Canes' Hitting the Road This Week

The Lethbridge Hurricanes will be heading out for 4 games on the road this week in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The Canes' are coming off back-to-back losses (6-3 & 8-3) to Medicine Hat this weekend and now find themselves 8 points behind the Tigers with 10 games to go in the in the regular season. The game in the Hat on Saturday saw the Hurricanes start very strong, taking a 2-0 lead just over 5 minutes into the game. The Tigers would get one back. Lethbridge took a 3-1 lead in the 2nd, but that would be all the scoring for the visitors as Medicine Hat would score 7 straight to win it 8-3. At one point, the Hurricanes were out shooting the Tigers 34-12 and on the other side of a 4-3 score after 2 periods. Starting goaltender Michael Tadjdeh was pulled after the 5th goal and replaced by rookie call-up Brandon Anderson. I thought he played very well coming off the bench. Goaltending was an issue for the Hurricanes in both those games. In the 3rd, the Tigers would add 4 more. Tyler Ennis scored 4 times for the Tigers.

That game was loaded with fights and penalties. It was actually like watching old time hockey to be honest. As far as I was concerned, there were way too many calls against both teams. I think it was really difficult for the Tigers and Hurricanes to get any flow going. Just when the play would pick up, the whistle would go and someone would be heading off to the box. I know it was a chippy affair, but just too many penalties. There was a total of 20 power plays between the two teams. The penalty trouble also proved troublesome for Lethbridge in the final period. Despite dominating Medicine Hat for the first 30 or so minutes, the Tigers managed to change the tide and win the game.

The Hurricanes now hit the road for games Wednesday in Brandon (6pm), Friday in Moose Jaw (6pm), Swift Current Saturday (6:30pm), and Regina Sunday Afternoon (5pm). This team has 10 games to fine tune things before the playoffs hit. This team I think has the talent to do some serious damage come the post-season. Some of my fellow broadcasters here in the dub have told me that very thing. The Hurricanes need to play their game and not get distracted by things that happen throughout the course of a game. I believe this team can do it. I also know though, there is growing frustration amongst some Hurricanes fans who want this team to succeed. They want to see the Hurricanes hit their stride heading into the post-season.

Injury-wise, Juha Metsola and Ben Wright missed the Hurricanes last two games. Both I think are still day-to-day. I would expect Juha to return this week.

Tonight on CJOC at 7pm it's "The Hurricanes This Week". Paul Kingsmith from Global TV will co-host the show with me tonight. Our guests include Canes' forward Kyle Beach and Jon Keen, the radio voice of the Swift Current Broncos. We were hoping to get Kevin Meunch, the director of WHL officiating, but he couldn't make it tonight. Hopefully we'll get him on next week instead. Our last talk show for the season will be March 16th.