Monday 21 February 2011

Hurricanes Beat Rebels 2-1 in Overtime

LETHBRIDGE - Brody Sutter scored in overtime as the Lethbridge Hurricanes beat the Red Deer Rebels 2-1 Monday afternoon at the ENMAX Centre.

The Hurricanes came of the gate in this afternoon contest with a tonne of jump in their step. Lethbridge hit two goal posts in the opening 20 minutes, but were unable to get the puck past Red Deer's Darcy Kuemper. The game would go scoreless through one period of play. The Rebels had a few good chances too, but Brandon Anderson turned aside all the shots he faced as well. Red Deer held the edge in shots 8-5.

In the second, both teams pushed to break the scoreless tie, but niether Kuemper or Anderson would break and just like the game these two teams played against each other a week and a half ago, after 40 minutes of play the game remained in a 0-0 tie. Not many shots either through two periods as the Rebels held the edge in shots on goal 19-12.

In the third, after nearly 46 minutes of scoreless hockey, the visitors finally broke the 0-0 tie. Colten Mayor back-handed a loose puck in front of the Hurricanes net and that gave the Red Deer Rebels a 1-0 lead. Later on the Hurricanes did find a way to solve Kuemper. On a power play, Russ Maxwell blasted a one-timer by the Red Deer goalie to tie the game up a 1-1. That was the young Maxwell's 8th goal of the year and big one for Lethbridge. Both teams were unable to find the winner in regulation so once again we head into overtime to try and settle things for second time this weekend between these two clubs and for Lethbridge, the 20th time this season, which is the most in the WHL.

In the overtime, the Hurricanes would finish this game off and send the ENMAX Centre (3750 attendance) into a frenzy when Brody Sutter beat Kuemper upstairs and the home team would skate off with a huge 2-1 victory. It was Sutter's 10th of the season and no doubt his biggest. The Hurricanes were out shot by Red Deer 31-20 on the afternoon. Lethbridge went 1 for 5 on the power play while the Rebels went 0 for 4.

With the win, the Hurricanes move to within three points of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and with that comes a bit of a milestone for this team too. This was also the Hurricanes 20th win of the season, which equals their entire win total of last season. With a dozen games left in the regular season, the Hurricanes still have a lot of work to do, but Monday's win goes a long way to keeping this hockey club in the post-season hunt. This was a pretty good game for everyone to watch. It was close from start to finish and really could've went either way. The Hurricanes end up taking 5 out of a possible 6 points this weekend.

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes little home stand this week continues Wednesday when they play host to the Kamloops Blazers. The Canes' defeated the Blazers when they last stopped by Lethbridge back in early November. These two teams will play for a third and final time next weekend when they Hurricanes travel into B.C. for three games to open up the March portion of their schedule. They will take on Chilliwack, Kamloops, and Kelwona (March 2, 4, & 5). The pre-game show for Wednesday's game versus the Blazers is at 6:30. The puck drops at 7:00 pm (MST).

Thanks,
Pat

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

13 comments:

  1. good job canes...keep it up

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  2. NICE!! A Win against Red Deer, and not only with Sutter in the line-up, but he had the game-winner!!

    These first line guys (14,16,19) have GOT to be better, and they need to show why they are the best players on the ice in every game from now until the end if we are going to take 6th place from Edmonton. - Richie.

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  3. What a great game to watch. Not to many whistles, not to many penalties! It was a really quick game. A lot of fun to watch, and there was a great crowd! Nice to see Sutter get the Winner, he battled hard all game and deserved it! I've always wondered why they use Soffilas, Moser, Tot, etc. Ahead of Sutter in overtime. Hopefully they continue to use Brody. Overall great team effort! Good job Canes! P.S. Richie, I wonder if Sutter reads this blog. If he does, he must of read your post a few days ago about the team having more success against the Rebels without him haha!

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  4. Fun game to watch. I enjoyed R. Maxwell's finger pointing at Kuemper after he scored the goal. The kid has heart and a bit of an attitude, but he certainly comes to play. Happy for Brody! Interesting that Kuvaev sat out another game as a healthy scratch. One has to wonder if the Russian will be back here next year along with any other Euros. It would not surprise me at all if Preston followed the footsteps of Kootenay and Tri-Cities and go with an all North American lineup next season.

