Blades Draw First Blood

The Lethbridge Hurricanes find themselves trailing their best of 7 first round playoff series with Saskatoon 1-0 after a 5-1 loss last night at Credit Union Centre.

The Canes' struck first in game one, when Cam Braes scored into a wide open goal after Saskatoon's goaltender Braden Holtby got caught behind his net. The Blades would then score twice to take a 2-1 lead after one. It appeared the Hurricanes tied the game up before the end of that opening period, but the officials ruled the puck was tipped in with a high stick. The goal was reviewed by the video goal judge and although it looked like the puck contacted the stick just below the crossbar, the video goal judge found no conclusive evidence to overrule the official's original call. I felt, after seeing the reply, the goal should've counted.

The game stayed 2-1 Blades until late in the 2nd, when Saskatoon took a 3-1 lead on the power play. That I thought is where the momentum shifted into the Blades favour. Saskatoon added 2 more in the 3rd to win it 5-1. The Blades scored twice on the power play while the Canes failed to score with the man advantage. The Hurricanes will need a much stronger performance tonight as they now try and even this series at one heading back to Lethbridge for games 3 and 4 next week.Third string goaltender Brandon Anderson got the call in game one last night. I must admit I didn’t see that one coming. He did play fairly well I thought. He came up with a few very good stops. According to coach Michael Dyck in the CJOC pre-game show, Anderson was the strongest goalie in practice over the past week and that’s why they decided to give him the start. It’ll be interesting to see who gets the call tonight in game two. Is Metsola ready to go? Will Anderson go again? Will Michael Tadjdeh get a shot? I guess we’ll have to wait till game time to find out the answer!

The focus for Lethbridge now has to be tying this series up. They will need contributions from everyone and they’ll need to play a solid game from start to finish. Last night, I thought the Hurricanes played well for the first 7 or so minutes then the Blades found their legs. It was a fairly entertaining too for the most part.

Last night’s game was a physical affair as well. A number of solid checks from both teams last night. It was also a feisty affair. I would expect to see much of the same tonight.

Expect the Blades to be a very hungry bunch tonight. I’m sure they’d love nothing more than to go up 2-0 in this series. The Canes’, with a win here tonight, can effectively turn this into a best of 5.

The puck drops at 7. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.