Hurricanes Beat Wheaties 2-1....@ Regina Tonight

As Carter Bancks told me on the way to our post-game meal last night, "that was greasy road win!"

The Hurricanes pulled off a big victory in the Wheat City, downing Brandon 2-1 in front of just over 4300 people at the Keystone Centre. The Canes' played a pretty good road game I thought, beating a talented Wheat Kings team. It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but it's a victory for a team that was hoping to rebound from a home-ice loss in Lethbridge a few nights earlier.

Linden Rowat was the first star of the game last night and rightly so. He was put to the test over and over and managed to keep the puck out, at times making outstanding saves. The only shot to beat him was in the second period. Rowat stopped 34 of 35 shots. He was very good between the pipes and that's the kind of goaltending this team is going to need in order to be successful.

Offence was hard to come by Friday night. Carter Ashton was in on both Hurricanes goals, setting up the first one by Max Ross and then scoring the game winner less 2 minutes into the 3rd. It was a great goal set up by Landon Oslanski and a heads up pass from Brody Sutter from deep in his own zone to Ashton waiting at the Wheaties blueline. Ashton continues to score big league goals. The one last night was right up there.

One thing I thought the Hurricanes improved on last night over the Wednesday game was bearing down on their chances in close. The goal by Ross was a perfect example of what can happen when you simly put the puck on the net. Unlike the Chilliwack game, the Canes' didn't miss the net on many occasions in Brandon.

With the win, the Canes' move to within 2 points of Brandon in the standings, although we're only a dozen games into the season. The Hurricanes power play went 0 for 5 Friday and really didn't look too dangerous. The penalty killers managed to hold off the Brandon man advantage twice and in the process Lethbridge stayed out of the box in what was probably the team's most disciplined game thus far.

I must admit I'm quite surprised to read some of the comments on this blog after the Hurricanes 1-0 loss the other night to Chilliwack. Some people seem to think after 12 games, it's time for Rich Preston to bring out the TNT and blow things up. Why? I would suggest it's way too early to start thinking about that. Sure, the Hurricanes didn't play well against the Bruins and if you heard Associate Coach Matt Kabayama in the post-game show after he pretty much rubber stamped those sentiments, but to suggest it's time to trade this guy and that guy and build for next season is premature in my opinion. The Hurricanes aren't the only team that has struggled in the early part of the season here in the Eastern Conference and not one team in WHL has yet to light the dynamite so to speak. Most teams are going to wait till the Christmas break rolls around before determining if they should be making moves for this season or next. Sure, the Hurricanes have a few players that would likely fetch a nice return, but I think to consider doing anything drastic right now in that regard would be putting the cart before the horse. Give it some time. Rich Preston has already done a lot in the past few weeks and I certainly don't think he's finished yet. The biggest concern at the start was keeping the puck out the net. In the first 6 games, the Hurricanes gave up a total of 36 goals against. In the last 6 games, the Canes' have given up just 11. That's a huge contrast and no doubt the changes made in goal and on defence have had an impact. I'm not saying this team has turned the corner completely, but they've made big strides to improve and it has shown on he ice. Granted, the team still has to try and find a few more goals. If Linden Rowat and Ville Kolppanen play decent in goal each game and give this team a chance to win, the onus will be on the players in front to score a few and help this team to victory.

Tonight, the Hurricanes are in Regina to take on the Pats for the first time this season. After a slow start, Regina has started to score goals and with Jordan Eberle back in the fold, the Pats have the potential to score a lot. Linden Rowat is back in the Queen City for the first time since being traded to Lethbridge a couple of weeks back. He had a very good career here, posting 85 wins. I'm sure he'd like nothing more than to get a victory against his old team at the Brandt Centre. Rich Preston is also back in his old stomping grounds this evening. He coached the Pats back in the 90's.

Game time tonight from Regina is 7pm. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.

Thanks,
Pat