Canes' Lose 4-1 in Regina....@ Moose Jaw Tonight

Specialty teams was clearly the difference as the Regina Pats beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-1 Saturday night at the Brandt Centre.

Eric Mestery scored the lone Canes' goal on a power play in the first period on a 5 on 3 man advantage. That would be the only offence Lethbridge would find on the night. Jordan Eberle scored twice and added one assist to lead the way for Regina. As I said off the top, specialty teams was what won the game for the Pats and lost it for the Hurricanes in my opinion. Regina went 3 for 5 with the extra man. The Hurricanes were 1 for 9 on the power play. The Canes' had numerous good chances to score, but just couldn't get the puck in the net. That's been an issue for this team over the past 4 games. The Canes' are going to need to get more production from the power play units, plain and simple.

Head Coach/GM Rich Preston stated to me in the pre-game show last night that although he's quite happy with his defence and goaltending in the past 4 or 5 games, he's concerned about the Hurricanes lack of goal production as of late. Lethbridge managed only 2 goals in Brandon, 2 versus Saskatoon last weekend, they were shutout by Chilliwack earlier this week and scored only once in Regina last night. Preston wants to see more offence from this team. Radim Valchar did not play against the Pats. He wasn't feeling well and stayed back at the hotel. Valchar is one player Preston would like to see start hitting the back of the net. He hasn't scored since his first game in a Lethbridge uniform.

Tonight the Hurricanes will play their last road game for a while. After this game in Moose Jaw, the Hurricanes will have played 14 games on the season, 11 of which have been away from the Enmax Centre. The Warriors are certainly no pushover hockey team. They are playing some of their best hockey in years in Moose Jaw right now and are going to be a tough opponent. Moose Jaw shouldbe a well rested team. They have not played since Thanksgiving Day 6 days ago. The Warriors are right up at the top of Eastern Conference at the moment too. They traded away some of their top commodities at the trade deadline last season and it looks like that is paying dividends early on this season. This will be a tough game for Lethbridge no doubt. We will see just how much gas they have left in the tank. This game marks the end of 4 games in 5 days.

Hurricanes fans will get their fair share of this Lethbridge team over the next month. The Hurricanes begin a long home stretch starting Wednesday night at home versus Portland. Moose Jaw will be in Lethbridge a week from tonight. The Canes will have next Friday and Saturday off.

Game time tonight from the Crushed Can in Moose Jaw is 7 pm. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.

Hockey and the H1-N1 Flu

It looks like the entire Hurricanes team will be rolling up their sleeves in the next few weeks. I was talking to Head Coach/GM Rich Preston before last night's game against the Pats and was curious as to how the team was going to approach the upcoming flu season, in particular the much talked about H1-N1 virus which has made a big comeback in parts of Canada. Preston told me all the players will be getting both the seasonal flu shot and then when it becomes available in the next couple of weeks, the H1-N1 vaccine. Good call I think. The last thing a hockey team needs to have to deal with is a virus spreading from player to player. Here in Saskatchewan, the H1-N1 virus has hit the SJHL's Notre Dame Hounds from what I've been told. Watching the news the other night, it seems the virus is hitting parts of B.C. pretty hard too. A smart decision I think for the coaches to recommend the players get the shots, just in case the virus comes calling.

Thanks,
Pat