Canes' vs. Pats

Happy New Year!

The Lethbridge Hurricanes will try for their 3rd straight win tonight as they host the Regina Pats.

The Canes' came back from two goals down on Wednesday night to beat Medicine Hat 3-2 in overtime. The Pats on the other hand are struggling big time at the moment. They've lost 9 games in a row, including an 8-4 loss in Cranbrook on New Year's Eve. Regina has been missing two key players. Jordan Eberle and Colton Tuebert are both playing with Team Canada at the world juniors. The Pats also have a few injuries which hasn't helped their cause either.

This will be second time Carter Ashton and Craig Orfino return to Lethbridge since the Hurricanes traded them to Regina a few weeks ago. Part the Pats recent losing skid was a 5-1 Lethbridge victory over the Pats a few weeks back. It was no doubt the best played game of the season for the Canes'. Regina leads Lethbridge by 7 points in the Eastern Conference standings. The Pats are 10th while the Hurricanes remain in 12th spot.

Hopefully we'll find out more regarding Luca Sbisa's injury. Gregg Drinnan is reporting on his blog that Luca has gone back to Switzerland to get checked over by doctors there. He suffered what is said to be an abdominal injury in a game at the world juniors earlier this week. Sbisa is said to be out for 4 weeks. He was supposed to return to the Canes' line-up next Wednesday in Brandon, but if that's the case we likely won't see him for quite some time. 4 weeks would take Sbisa up to the Olympics as it was announced last week that he's made the Swiss men's team. After that is over it's almost near the end of February and by that time there will only be 3 weeks or so left in the regular season. Of course, many Lethbridge fans are wondering if this injury will have an impact on Sbisa's trade ability come the WHL deadline next Sunday. It's been widely speculated for months that Sbisa would likely be one of the most sought after players at trade deadline time if the Hurricanes decide to deal him away. Does all this now affect that?

After tonight's game, the first of 2010 for both teams, the Hurricanes will hit the road for their next 5 games. Tomorrow in Calgary at 5pm and then off to Brandon, Prince Albert, and Saskatoon next week and then the following week to Swift Current before coming back home for a pair of games mid month.

Tonight game starts at 7 o'clock from the Enmax Centre. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.

Thanks,
Pat

Sbisa Injured at World Juniors

It appears the Lethbridge Hurricanes are going to be without the services of defenceman Luca Sbisa for longer than expected and it has nothing to do with the olympics.

TSN's Bob McKenzie is reporting on Twitter that, "Sbisa's injury is a torn ab/oblique muscle. Four weeks. Should be ready for Olympics but won't have played a lot of hockey before then." Here's the link to his twitter site: http://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie. Thanks to Jay for the lead.

I'm sure this is the last thing Hurricanes Head Coach/GM Rich Preston wanted to hear. I haven't asked him about it yet, but I would assume he's concerned no doubt. Regardless whether the Canes' planned to keep Sbisa or trade him before the deadline, this is surely not good news for Lethbridge.

Sbisa didn't play much in the Swiss Team's last few games and left the ice the other night hunched over. Hopefully it's not as bad as it sounds. Obviously bad enough I suppose to keep Sbisa sidelined for a month.

Thanks,
Pat

Canes' Beat Tigers 3-2 in Overtime

A big come-from-behind victory for the Lethbridge Hurricanes last night.

Not a good start to this game for the Hurricanes though. The Tigers scored twice in the first 6 minutes to take a quick 2-0 lead on the home town Canes'. Medicine Hat was buzzing from the drop of the puck and out shot Lethbridge 10-3 in the first. The Tigers got goals from Matt McKay and hot shot rookie Emerson Etem. The Hurricanes though really settled things down after that.

A much better second for the Canes'. nThey came out of the gate with a lot more jump and were rewarded for their efforts. Austin Fyten fired a shot over the glove hand of Tyler Bunz to cut the Tigers lead to 2-1. It was Fyten's 13th goal of the season. Lethbridge had some very good chances in the second, but also got into some penalty trouble late. The Tigers had back-to-back 5 on 3 power plays, which the Hurricanes managed to kill off to keep it a one goal contest after 40 minutes.

In the 3rd, the Hurricanes began to pour it on and eventually tied the game at 2 when Mark Reners stole a lose puck behind the Medicine Hat net and tucked it behind a surprised Tyler Bunz for his 3rd goal of the season. The Canes' had the Tigers running around in the 3rd and out shot Medicine Hat 13-10 in that final period heading into overtime. The shots through regulation were 32-26 Tigers. In the O.T. it was wide open, end to end action. Both teams had some excellent chances, but Mitch Maxwell would finish off the big comeback with a wrist shot that beat Tigers goaltender Tyler Bunz over the glove with just over a minute to go to send the Exmax Centre crowd into a frenzy and give the Canes' a huge 3-2 victory. It's the Hurricanes second win in a row and a very positive note to end off 2009.

