Canes' Open Pre-season Tonight

After nearly six months off, the Lethbridge Hurricanes finally get to play some competitive hockey again.

The Canes' open their pre-season tonight on the road at a four team, exhibition tournament in Kennewick, Washington. Lethbridge will be the only Canadian team there and over the next three days they will take on Spokane, Tri-City, and Seattle. I think this is a pretty important pre-season for the Canes' given the fact they struggled in exhibition play last year and didn't come back with a single win. Lethbridge is looking for a much better jump this time around. Sure, it's only exhibition, but I have a feeling the Hurricanes Hockey Operations staff are treating it more than just six games over the next two weeks that don't count in the standings.

Before the bus left yesterday, I had a chance to have a chat with Associate Coach Matt Kabayama regarding these pre-season games. He certainly didn't pull any punches.

Kabayama: "Well, we'll get a good evaluation of these guys now that they are playing against their peers. I mean it's going to be the top guys on other teams against our guys. In training camp, although it's competitive, you don't have as many top calibre guys as you will in pre-season. We (the coaches) want to see how these players compete in a real game situation. Hopefully with the fact that they're playing against an opponent rather than their teammates the compete level will rise. Other factors we will be watching for include whether or not some guys are strong enough to play in this league, how much skill do they have, and even how coachable are some of them. The compete factor though is the biggest. The conditioning of the players is important too. We've seen of the guys come into camp with a different mind set and approach than last season. We are not happy with the way things went last year. We've got a bit of a chip on our shoulder and I hope the players do too."

I will try and provide game updates on the blog during these pre-season games. I am not with the team in Tri-City, but I do have someone texting me scores as they happen. I will attempt to get those scoring updates up as soon as possible. I'll post the scoring summaries as well once they are available from the WHL.

Hurricanes Host Red Deer Next Week

The Canes' will play their only home exhibition game September 14th at Nicholas Sheran Arena vs. the Red Deer Rebels. Tickets are being sold at the Hurricanes' office next to the ENMAX Centre. The price is $8.00. Tickets will also be available at the door, but I'm told sales for that pre-season tilt have been brisk. Nicolas Sheran Arena holds about 1000 people.

Thanks,
Pat

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