Mestery Heading Back to Tri-City

Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes continue to fine tune their lineup as Canes General Manager/Head Coach, Rich Preston, announced the Canes have acquired a 2nd round pick in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft from teh Tri-City Americans in exchange for defenseman Eric Mestery. Mestery was acquired by the Canes last season; along with forward Drew Hoff; in exchange for forward Mitch Fadden and defensemen - Cam Stevens and Brock Sutherland.

The 6 foot 5, 202 pound Mestery was selected in the second round (57th overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals. The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba was originally drafted by the Ams in the 1st round (7th overall) in the 2005 WHL Bantam Draft and has accumulated 48 points (6G, 42A) and 146 PIMs in 193 WHL regular season games.

This becomes the sixth deal in the past four seasons between these two clubs – in 2006 Colton Yellow Horn was moved to the Americans in exchange for a first round draft pick in 2007, a pick the Hurricanes used to secure prospect, Mark Reners in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft. Also in 2007, the Canes moved defenseman Colin Frederickson to the Ams in exchange for Chris Inglis, (who was unable to report due to injury) and later that season, traded d-man Mitch McColm for Nic Knudsen. This season, the Canes moved hard hitting defenseman Cody Castro to the Ams in exchange for a fifth round draft pick.

(From Ryan Ohashi)

Raiders Blank Hurricanes 3-0

One goal in each period as the Prince Albert Raiders beat the Hurricanes 3-0 last night at the Enmax Centre. It's the second time this season that the Canes' have been blanked. Lethbridge has also lost 4 games in a row.

A lack-luster start in last night's game. To be blunt, I thought the first half of the game was kind of a yawner to be honest. Only two shots were registered between the Hurricanes and Raiders in the first 6 minutes. It took a while for things to open up in this one. Prince Albert opened the scoring on a pretty lucky bounce just past the mid-way point in the first. A centering pass by Raiders forward Ryan Harrison from behind the Canes' net went off the skate of Brent Henke and behind goalie Brandon Anderson to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead after one. The Hurricanes started to come on with about 5 minutes to go in the first. The Canes' were out shot 14-6 in the first frame.

In the second, P.A would take a 2-0 lead on a power play goal by Brandon Herrod. That was the first penalty called in the game against either team. The two teams played more than half the game before the two officials, Dan Cowley and Ryan Thompson sent someone off to the penalty box. The Canes' later got a power play of their own, but failed to score.

In the third, the Raiders were able to hold the Hurricanes off the score sheet and managed to score one into an empty net to seal the deal and win the game 3-0. Overall, P.A. outshot the Hurricanes 29-26. Brandon Anderson I thought had another solid game in goal despite the loss. The Raiders were 1 for 1 on the power play. The Hurricanes were 0 for 3. Really, a light night for penalties.

The Hurricanes are just having trouble scoring lately and have been for some time. The team is averaging only about 2 goals or just under that per game. Associate Coach Matt Kabayama said on our post-game show last night that the Hurricanes aren't going to win games if they don't start scoring more. He says they are getting the chances, but right now just can't find the back of the net.


Scratches and Injury Update

Veteran defenceman Eric Mestery was a healthy scratch last night. D-man Derek Ryckman was scratched for the second game in a row. He's missed the passed two starts with a head injury. Cam Braes missed his second game with a sore back. Linden Rowat was also out again as the ankle he hurt in a game against Seattle a few weeks ago is still nagging him. Rich Preston said in the pre-game show last night that Rowat is able to put on his equipment, but is still having trouble in the butterfly position and will need a few more days of rest before he gets back into game action.

With those players not in the line-up, it gave all the younger players a chance to all get game action. Landon Oslanski, Mark Reners, Reid Jackson, Philip Tot, Neil Tarnasky, and Ryon Moser all saw regular shifts last night and I thought all played fairly well. Most of those players saw more ice time last night than in any other game this season.

Upcoming For the Canes'

Well in terms of games, not too much actually. The Hurricanes don't play again until Next Friday and Saturday when they hit the road for a short trip to Saskatoon and Prince Albert. The team will have a few good practice sessions though over the course of the next week. They'll take Friday off and then get back down to work Sunday and Monday in preparation for next weekend. The team will leave Wednesday for Saskatoon. The Hurricanes next 3 games are all away. After playing the Blades and Raiders to close out the November portion of the schedule, the Canes' will take on the Tigers in Medicine Hat December 1st. The Hurricanes have 9 games remaining before the Christmas break.

Thanks,
Pat

Sutter & Kolppanen Ranked by NHL Scouting

Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes are proud to congratulate 92-born forward Brody Sutter and 92-born goaltender Ville Kolppanen on being ranked in NHL Central Scouting Service’s Western Hockey League Fall Preliminary rankings. Sutter has been ranked 25th among WHL skaters while Kolppanen has been ranked 5th among WHL goalies.

