Tuesday 25 January 2011

Hurricanes Hold on to Beat Brandon 4-3

LETHBRIDGE - Three goals in the first period goals lifted the Hurricanes to a 4-3 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings Tuesday night at the ENMAX Centre.

The Hurricanes would open this game with a lot of jump and as they came out flying with 3 goals in the first 20 minutes. Less than two minutes in, Michael Sofillas tipped in a Reid Jackson point shot to give Lethbridge a 1-0 lead. That was Sofillas' 2nd goal of the year. The Canes' would go up by a pair before the game would hit the 10 minutes mark. Austin Fyten scored his 19th of the season off a rebound out in front of the Brandon goal to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead. The Canes' weren't done there. They would go up 3-0 before the end of the period when Max Ross put home his 12th goal of the season. Lethbridge out shot Brandon 17-7 in the first period of this game.

In the second, the Wheat Kings would get an early short-handed goal to get Brandon back into the game. Shayne Wiebe moved into the Hurricanes zone and put the puck past Dylan Tait. That would cut the Lethbridge lead to 3-1. Brandon started to pour things on with about six minutes remaining in the period and had a flurry of chances to make it a one goal hockey game and before the end of the period they would do just that and once again short-handed. Mike Reddington broke his stick while on a Lethbridge power play and Shayne Wiebe stole the puck and moved in on a break-away and scored his second of the night to cut the Canes' lead to 3-2 after 40 minutes of play. Lethbridge held the edge in shots on goal 27-20 following two periods of play.

In the third, the Wheaties nearly tied things up on yet another short-handed chance. Shayne Wiebe moved in on another break-away on Canes' power play and this time Dylan Tait shut the door. That was a big save because the Hurricanes would get another power play and this time they would score to regain their two-goal lead. With Wiebe off in the penalty box, Russell Maxwell scored his 6th of the season to give Lethbridge a 4-2 lead and little more breathing room. That was a big goal because with under three minutes to go, Scott Glennie snapped a wrist shot from just inside the Canes' blueline beating Tait upstairs to make it a 4-3 game. The Wheaties pulled out all the stops to try and get the equalizer, but that's as close as they would get in this game. The Canes' would hold on for the one-goal victory. With the win, Lethbridge improves to 17-22-2-7 on the season for 43 points and now move into a tie with Prince Albert for 8th place in the Eastern Conference. Lethbridge out shot the Wheat Kings 40-32 on the night. The Hurricanes went 1 for 5 on the power play, while giving up two short-handed goals. Brandon finished the game 0 for 3. You gotta give Brandon some credit for battling back. The Canes' had control of this game after this first period and the Wheaties made for a very exciting and interesting finish. Russell Maxwell had a very strong game for Lethbridge and was the game's first star. Associate Matt Kabayama said on the CJOC post-game show that he thought, "Russ was the best player on the ice tonight and his best game in a Hurricanes uniform." Kabayama also felt Michael Sofillas had one his best games of the season in this one too.

I thought the Hurricanes looked pretty sharp in those special jerseys they wore to commemorate the 1951 Lethbridge Maple Leafs. I have to tip my hat the Hurricanes organization for putting all this together because it certainly doesn't happen overnight. The Canes' also brought in the original trophy from the Galt Museum which was on display on the ENMAX Centre concourse for the game plus over 100 family members of the players who were part of that great team 60 years ago all made it to the game.

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes hit the road Wednesday and head north to take on the Rebels in Red Deer. This will be the Canes' third meeting with the Rebels this season with both teams winning in their own rinks. Game time is 7:00 pm (MST). The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.

Thanks,
Pat

This blog post is brought to you by www.clearlylethbridge.com.

6 comments:

  1. The Hurricanes did those jerseys proud. Congratulations to the staff in the front office for this tribute and the Hurricanes for continuing on with the winning ways that the Lethbridge Maple Leaf logo is accustomed to.

    -cc

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  2. Great win and fantastic jerseys and presentations!! But way closer than it should have been....so many missed scoring chances with wide open nets...and 2 and nearly 3 shorthanded goals against??? Red Deer and Kootenay have only given up 2 SH goals each all year! That is just inexplicably bad coaching to have the same D men continue on the first PP unit after the first SH goal and just negligant to keep doing the same thing after the second SH goal...it was clear they were struggling managing the puck. I guess that is what you get when you have a former forward coaching the D...brutal decision making on the coaches part. Great to get the win and the boys need to keep it going tonight and the coaches need hold themselves accountable and do a better job as well. Go Canes Go you have the talent to do it!! TD

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  3. Those jerseys are great. Glad a win was earned in them. This new atmosphere at the Enmax, who should be given credit for it? Its a great change.
    GDC

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  4. A Must-win' was WON, NICE! Thanks Cane players for an AMAZING first period, and for a CRITICAL third period PP goal by RUDY Maxwell that saved the day!

    GDC- A lot of the crowd energy seemed to build from the Fruit of the Loom Boys in section G!

    When driving TO the Enema centre, these guys were waving and yelling out of their car, honking, and getting the fans excited. At first, I thought they were lost Medicine Hat fans, all hammered-up, and I was concerned that they were going to crash into someone, but after passing by and making eye contact, I think that they are just playing the role of EXCELLENT FANS! Some guys in capes were in our section in the first promoting the wave.

    Tough luck and rough stat night for LO24 and the BFS line despite the victory! They will have to be better if anything good is going to happen in Red Deer!!

    Andy Thiessen has just become my favourite referee! What a great job he did in this one! From retrieving the missing puck for the ceremonial puck-drop right up to the final buzzer. I am curious to know WHAT he was telling both coaches right before the third period started!? The league should make KLEIN and the other narcissistic refs sit down and watch how the job SHOULD BE DONE.
    Klein would have been yelling "MOVE,MOVE,MOVE,MOVE" during play in the corners, or telling the tenders not to freeze the puck... what an #&$-#%@$ !!

    Now, some revenge for our previous visit (5-0) to Red Deer?? - Richie.

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  5. One of the broadcast crew said, "not a bad crowd". With only 2700 fans in the building for this celebration of the 51" Leafs,a key game for the Canes, looking for back-to-back wins for the first time in a long time, there should have been at least 3500 in the building. But as we all know, this city loves to back a winner. The fans that did show got their monies worth, showed their appreciation for the 51" Leafs and enjoyed the antics of the red clad fans in the north east corner of the Enmax."Not a bad crowd.....more like a lousy turnout!


    Good effort in the win! Got to love the play of the smallest, youngest player on the team.....Russ Maxwell! Wow, talk about heart and skill!

    RJS

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  6. That was quite a touching pre game ceremony and it almost brought a tear to my eye to see hockey players who have not touched the ice for such a long time. I have missed Alex Kuvaev and was worried about him. It was nice to know he is OK and still alive. Thanks to the ceremony organizers for letting us know he is still a member of the team.

    Sku

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