    TM

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  5. Great weekend of hockey...the game yesterday was a gem and the type of good defensive hockey the Canes have to play to win. Few penalties and few odd man rushes against. I thought Anderson and the Defence played great, Reddington was solid and Johnston was pounding guys in the corner and in front of the net. The kid is a beast. Now they have the recipe, keep it going boys!

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  6. Great weekend of hockey for the Hurricanes.

    I completely agree with:

    "Nice to see Sutter get the Winner, he battled hard all game and deserved it! I've always wondered why they use Soffilas, Moser, Tot, etc. Ahead of Sutter in overtime. Hopefully they continue to use Brody..."

    Hopefully they continue to use him in OT. I don't really understand how Moser sits on the bench for the 3rd, but plays ahead of guys on the top lines. Needless to say the energy in the building after Sutter scored was great for the boys and fans alike - especially on the weekend with the players' families in town!

    Richie, looks like Sutter put you in your place. Instead of desperately grasping for straws and coming up with unwarranted opinions about certain players that don't sit too highly on your list, you should look at the positives the team and some individuals are doing.

    Go Canes Go!

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  7. Please don't misunderstand my message about Sutter, my fellow Canes fans. Believe me, I WANT Sutter to succeed as I want the entire team to succeed. I am not saying that Sutter is lazy, but I detest laziness, and I hate watching players that coast through a game, or who hold back some of their skill or effort due to laziness or lack of interest.

    I seriously doubt that ANY of the Canes ever read any of this egregious drivel (except yours, Pat, 'cause you are a professional, and no drivel is tapped from your fingers). However, IF they ever do, and if they happen to get angry, or are encouraged to work harder to reach their potential, then it was worth my time and his. - Richie.

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  8. All Hail Richie for saving the day and making the Hurricanes play better. What brilliance will he speak next. Classic example of someone who knows very little about teams and hockey. Maybe my comments will make Richie a better commenter on here. I doubt it

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  9. Richie, where do you come with your "material"?

    How do you bring the idea of laziness up in your reply with the previous post?

    The previous poster was right - you are continuously grasping at straws to make yourself sound like you know what you're talking about.

    Can't wait to see what brilliant ideas you will fail at coming up with next!

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  10. I enjoy reading Richies dribble..someone has to write or no one will be able to reply, and rip him, because I am sure the one's that reply must be ex GMs or head coaches. because their rebuttals are so good. keep going Richie

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  11. My laziness point was made from the fact that we lost several times to Red Deer previously, and you do NOT lose a hockey game 10-2 with the talented players that we had in the line up in those games UNLESS some (all?) of your players are coasting or playing "Lazy." Sutter happened to be in all the drubbings, and in neither of the good performances....until this game... so GOOD for him, couldn't be happier for him!

    What about my comments draws arrows? I have often commented about excellent individual, team, and even refereeing performances. I have often made comments drawing attention to the fact that our team has talent that hasn't played to its potential this year, and that certain very talented players haven't played up to their potential this year. That some of them are coasting. That our coach doesn't roll 4 lines enough, that Kuvaev should PLAY, and that our coach has repeatedly destroyed team momentum by calling time-outs early in tie hockey games prior to 5-on-3s. All simple and arguable drivel, qualifying them for BLOGS. What brilliance have YOU contributed, hockey genius? - Richie.

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  12. This season, Sutter is by far the most improved player on the Canes. In my opinion, theres's one detail, not only with Sutter, but even Ryckman and Hood too (even Dwight King)... they are at least 6'3 or 6'4... and it takes these taller guys longer to develop their balance, strength, and skating skills.

    Look at the shorter guys like Russ Maxwell and Sofillas, their balance and stride looks way more smooth/easy... and NOT to take anything away from the team's two top rookies (I think they are both great!), but even though they appear very quick and very fast, it's those taller guys who would probably win a 1 on 1 race around the ice.

    Nice comeback tonite to get a point! Time to sweep the Oil Kings this weekend!

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  13. I don't think the comments attacking Richie are warranted. I fail to see how his one question warranted those attacks......and I don't see anything in the attacker's comments that leads me to think they know anymore about the game than Richie.

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