Off To Toon' Town

(Loading the Bus at the Enmax Centre)

On The Bus - For the first time in a long time, the Lethbridge Hurricanes are finally going on a road trip.

Besides a quick trip to Medicine Hat a few weeks ago, the Canes' have been playing exclusively at home for more than a month, now it's back on the road for the next three games. Lethbridge plays in Saskatoon Friday, at Prince Albert Saturday before returning home early Sunday morning. They'll make a short trip into Medicine Hat again next Tuesday to kick off the December portion of their schedule.

The Hurricanes are trying to get out of a rut on this mini road trip. They've lost 4 games in a row and I'm sure would like nothing more than to turn their fortunes around against the best team in the WHL in Saskatoon. I know for certain the players and coaches for that matter are ready to get back into game action after this long break. This is the longest stretch of the year for the Hurricanes without playing a single game. Their Christmas break won't even be this long. They'll have only 7 days off during Christmas. A weird quirk in the Canes' schedule this year. Whether that will be the case next year remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, the Hurricanes next two seasons will start much the same. The team will have to start on the road next year and the year after too for likely 5 or 6 games. This again has to do with the ongoing renovations at the Enmax Centre. There are some positives and negatives in all that, I suppose. Most coaches would like more of a balanced schedule instead of long road trips and then long stretches of home games. Not much the Hurricanes can do about that the next couple seasons.

The team loaded the bus this morning and we left the Enmax Centre just after 9am. We have a loaded bus. The Canes' have taken every player, injured or not and few extra staff members too. The team decided to leave a day early on this trip just to change the routine for the players a bit.

Injury Update
It appears Cam Braes should be ready to go again this weekend. He's missed the Hurricanes last three games with a nagging back problem. I spoke to Braes yesterday and he tells me he's been working hard with a chiropractor and massage therapist over the course of this 9 day break and he says he's looking forward to getting back into the line-up on Friday in Saskatoon. As for Linden Rowat, he's still sidelined with that ankle issue. He's been out three weeks now and when the injury initially happened, to me it didn't look too good, but it appeared after that maybe it wasn't that bad. Well, he's still not 100%. Associate Coach Matt Kabayama talked about this a bit on Hurricanes This Week on Monday and said Rowat has no trouble putting on his equipment, but when it comes to going down into the butterfly position on the ice, that's where the problems lie. So with Rowat still rehabbing the ankle, Brandon Anderson and Ville Kolppanen will continue to carry the load between the pipes for the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Thanks,
Pat