Canes 4 Ice 1....Rematch Tonight

The Hurricanes moved a step closer to having a shot at 6th place and even 5th place in Eastern Conference standings.

Last night the Canes' dumped the Kootency Ice 4-1 at the Enmax Centre in front of another large crowd. After what was kind of a slow first 5 minutes, the Hurricanes started to come on strong and took a 1-0 lead after the first on a power play goal by Carter Bancks. In the second, Kootenay would tie the game on a 5 on 3 man advantage, but shortly after that Lethbridge would regain the lead when Zach Boychuk rifled a shot upstairs on Ice goaltender Todd Mathews. That was also a short-handed goal giving the Canes' a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. In the 3rd, the Canes' added two more, one from Dwight King and then a beauty from Boychuk to seal the deal and the final score would be 4-1. Boychuk extended his point scoring streak to 12 consecutive games as the the Hurricanes and Ice get set to do battle again tonight in Cranbrook.

Carter Bancks was the game's first star as well as our hardest working Hurricane. No question deserving of both honours. The shots last night were 30-30 as it was for the most part a wide-open game. Certainly not defensive.

The win puts Lethbridge one point back of Kootenay with 2 games to go for the Canes and one left (tonight) for the Ice. Tonight's game in Cranbrook will for sure settle one thing, 6th place in the Eastern Conference. A Lethbridge win would knock the Ice into 7th and at least give the Hurricanes 6th place and still in the hunt for 5th, but they'll need a bit of help from Calgary on that front. A Kootenay victory and the Canes' would have to settle for 7th and a first round date with Saskatoon, which last night secured 2nd place officially. Brandon gets 3rd and Swift Current 4th. Calgary plays the Tigers in Medicine Hat tonight. If the Tigers win the Hurricanes can do no better than 6th if they beat Kootenay this evening. A Hitmen win in regulation and a Lethbridge win will set up a big game tomorrow on the final day of the regular season. That would be a game for 5th place for the Canes' if, again that all works out. So there are a few things that have to happen, but the key for the Hurricanes is to keep winning. They still, somewhat control their own destiny, at least for the time being.

Tonight's game is a 7 o'clock start from Cranbrook. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30. The Ice will give out their regular season awards tonight, so the puck likely won't drop till around 7:15.