back to town! I'm sure the fans and team officials are excited about that. There's a good chance we'll see #11 back in the line-up tonight. All we're waiting for now is the return of D-man Luca Sbisa from Philadelphia. When that might happen is still anyone's guess, but it would likely be sometime in the next couple of weeks I would think. Sbisa plays his 9th game with Philly next Tuesday. After that, we might find out more in regards to Luca's situation. Again, I have a gut feeling he'll be returning.

No doubt though the return of Mitch Fadden and now Zach Boychuk, along with the acquisition of goaltender Torrie Jung all in the past week is great news for this Lethbridge team, maybe not so great news for opposing teams.

Don't forget it was around this time last season when the Canes' season turned around for the better and they went on that huge 14 game winning streak. I'm not saying that's necessarily going to happen again, but anything's possible with the talent on this club.

Tonight's game is a 7 o'clock start. The pregame show on CJOC at 6:30. You can send us an e-mail question to the broadcast booth at hurricanes@pttwireless.ca or call in the post game show at 403-388-4646

Zach Boychuk Returning to Lethbridge!!

RALEIGH, NC—Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has returned forward Zach Boychuk to his junior hockey team, the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League. Boychuk, the Hurricanes’ first-round (14th overall) selection in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, made his NHL debut at Los Angeles on Friday, and played in Sunday’s 3-1 win at Anaheim.

“This has been a good experience for Zach,” said Rutherford. “Despite the fact that he was recovering from hand surgery, his play progressed very well. Another year of junior hockey will be good for his development.”

Boychuk, 19, played 9:21 of ice time and recorded four hits in his NHL debut in Carolina’s 4-3 overtime loss at Los Angeles on Friday. The Airdrie, Alb., native also suited up in the Hurricanes 3-1 win at Anaheim on Sunday and recorded a plus-1 plus/minus rating in 14:45 of ice time. Boychuk (5’10”, 180 lbs.) returns to Lethbridge where he earned 72 points (33g, 39a) in 61 regular-season games in 2007-08, and led the WHL in playoff goals with 13 as the Hurricanes won three postseason series before falling in the WHL finals.

WOW!! This is great news for Lethbridge! I'm sure Canes' fans here in Southern Alberta echo my thoughts. It'll be great to see #11 doning the colours of the Lethbridge Hurricanes again!

'Hurricanes This Week' Media Roundtable Tonight

Well good day! I spent yesterday thankful that my beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders pulled out a nailbiting win! Anyway, it's been a few days since the Canes' last action, a 4-0 loss in Calgary, but this week the team gets going again with some big games. Tomorrow the much improved Prince George Cougars at here and then on Saturday Vancouver makes it's first of two visits to Lethbridge this year and Sunday evening Saskatoon is in town.
Tonight, 'Hurricanes This Week' resumes on CJOC at 7pm. It's our first Hurricanes media roundtable of the year. Joining Dick and I on the show tonight will be Paul Kingsmith of Global TV Sports in Lethbridge and Dylan Purcell, Sports Editor at the Lethbridge Herald. We'll take your questions and calls at 403-388-4646. It's something we like to do a couple of times a year is convene some of the sports people in the city that cover the Hurricanes on a regular basis and get maybe a different perspective on the team. We are by no means experts, just a bunch of sports guys talking about the local WHL team and sharing our opinions and of course getting yours! I'll post tomorrow some of my pre-game thoughts before the PG game and set that match-up for you then.

Hurricane Extras:
Colton Sceviour (6G, 9A), Dwight King (4G, 7A) and Carter Ashton (2G, 3A) are the Hurricanes scoring leaders; Sceviour is currently tied for tenth in the WHL scoring race. While King’s two shorthanded goals tie him for second in the WHL.
Mitch Fadden has been on a mission since returning to Lethbridge scoring three points (2G, 1A) in three games since returning from pro camp in Norfolk.
Injury report: Garrett Taylor (Wrist – 2-4 Weeks), Dan Iwanski (placed on 45 day Injury Reserve – retroactive to Sept.12/08)
(Courtesy of Ryan Ohashi)