Oil Kings Dump Canes' 6-4

LETHBRIDGE - The Edmonton Oil Kings came back twice from two goal deficits to beat the Hurricanes 6-4 at the Enmax Centre last night.

A good start for the Hurricanes Sunday with a two goal first period. Cam Braes scored early to give the Canes' a 1-0 lead. Later on, the Hurricanes would jump out to a 2-0 advantage when Daniel Johnston scored his first-ever WHL goal on a power play. Ville Kolppanen turned away all 10 Edmonton shots he faced. It was Kolppanen's first start in goal since mid-December. The Canes' out shot the Oil Kings 12-10 in the first period.

In the second, the Oil Kings would get their first of the game when Drew Nichol scored to cut the lead in half. Lethbridge though regained that two goal cushion on another power play goal. Cam Braes scored his second of the game to put the Canes' up 3-1. But que the Edmonton comeback. The Oil Kings would score twice late, once by Garry Nunn on a power play and then T.J. Foster, from the face-off dot fired one off the crossbar and behind Kolppanen on what appeared to be an impossible angle. That great shot tied this game at 3-3 after 40 minutes. Edmonton out shot Lethbridge 16-10 in the second period and had a 26-22 shot advantage through two periods.

In the third, the Oil Kings would take the lead and never looked back. Just a half a minute into the period, Drew Nichol gave Edmonton a 4-3 lead. They would add another from Robin Soudek to go up 5-3 and later on into an empty net, Cam Abney would ice it for Edmonton. The Hurricanes Ryan Moser got one back with 12 seconds left, but it wasn't to be on this night as Edmonton would win the game 6-4. The Hurricanes were out shot 37-27 in this one. Lethbridge has lost six straight and 18 of their past 20 games. One bright spot for the Canes' last night was the power play which went 2 for 4. Ville Kolppanen looked rusty in his first game in nearly two months. The loss bumps the Hurricanes into last place in the Eastern Conference. Last night was probably the smallest crowd I've seen in my three seasons in Lethbridge. With Canada playing the U.S.A in men's hockey at the Olympics and a game between two teams near the bottom of the WHL standings, it appeared many people decided to stay home. The Enmax Centre was nearly empty when the pucked dropped at 6pm. There was about 1000 people there for the game.

Next Up

The Hurricanes, with nine game left in the season have another fairly busy week with three games in four nights. On Wednesday Kelowna pays a visit to Lethbridge and then Kamloops stops in on Friday. On Saturday the Canes' travel west to take on the ICE in Cranbrook. It'll be the final meeting between the Hurricanes and the Rockets, Blazers, and ICE this season.

Preston on Goal Scoring Woes

I asked Rich Preston last night about the Hurricanes issues in the goal scoring department. The team is average roughly two goals per game through 63 games this season. Preston said, "We've talked about this all year and the key is we're getting the chances and we just have to bare down more. We're either missing the net or hitting the post or whatever. It is a frustrating thing, but to the player's credit they move on. You can't dwell on the past games. There's new motivation every game and every night." Going into last night's game the Hurricanes had scored just 150 goals on the season. That's the 4th lowest in the WHL. Contrast that with the high octane offence of the Brandon Wheat Kings for instance who've scored 275 times. The Wheaties are the highest scoring team in the league through 63 games.

Hurricanes This Week

Our weekly Hurricanes talk show is back on the air tonight on CJOC. Just four more shows to go before we wrap things up for the season. Tonight our guests include Canes' goalie Brandon Anderson, Hurricanes Assistant to the G.M. Richie Sutter, and Regan Bartel the radio voice of the Kelowna Rockets. The show starts at 6pm (MT). You can listen online as well at www.cjocfm.com.

Thanks,
Pat