Penalties Cost Canes' in Cranbrook

Not the way the Hurricanes wanted to head into the Christmas break.

It was a real slow start to last night's contest in Cranbrook. Not much action in the first 13 minutes or so with just one shot registered between the teams through the first half of the opening period. It was a lack-luster opening 20 minutes I thought, but maybe that was a good thing for the Hurricanes. After hitting a post and a crossbar, the Ice opened the scoring late on the power-play to take a 1-0 lead when Kevin King banged home a rebound off the pads of Brandon Anderson. The Hurricanes were out shot 7-2 in the first. Hurricanes defenceman Derek Ryckman left the game holding his shoulder after a fight with Drew Czerwonka. Ryckman did not return and that left the Canes' to rotate in 5 d-men for the remainder of the night.

In the second, the Hurricanes continued to have issues generating chances. The Ice scored twice more with the man advantage, once early and once late to take a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes. Kootenay's 3rd goal was scored on a 5 on 3 power play when the Hurricanes took two penalties on the same series, putting the Ice on a two man advantage for an entire two minutes. It only took 16 seconds for James Martin to put his team up by a 3 spot. The Hurricanes only managed 9 shots through two periods.

Things didn't improve much in the 3rd for the visitors. The Hurricanes did score though. Mitch Maxwell potted his team leading 16th goal of the season on the power play to break the goose egg for Lethbridge. The Ice though would keep it coming and on the power play too. Kootenay scored three more times with the man advantage to win it easily 6-1. Penalties proved very costly for the Hurricanes, who now drop 10 games below 500. The Canes' need to be more disciplined. In two games, the Ice score 9 power plays on the Lethbridge. That can't continue to happen.

I thought the Hurricanes didn't play too badly at times, but penalties seriously cost them last night. The Kootenay power play was deadly again last night going 6 for 10. All the damage the Ice did was on special teams. The Hurricanes now have just 2 wins in their past 13 games. It'll be a long Christmas break for this team, but hopefully a little more hungry when the second half of the year kicks in. I guess the Hurricanes are wishing Santa Claus brings this team a few more victories under the tree this year. Wins have been tough to come by for this group in 2009.

Head Coach and GM Rich Preston made it clear before last night's game he wasn't happy with the goaltending on Friday. He told me Ville Kolppanen, as he sees it hasn't been the same since he suffered a concussion in practice back in October. He hopes that the rest over Christmas will do him and the rest of the team a lot of good. He thought the Friday game versus the Ice, "was our ugliest loss of the season."

This blogger is taking a break too! There likely won't be much posted here over the next few days leading up to Christmas. I'll be back in full force as the Canes' next action is set for Sunday, December 27th when they take on the Rebels in Red Deer (6pm MT). I'd like to wish everyone a great and blessed Christmas season. Thanks to all those who take the time to read this blog and render a comment from time to time. It's fun thing to do and I hope it's been a beneficial source of Hurricanes news and information. On behalf of my entire family as well as the Lethbridge Hurricanes and all of us at CJOC-FM, have a happy and safe holiday! Talk to you soon.

Pat