Overall, this was a pretty entertaining hockey game and yet another one goal contest for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, their 18th one goal game this season. 7 have been wins. A very good crowd last night too. 3991 was the official attendance at the Enmax Centre and was one of the largest crowds of the season for the Hurricanes. The crowd was right into this game, no more so when Maxwell scored the winner in overtime. It was truly an entertaining hockey game no matter what team you cheered for. It was a great game to watch and had a little bit of everything for the fans. The three stars were: 1. Austin Fyten 2. Matt McKay 3. Brandon Anderson

A Chat with the G.M.
Before the game last night I asked Head Coach and GM Rich Preston about the team's goaltending situation. With Linden Rowat set to return, that leaves the Canes' with three netminders. Preston said those are the decisions you like as a coach. He noted that Brandon Anderson has played very well for the team ever since Rowat went down with injury nearly two months ago. He says he's been hot and cold, but for the most part has given the Hurricanes a chance to win almost every game he's played. Preston says getting Rowat back is huge and having three goalies is a good situation for this team to be in right now. He says whoever is stopping the puck the best, is going to play. I also asked Preston about the upcoming trade deadline on January 10th. I asked him if his phone is still ringing. He stopped, smiled, chuckled and said, "when it's on, it's ringing! Let's put it that way."

The Hurricanes are now off until Saturday when they host the struggling Regina Pats. It'll be the first game of 2010 for Lethbridge. After that, the Canes' will hit the road for 5 straight over the next week and half in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They'll make a stop first on Sunday to play the Hitmen at the Saddledome in Calgary.


Thanks,
Pat

Sbisa to play for Swiss Olympic Team

Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes are very proud to congratulate defenseman Luca Sbisa on his selection for Team Switzerland at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Sbisa is currently competing in the 2010 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in the Regina and Saskatoon as Team Switzerland’s captain. This means he will hold the unique honor of being a CHL player and representing his country in both the World Juniors and Olympics in the same season. The Olympics in Vancouver will be his first and mark his third time donning his country’s colors in major competition after also playing in the 2008 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic. That season he was one of two players to participate in that tournament, as former Hurricanes forward Zach Boychuk represented Team Canada in the first of his two U-20 World Junior appearances. Sbisa has also played many tournaments at the U-18 level for Team Switzerland. Sbisa was reassigned to Lethbridge from the Anaheim Ducks this fall and in 96 WHL regular season games with the Canes he has scored 61 points (11G, 50A) and notched a career +15 plus/minus rating and 100 PIMs. He also proved himself as a WHL playoff performer; in 30 WHL Playoff games he has scored 18 points (5G, 13A) while posting a +8 plus/minus and 29 PIMs, leading all WHL d-men in scoring in the 08 playoffs.

He was one of two CHL Import Draft picks the Hurricanes made in 2007; the first was Finnish goaltender Juha Metsola. Sbisa went from being relatively unknown to being ranked in the Top 20 of North American Players by Central Scouting for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Sbisa was also a member of Team Red at the 2008 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects game. He was the recipient of the 2007-2008 Carl Trentini Memorial Award for the Hurricanes rookie of the year and was selected in the first round (19th overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. Sbisa signed an entry level NHL contract that fall and began the season as a member of the Flyers where he played 39 NHL games before being returned to the Canes at the end of last season and joining the Ducks during this past off season.
(From Ryan Ohashi)

The Canadian Men's Olympic Team was announced today too. Former Hurricanes defenceman Brent Seabrook was named to the squad. Veteran defenceman Scott Niedermayer will serve as captain whilefellow blue-liner Chris Pronger and forwards Sidney Crosby and Jarome Iginla will be alternates. Yzerman and his management team made some bold decisions. Forward Patrice Bergeron made the squad despite not being among the 46 players invited to the summer orientation camp in Calgary. Yzerman also put 20-year-old defenceman Drew Doughty on the team. He was selected ahead of Jay Bouwmeester and Mike Green. Several players that were part of the 2006 Olympic team were left off the roster, including Vincent Lecavalier, Shane Doan, Simon Gagne, Ryan Smyth, Martin St. Louis, Robyn Regehr and Jay Bouwmeester.
(From the Canadian Press)

Hurricanes End Skid In Edmonton

The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a 4 game losing skid last night with a 2-1 shootout victory at Rexall Place.

