Hurricanes Blanked in Saskatoon.....In PA Tonight

A couple of penalties in the third period proved to take the gas of the Lethbridge Hurricanes yesterday in Saskatoon. It was a close game for the most part with the Blades scoring in the first and holding onto that 1-0 lead all the way into the 3rd period. The Canes took 3 penalties in a row, putting Saskatoon on back-to-back to power plays which they scored on twice to go up 3-0 and that's the game in a nutshell. The Hurricanes battled but couldn't get the puck by Blades goalie Brayden Holtby who now has shutouts in his last two starts for Saskatoon. Lethbridge started 16 year old Brandon Anderson in net yesterday. He played very well. Two of the 3 goals he allowed were on rebounds which he had no chance on. He stopped 29 of 32 shots and made some decent saves. He's the Hurricanes goaltender of the future along with Michael Tadjdeh of course, who got the game off yesterday.

The Canes' have now lost 5 in a row and are likely feeling the likes of Prince Albert and Edmonton breathing down their necks. Both those teams are just 4 points back of Lethbridge for 8th spot in the Eastern Conference right now. Yesterday the Hurricanes played hard with what is still a shortened bench. The 14 skaters and 2 goalies will be heavily relied upon again tonight to get this team a win in PA.

Zach Boychuk continues to be assessed by the Team Canada medical staff. From what I understand he'll likely try skating today to see how his ankle feels. He suffered a sprained ankle in the Canadians win over the USA on Wednesday night in Ottawa. The rest of the injured Hurricanes are still day-to-day, some a bit longer.

We continue to receive numerous emails from fans who sign their email "Frustrated". I truly understand that from a fans perspective. The Canes' are going through a very tough stretch here. If the fans are frustrated with things not going as hoped, how about the players themselves, or the coaches, or the management? I'm sure they're feeling it too. The good thing is the Hurricanes aren't out of this yet. They have lost some ground on a few teams, but they're only 6 points back of 3rd and a couple of points behind teams like Kootenay and Regina. That said, the Hurricanes do need to get a few wins here to give this team a boost and get back into the race here in the Eastern Conference and tonight would be a good start.

This is the 2nd of 4 meetings between the Canes' and Raiders and the first of three games these teams will play in the next three weeks. PA will be in Lethbridge a week from tonight and the the Hurricanes will play again in Prince Albert the following Wednesday. The Raiders have really picked up their play lately, winning 5 of their last 10 games. The first meeting of the season a month ago in Lethbridge was won handily by the the Hurricanes.

Game time tonight is 6:30. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6.