Friday, 16 October 2009

On the Road Again....Canes @ Wheat Kings

Hi from Regina.

The Hurricanes rolled into the Queen City around 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon, settled in to the hotel, and went for a team supper. This is a very busy stretch for Lethbridge with three games in three nights starting tonight in the Wheat City.

The Canes’ will play three teams this weekend that they haven’t played yet this year as they try and rebound from two losses on home-ice, the most recent being a 1-0 shutout loss to Chilliwack two nights ago. The Hurricanes didn’t seem ready for that game and tonight I would expect to see a much more determined Lethbridge team. The Hurricanes need to get off to a better start too. It was slow going for the Canes’ on Wednesday and I know for certain the coaching staff would like to see more jump to start this road trip off against the Wheaties.

As people are well aware, Brandon will be hosting the Memorial Cup this coming spring and on paper, have one of better teams in the WHL. Kelly McCrimmon has consistently put together a competitive team year in and year out, but with the big tournament being held in the Manitoba city this season, you can bet he’ll want the strongest team possible to take a shot at winning it all. The Wheat Kings have a veteran team for the most part and deep with talent. They are lead by Schenn, Glennie, and Calvert and have a pretty darn good supporting cast to go along with that trio. The Wheaties though have been kind of up and down so far this season, but I truly believe they will be near the top of the standings in the East once the regular season is over in March.

This will be maybe the first big test of the year for Lethbridge. They were tested by a very good Saskatoon team last weekend in a game the Canes’ let slip away and they played well despite the loss. Head Coach/G.M. Rich Preston told me after that game that the effort he saw from his team on Saturday showed that this group of Hurricanes can play with the best teams in the league. This will be another good gauge for this team as it tries to stay with the pack here in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference.

The Canes’ need everyone to be singing from the same songbook this weekend. According to Associate Coach Matt Kabayama after the Wednesday loss to the Bruins, some players seemed to have taken that game off and he was adamant they have to play better if they want to get some wins.

Hurricanes fans have to like the way this team plays on special teams. I kind of touched on that in my blog post yesterday. That has been a huge positive for the Canes’. It’s just a matter of trying to eliminate the small mistakes, paying attention to detail, and taking advantage of opportunities when they arise.

Game time from Brandon is 6:30 (MT). The pre-game show on CJOC at 6. Feel free to send an email or comment to hurricanes@pttwireless.ca.

Thanks,
Pat

2 comments:

  1. great job canes on the win in brandon tonight,not always an easy place to play...keep up the solid effort thoughout this road trip and we will see you at home next wednesday...ps.. i agree with you pat about mestery it was one of his best game up to date and he has been getting better as time goes on...........GO CANES GO........

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  2. the team looked great last night..it was a hard fought victory and i am looking forward to tonight in Regina...i read the comments on the bruins blog and i am in agreement with Richie...i also think some of the blogs we just put in to start something..good luck boys GO CANES GO.......HURRICANE HOCKEY

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