The Hurricanes and Oil Kings played to a scoreless tie in the opening period Tuesday. Both teams had some pretty good chances. The goalies, Brandon Anderson and Torrie Jung played solid between the pipes in the opening 20 minutes. Canes' forward Austin Fyten had to leave the game after he took some punches in a fight with Edmonton's Drew Nichol. Nichol took exception to a hit from Fyten. He dropped the gloves with the Hurricane forward and was given 17 minutes in penalties as a result. Fyten was given two for charging. He returned to the game in second.

Edmonton then found itself in some serious penalty trouble. The Canes' had 5 straight power plays in the second frame and finally scored to break the scoreless tie. Brent Henke somewhere touched the puck after a shot from Austin Fyten went off of Carter Bancks and up and over Jung and into the Edmonton net. Oil Kings coach Steve Pleau was not a happy camper on the Edmonton bench either. A few non-calls against the Hurricanes fired up the Edmonton bench boss. Pleau made his displeasure known on a few occasions in the second period.

In the 3rd, it looked like maybe the Canes' might hold on for a shutout win, but they ran into penalty issues late. The Oil Kings had a two man advantage with under 3 minutes left in regulation. A shot from the point found it's way past Anderson to even the game at one sending things into overtime. No one scored in the extra period so this game would have to be decided in a shooutout, The two teams went through 5 shooters before Carter Bancks would beat Torrie Jung low along the ice on the glove side to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 victory. It's only the team's 5th road win of the season. Edmonton out shot Lethbridge 30-27. Brandon Anderson was the game's 2nd star. Austin Fyten was star number one.

The Hurricanes called up a couple of affiliate players for this game. Defenceman Adam Henry played a few shifts in his second game with the Canes' and forward Jordan Baillie saw the ice a few times too. Most of their shifts came in the first. With the Hurricanes a bit shorthanded on defence as well as a few injuries, Rich Preston decided to bring in some of the future to help out.


Sorry, it was in

Hurricanes Head Coach/GM Rich Preston received a phone call yesterday from the WHL. It appears after further review, the goal that was disallowed in Red Deer Sunday was indeed in. After the game, the WHL got another look it and agreed that the puck was in before the net came off. Tough break for the Canes'. It's too bad really for Lethbridge, a team that's been struggling to get points and victories. I understand mistakes are made, but video replay is supposed to right a wrong. It appears it failed in that instance and cost the Hurricanes at least a point in the standings. It's over now and done with. I just wanted to rant! I commend the WHL for admitting a mistake was made.


The Hurricanes are back at it tonight at home for their final game of 2009. They host the Medicine Hat Tigers. Game time is 7pm (MT). The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.


Thanks,
Pat

Hurricanes @ Edmonton

The Lethbridge Hurricanes hit the bus again today for a trip up to Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings.

This will be only the second meeting of the season between the two teams. The Hurricanes won the first match way back in early October at the Enmax Centre, in what was the Canes' home opener.

Both teams have been struggling this season and currently take up the last two spots in the Eastern Conference. The Oil Kings are 10-20-4-4 in 38 games while the Hurricanes are 10-21-3-1 in 35 games. This match-up tonight will mark the official halfway point in the season for Lethbridge.

Edmonton is a team that most people in the league, and likely the Oil Kings themselves thought would be fighting for a playoff spot right now. They started out not too bad in the early part of the season, but like the Hurricanes have run into some rough spots. The Oil Kings might be one of the surprise teams in the WHL to be honest with you, but for all the wrong reasons. I certainly expected and so did a lot of other people that after getting into the playoffs last year that Edmonton would be more of a force this season. There is still lots of hockey to be played this year, but both Edmonton and Lethbridge have a lot of ground to make up .

The Canes' 1-0 loss in Red Deer on Sunday was their 16th game decided by one goal this season. 11 of those one goal decisions have been losses for Lethbridge. The Hurricanes continue to have issues scoring. That's been more of a concern I think for the coaches than keeping the puck out. We'll see what happens tonight. The Hurricanes have 3 games in hand on Edmonton after tonight's game at Rexall Place. This, I think is a must win game for Lethbridge if they want to catch teams like the Oil Kings. This is also a very busy stretch of hockey for Lethbridge. The team plays 7 games in the next 12 days.

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

Thanks,
Pat

Canes Fall 1-0 in Red Deer

A tough loss for the Lethbridge Hurricanes last night in Red Deer. A goal half way through the 3rd period lifted the Rebels to a 1-0 shutout victory over the struggling Canes.

It was a pretty slow start for the first game back after the one week Christmas break. It took a while for the Hurricanes and Red Deer Rebels to find their game legs again. The two teams spent the better part of the first period feeling each other out. The Canes' started the game with 5 regulars out of the line-up, 3 of them with injury: Rowat, Ryckman, and Ross.