Sutter arrived in Lethbridge close to the WHL trade deadline last season; coming over from the Saskatoon Blades. He is the tenth player of the famed Sutter family to make his way through the WHL, and was considered a diamond-in-the-rough by Saskatoon when he was listed by the Blades two years ago. His WHL career was hampered by a nerve injury in his shoulder costing him several games at the start of the 08-09 season. He tallied his first WHL goal on January 10th, 2009 in a game against the Vancouver Giants as a member of the Canes and has shown his versatility this season as a solid 3rd line center with seven points (2G, 5A). He is the son of former Lethbridge Bronco and NHL journeyman Duane Sutter and even wears the number 19, the same number his father wore while playing junior hockey in Lethbridge.

Kolppanen was selected by the Canes with their first round pick (32nd overall) in the 2009 CHL Import Draft. The 6’1” 195 pound Finn is a 92-born goaltender who hails from Tampere, Finland; the same city as Hurricanes “Finnish Phenom” Juha Metsola. Kolppanen hails from the same junior club – Ilves Jr. which produced Metsola as well as Finnish standouts Tuuka Rask, Riku Helenius. Lethbridge used their 2007 CHL Import Draft picks to select the Finnish born Metsola and Swiss born defenseman Luca Sbisa. Kolpannen continues to adjust to the North American game, posting a 1-6-0-0 record, notching his first career WHL win on October 3rd; a 9-2 win in Prince George. Kolppanen had a difficult end to October battling injury, but now hopes to be back in the Hurricanes rotation permanently.

(From Ryan Ohashi)

Canes' Host Prince Albert 7pm

The Lethbridge Hurricanes play their only game over the course of the next week and half tonight when they host the Prince Albert Raiders.

The Canes' are trying to end a slide that has seen the team lose 3 straight, including a 3-2 loss in overtime to the Kootenay Ice on Sunday night. Head Coach/GM Rich Preston was on Hurricanes This Week Monday. He told Fred and I these next 10 games leading up to Christmas are important. He also wants to see his team establish "that killer instinct on home ice".

Lethbridge is 4-4-2-0 in it's last 10 games, most of those have been by one goal. On the positive side of things, the Hurricanes have been in every game besides for the first 4 or 5 games to start the season when they were on wrong side of a few very lop-sided scores. Preston also indicted that the Canes' have to stop the cycle of lose 3 here and win 2 or 3 there. He wants to see more consistent hockey heading into the Christmas break.

The P.A. Raiders make their first visit to Lethbridge this season. The Raiders are a much better team than I think a lot of people expected. They've been hovering around the .500 mark for pretty much the whole season. P.A. played last night in Cranbrook and lost 4-3 in overtime to the Ice. The Raiders are a team which has been having trouble putting butts in the seats at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. They had one of the lowest attendance numbers in all of the CHL last season. That community-owned team lost more the $90,000 last year alone. The Canes' will play the Raiders again in Prince Albert next weekend.

The Numbers (Ryan Ohashi)

Captain Carter Bancks continues to lead the team with 26 points (8G, 18A) while Carter Ashton saw his nine game point streak come to an end on Sunday totaling 14 points (5G, 9A) during that span. But the story remains the performance of the Canes rookies as WHL rookie Mitch Maxwell leads all Canes rookies with 18 points (13G, 5A) in 22 games and just came off a five game goal streak; the longest this season in the WHL. His 13 goals lead all Canes scorers and are good for second in the WHL rookie goal scoring race. Rookie goaltender Brandon Anderson, posted an impressive 44 save performance in Sunday’s loss and rookie d-man Landon Oslanski currently leads the team with a plus-5 +/- rating.

Tonight's game is a 7 o'clock start. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.

Thanks,

Pat

Canes' Lose 3-2 in O.T. to Visiting Ice

A late goal in overtime gave the Kootenay Ice a 3-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes last night at the Enmax Centre.

It turned out to be a pretty entertaining finish to a game that kind of started out as a yawner to be honest. There wasn't too much emotion going on in the first 20 minutes or so, but things started to pick up half way through the second en route to what was a pretty exciting finish.

The Hurricanes opened the scoring with the only goal in the first period, when Austin Fyten put the puck passed Ice goaltender Todd Mathews. The Canes' played fairly well in the opening frame. Both teams got into some penalty trouble, but neither team was able to score with the man advantage in the first. The game though started to chance in the second.

Goaltender Brandon Anderson kept the Hurricanes in the game in the second. He was bombarded with shots in that period. In fact, the Ice out shot the Canes' 21-6 in the second alone. Kootenay did manage to score twice and take a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes, including the go-ahead marker short-handed.

In the third, the Canes' would get that one back with a short-handed goal of their own. Mitch Maxwell notched his team leading 13th goal early in the final frame to even the score at two. A great burst of speed at centre, Maxwell cut in and beat Mathews to tie the game. That goal sent the game into overtime. The Canes' had some good chances in the extra period, but Ice forward Steele Boomer stick-checked Hurricanes defenceman Brennan Yadlowski with 26 seconds left in O.T., fed the puck across to Matt Fraser and just like that the game is over and the Ice leave Lethbridge with a 3-2 win and a big extra point in the standings. The loss drops the Hurricanes record to 8-13-3-0 on the season. The Ice improve to 10-12-1-0.

