The somewhat new-look Lethbridge Hurricanes will try for their first win of the still young season tonight, when they take on the Rebels in Red Deer.
It's been a very busy week for Head Coach/G.M. Rich Preston. After acquiring overage forward Radim Valchar from Portland for a 6th round bantam draft pick, he decided it was time to address the team's biggest concern, the defence. Preston went out and picked up defencemen Mike Reddington and Landon Oslanski from Spokane in exchange for forward Kyle Beach.
Valchar, Reddington, and Oslanski as well as newly signed local prospect Mitch Maxwell will be in the Lethbridge line-up tonight in Red Deer, already vastly altering the look of this team from just a week ago when the season opened.
Also back for the Hurricanes tonight is defenceman Brennan Yadlowski who returned this week from Philadelphia's camp. He'll add some much needed experience on the backend too. This weekend, the Canes' will have a much stronger defence no question with the additions of Reddington, Yadlowski, and Oslanski. Once Carter Ashton is back from Tampa Bay, which I expect to be fairly soon this team will have a full contingent of players.
I would also expect to see a more confident Lethbridge team given the acquisitions made this week. Rich Preston's philosophy as I've said before is building a team from the backend out and not trading away your top draft picks for players. He did a little of bit of all that this week!
Game time tonight from the Enmax Centrium in Red Deer is 7:30. The pre-game show on CJOC, 94.1 The Lounge with myself and Fred Jack at 7. Tomorrow the Hurricanes will play in Swift Current, also a 7:30 start.
Thanks and enjoy the games this weekend!
Pat
The views expressed on this blog are those of the moderator and contributors and are not endorsed by 94.1 CJOC or the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Watching the WEBTV Dead rear/Canes game, and there is reason for renewed hope in LA! I hope Mike Dyck is watching and learning how to play hockey without cycling aimlessly in the corners until losing the puck! Great powerplay PLAN, nice cross-ice puck movement, and nice player & puck hard to the net. Reddington looks 'ready', Valchar looks valtastic, and our transition game is getting better. I will be surprized if Valchar does NOT score more than 50 times this year... NICE! Richie.
ReplyDeleteWatching the WEBTV Dead rear/Canes game, and there is reason for renewed hope in LA! I hope Mike Dyck is watching and learning how to play hockey without cycling aimlessly in the corners until losing the puck! Great powerplay PLAN, nice cross-ice puck movement, and nice player & puck hard to the net. Reddington looks 'ready', Valchar looks valtastic, and our transition game is getting better. I will be very surprized if Valchar does NOT score more than 50 times this year... NICE! Richie.
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