Not much happened in the second period either. Things started to open up a bit more, but still no offence. Brandon Anderson played well through the first 40 minutes as the Canes' were out shot 19-10 through the first two periods. The game remained scoreless heading into the 3rd. I think it was a real good start for the Hurricanes on the road after the break overall. It was a quiet game and that likely faired well for Lethbridge. The Canes' also called up affiliate defenceman Adam Henry who helped fill the void with Luca Sbisa at the World Juniors and Derek Ryckman sidelined with injury.

In the end it turned out to be the team that scored first wins. Lethbridge native Jordie Deagle broke the scoreless tie midway through the 3rd to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead. The Hurricanes thought they had tied the game just a over a minute later when Carter Bancks poked the pucked passed Red Deer goaltender Darcy Kuemper, but after going to video replay the goal was overturned. To me, it looked like the puck crossed the line before the net came off, but the video goal judge obviously saw things a bit different. The Hurricanes coaching staff was told the replay was inconclusive and therefore it was called off. Bad break for the Canes on that one. I still feel it should have counted from what I saw on the replay. The Canes were unable to get the equalizer and lost 1-0. The loss drops the Hurricanes record to 10-21-3-1. Lethbridge has just 2 wins in the last 14 games.

Injury Update

The Hurricanes have been bit by the injury bug over the past week. In the game last weekend again Kootenay, the Canes' lost Max Ross to a broken leg and Derek Ryckman with a shoulder injury. Ross is out for at least two months and Ryckman two weeks at least. As for goaltender Linden Rowat, he's back practicing with the Hurricanes. Rich Preston is hoping to get him back into game action soon, maybe by the end of this week.

Keeping The Faith

If fans think Head Coach and GM Rich Preston is going to throw in the towel on this season think again. Despite the struggles and despite the team's record, Preston is keeping optimistic about the Canes' chances of making the post-season. In the pre-game show last night, Preston told me he believes in order to make the playoffs his team will have to play 5 or 6 games over .500, which he feels this team is "very capable of doing." He stressed that all these upcoming divisional games are going to be critical when it comes to trying to accomplish that goal.

The Hurricanes next game is Tuesday night in Edmonton when they take on the Oil Kings at Rexall Place. It'll be the Canes' first trip to the Alberta capital this season. Game time is 7 o'clock. There is no Hurricanes This Week talk show tonight on CJOC. We will resume the show next Monday, January 4th at 6pm.

Thanks,
Pat

Hurricanes @ Red Deer Rebels

I hope everyone had a good Christmas.

My family and I drove to Vancouver Island and back to spend time with the the in laws. Long trip in the winter with two young kids and some challenging weather at times too, but back in one piece and ready to get back to the rink. Kind of a whirlwind Christmas vacation for this guy, but nice to visit my old stompin grounds.

The Hurricanes I'm sure are hoping the one week break did them well. The team ended play before the break with a couple of lop-sided back-to-back losses to the Kootenay Ice. Undisciplined play on the part of the Hurricanes cost them in both of those games. Staying out of the penalty box here in the second half of the season has certainly got to be a focus for the coaching staff and the players.

Tonight the Hurricanes open the unofficial second half of the 09/10 WHL season against the Rebels in Red Deer. The Rebels won the two previous meetings between the two central division teams so far this year. The Canes' trail the Rebels by 14 points in the Eastern Conference standings heading into action tonight. Red Deer is currently holding down the 8th and final playoff spot, one point ahead of Moose Jaw. The Hurricanes are looking for wins. This team needs a few victories to get things back on track. The Canes' have just two wins in their past 10 games.

Right now, I don't think the Hurricanes should be too concerned about the standings. They need to concentrate on getting better each game and working on the little things. There's no question the first half of the season had it's ups and it's downs for Lethbridge. This is maybe a chance for this team to look at the first half, see where things didn't go their way and try to improve here in the second half of the season game by game and shift by shift.

The Hurricanes have games coming up against some very good teams in the next couple of weeks. They play the Calgary Hitmen 4 times in January as well as Brandon, Saskatoon, and a very good Prince Albert team in the early part of next month. They also head back on the road into B.C. in early February. It certainly doesn't get any easier for this team. Then there's the January 10th trade deadline, just a week or so away. Again, I would say many people are watching to see if Lethbridge continues to wheel and deal. We'll likely soon find out what Rich Preston, Brad Robson, and Richie Sutter have up their sleeves in the days to come.

Tonight's game from Red Deer is a 6:00 start (MT). The pre-game show on CJOC at 5:30.

Thanks,
Pat