Hello from Brandon, Manitoba.
We arrived here last night around 9 pm after a roughly 11 hour bus ride from Lethbridge. The Hurricanes will take on the Wheat Kings for the final time this season, barring a meeting in the playoffs of course. The Hurricanes are coming off back-to-back losses to the Medicine Hat Tigers on the weekend and currently sit in 7th place in the conference, one point back of Kootenay, 7 back of Swift Current, and 8 behind the Tigers. With 10 games to go, the Hurricanes are going to have to play play-off like hockey before the post-season. They need to find a stride over the next couple of weeks before playoff time hits. This should be a good game this evening. The Wheaties have been one of the hottest teams since the Christmas break and are currently in a battle with Saskatoon for 2nd place in the conference. Those two teams are separated by just 4 points.
Just before we left yesterday, the WHL brought down a 3 game suspension on Canes' forward Kyle Beach. This bring to 8, the total number of games Beach has been suspended since arriving in Lethbridge at the trade deadline. A lot of Hurricanes fans are a little frustrated over this latest suspension. One email I received yesterday states" How does Beach get tagged again, but yet the antics of Tigers defenceman Matt McCue go unnoticed by the league brass?". Another fan even suggests "there's a double standard here" and questions why Medicine Hat gets nothing. I'm not saying Beach is a saint here. He has to take responsibility for his actions yes, but doesn't every other player in the league? I do understand the frustration of Lethbridge fans upset about this. There were more than 230 penalty minutes in that game on Saturday. Beach will not be able to play again until Sunday in Regina.
On the injury front, Goalie Juha Metsola is cleared a ready to go for tonight's game after sitting out the last two with a lower body injury. Ben Wright appears to be better and will be a game time decision. There's a chance he might sit this one out tonight though.
I really think another important thing for this Lethbridge team is to not get rattled and let some of these things, like suspensions get them off their game. The team needs to keep it's focus in the remaining games. They still have an shot at catching at least Swift Current for 5th, but they'll have to play at a pretty clip to get it done.
Tonight's game is a 6 o'clock start from Brandon. The pre-game show on CJOC at 5:30.
We arrived here last night around 9 pm after a roughly 11 hour bus ride from Lethbridge. The Hurricanes will take on the Wheat Kings for the final time this season, barring a meeting in the playoffs of course. The Hurricanes are coming off back-to-back losses to the Medicine Hat Tigers on the weekend and currently sit in 7th place in the conference, one point back of Kootenay, 7 back of Swift Current, and 8 behind the Tigers. With 10 games to go, the Hurricanes are going to have to play play-off like hockey before the post-season. They need to find a stride over the next couple of weeks before playoff time hits. This should be a good game this evening. The Wheaties have been one of the hottest teams since the Christmas break and are currently in a battle with Saskatoon for 2nd place in the conference. Those two teams are separated by just 4 points.
Just before we left yesterday, the WHL brought down a 3 game suspension on Canes' forward Kyle Beach. This bring to 8, the total number of games Beach has been suspended since arriving in Lethbridge at the trade deadline. A lot of Hurricanes fans are a little frustrated over this latest suspension. One email I received yesterday states" How does Beach get tagged again, but yet the antics of Tigers defenceman Matt McCue go unnoticed by the league brass?". Another fan even suggests "there's a double standard here" and questions why Medicine Hat gets nothing. I'm not saying Beach is a saint here. He has to take responsibility for his actions yes, but doesn't every other player in the league? I do understand the frustration of Lethbridge fans upset about this. There were more than 230 penalty minutes in that game on Saturday. Beach will not be able to play again until Sunday in Regina.
On the injury front, Goalie Juha Metsola is cleared a ready to go for tonight's game after sitting out the last two with a lower body injury. Ben Wright appears to be better and will be a game time decision. There's a chance he might sit this one out tonight though.
I really think another important thing for this Lethbridge team is to not get rattled and let some of these things, like suspensions get them off their game. The team needs to keep it's focus in the remaining games. They still have an shot at catching at least Swift Current for 5th, but they'll have to play at a pretty clip to get it done.
Tonight's game is a 6 o'clock start from Brandon. The pre-game show on CJOC at 5:30.
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