The Canes' were outplayed last night for the better part of the game, but really started to come on strong in the last 10 minutes of the 3rd. I thought the game was won and lost in the second. Kootenay made some good adjustments after the first and came out strong in that second period and it paid off with two goals, but really the difference was clearly Brandon Anderson in the Hurricanes goal. If it wasn't for him, this game never gets to overtime. He was awarded the game's first star and no question very deserving. In our post-game show last night, Associate Coach Matt Kabayama said the Canes' took way too many penalties and need to cut down on the trips to the penalty box. He says the players on the P.K. lately are getting burned out. Both teams struggled though with the power play. Lethbridge was 0 for 6 and Kootenay went 0 for 8.

I think both teams were frustrated last night with the officiating at times. I very seldom ever take issue with the refs, but there were certainly some suspect calls against both teams that had Rich Preston and Mark Holick shaking their heads on the two benches, especially in the first period. In the end though, both teams spent too much time in the box and I think both coaches would agree would agree with that.

Next Up

A rather light stretch for the Hurricanes over the next two weeks after coming off a very busy week. Only one game between now and next Friday. The Prince Albert Raiders will pay a visit to the Enmax Centre on Wednesday (7pm). Then it'll be 9 days off between games for the Hurricanes as they won't play again until they travel to Saskatoon to take on the first place Blades on November 27th. As I've said earlier the time off between games may be coming at a good time for the Hurricanes. Cam Braes has missed the last two games with a back problem and goaltender Linden Rowat has been out two weeks nursing a sore ankle. Austin Fyten tok a hard hit last night and left the game briefly, but came back shortly after. Hopefully the next two weeks will give those three players and any others a chance to heal the wounds.

Hurricanes This Week

Our weekly Hurricanes hockey talk show is back on the air tonight at 6pm on CJOC. Canes' Head Coach/GM Rich Preston will be on the program for the first 40 minutes. He'll take your calls and e-mails. After that, we'll head to Prince Albert and speak with Drew Wilson, the radio voice of the Raiders to set up the Lethbridge-P.A. game Wednesday night. Our studio phone number is 403-388-4646 if you would like to ask Coach Preston a question or you can send an e-mail to hurricanes@pttwireless.ca.

Thanks,
Pat

Canes' Lose 4-2 in Medicine Hat

A pretty spirited and feisty hockey game last night in Medicne Hat.

The rivalry between the Hurricanes and Tigers was alive and well. Just 15 seconds in Mike Reddington dropped the gloves with Medicine Hat's Matthew Konan, that was just after the Tigers laid two solid body checks right off the drop of the puck. The game continued to be chippy with numerous penalties throughout.

The Tigers opened the scoring late in the first to take 1-0 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes. Luca Sbisa and Wacey Hamilton fought late in the opening period. I would give the edge to Sbisa in that one. No question a very entertaining first period though with a lot of jump from both teams.

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead early in the second on a power play goal by Taylor Gal, but the Hurricanes got one back mid-way through the period when Carter Bancks scored on a penalty shot to close the gap to 2-1. Medicine Hat would regain that 2 goal lead shortly after and took 3-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Special teams was clearly a factor last night. Lethbridge spent way too much time in the penalty box, no penalty more costly though than a too many men on the ice call in the 3rd. The Tigers scored on that power play to regain a two goal lead. That was a key time in the game, because Lethbridge had got back to within one less than a minute into the 3rd on a goal by Carter Ashton. The Tigers had 8 power plays and scored twice, including that big goal in the 3rd. The Hurricanes had their chances on the man advantage as well and finished the game 1 for 8. That last power goal though was timely for the Tigers as it gave the home side a two goal cushion again and a bit more breathing room as the Hurricanes were pressing hard to even the score.

Ville Kolppanen was great in goal for Lethbridge. He was the game's 3rd star and made numerous big saves to keep the Canes' in the hunt. It didn't look like he missed a beat after being sidelined for more than two weeks with a concussion. Cam Braes did not play last night and sat out with a back problem. Head Coach/GM Rich Preston said in the pre-game show that he could've played, but they decided it would be best that he rest up as the Hurricanes play only two games over the course of the next 12 days.

The Hurricanes will close out a busy 3 games in 3 days tonight when they host the Kootenay Ice. These two teams haven't played since opening night in Cranbrook when the Canes' wound up on the losing end of a very lopsided 8-1 score. Game time is 6pm (MT). The pre-game show on CJOC at 5:30. The Ice hammered the Tri-City Americans 7-1 in Cranbrook last night. This will be a big game for both teams as they try and stay out of the basement in the Eastern Conference.

Hey, a big thanks to Dave Wiggers at PTT Wireless. Dave was kind enough to set me up with one of those fancy internet turbo sticks from BELL. The thing works great. I guess no excuse for not getting work done on road trips on the bus anymore!

Thanks,

Pat