Hurricanes Lose 7-5 in Calgary

Mitch Maxwell scored a hatrick, but it wasn't enough as the Calgary Hitmen beat the Hurricanes 7-5 in a wild, offence-filled game at the Saddledome last night.

It was a heck of start for the Hurricanes in this one.. The Canes' jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the game was 8 minutes old. Phillip Tot and Austin Fyten got the visitors going in this one, shocking the crowd at the Saddledome. The Hitmen got one of those goals back shortly after when Del Cowan beat Linden Rowat on a backhand shot. That didn't last long as Lethbridge's Mitch Maxwell would notch his 20th goal of the year to give the Canes' a 3-1 lead. The cat and mouse game would continue as Calgary's Brandon Kozun would score on the power play to make it 3-2 Lethbridge and that's the way the period would end. It was a wild, non-defensieve, and wide-open first period of hockey. The Canes' were out shot 14-9, but scored 3 times on Calgary's Martin Jones.

In the second, the Hitmen would continue to pour it on. They scored an early power play goal to even the game at 3 and then a few minutes after that Calgary would take the lead for the first time on a goal by Cody Sylvester. The Hitmen kept coming hard and nearly went up by two goals until the Hurricanes managed to tie the score on a power play when Mitch Maxwell scored his second of the night and 21st of the season to even the score at 4-4. But again, the scoring would change before the end of the second when the Hitmen regained the one goal lead on a goal by Ian Schultz just as a Hurricanes penalty had expired. Calgary would take a 5-4 lead into the 3rd while out shooting Lethbridge 27-14 after 40 minutes of play.

In the 3rd, Calgary would go up by a pair when Del Cowan scored his second of the night to make it 6-4. Not too long after that though, the Canes' would get another power play as Mitch Maxwell scored his third of the night to make it 6-5. The Hurricanes continued to press to try and find that equalizer, but Calgary would get one more before the game would end to make it 7-5 and that's the way things would finish in this one. The Hurricanes were out shot 37-22. Calgary went 2 for 5 on the power play including a short-handed goal, while Lethbridge finished the night 2 for 6 with the man advantage.

It was certainly not a good night for the goaltenders. At one point, the Hurricanes had scored 4 goals on 12 shots on Martin Jones. On the other side, Linden Rowat came up with some good saves, but couldn't hold off a high-powered Calgary offence. It's too bad for the Hurricanes though. They finally open up offensively scoring 5 times and still not able to get the win. Austin Fyten and Carter Bancks played well too for the Hurricanes in a losing cause. This was also a physical game. Lots of hitting in the first period, especially by the Hitmen who came out gunning right from the drop of the puck.

Preston High on Young Talent

Head Coach/GM Rich Preston told me before last night's game that he's quite happy with the way his young, up and coming players have played. On a lot of teams, rookies such as Landon Oslanski and Reid Jackson likely wouldn't get the amount of ice time that they've had with the Hurricanes this season. Preston believes this will benefit these players and the team as a whole heading into the future. Preston says the ice time these young guys are getting is going to pay off "big time". He says the younger players are getting much needed experience and a lot of ice time for 16 and 17 year old in the WHL.

Next Up

The Hurricanes next action is this Friday night when they play host to Edmonton. The Oil Kings have struggled the season. The Canes' are 2-0 versus their rivals from the Alberta capital. Game time is 7pm (MT). Lethbridge plays again in Calgary early Sunday afternoon.

Thanks,
Pat