RED DEER - John Persson's goal in overtime lifted the Red Deer Rebels to a 2-1 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes Friday night.
The Rebels would draw first blood in this game. Coaldale's Adam Kambeitz took a nice feed about half-way through the period and fired a back-hander by Brandon Anderson to give the home team a 1-0 lead. That would be the only offence in the opening 20 minutes. The Canes' were out shot 12-5 in the first period.
In the second, the Hurricanes came out very strong looking for the equalizer and late in the period they would be rewarded for their efforts. Daniel Johnston blasted a point shot by a screened Darcy Kuemper to tie the game 1-1 after 40 minutes. That was Johnston's 2nd goal of the year and a big one for Lethbridge. The Canes' played a solid period and out shot the Rebels 14-9. Red Deer held the edge in shots though after two periods of play 21-19.
In the third, both teams came out gunning looking to take the lead, but both goalies managed to stand tall forcing the game into extra time. The best chance in the final period came when the Hurricanes ended up on a 5-on-3 power play for just under a minute, but were unable to score.
In the overtime, the Rebels ramped things up. John Persson ripped a wrist shot up high on the glove side of Brandon Anderson for the game winner and Red Deer would skate away with it's 40th victory of this WHL season. The Rebels out shot Lethbridge 30-28 overall. The Hurricanes went 1 for 5 on the power play while the Rebels finished the night 0 for 2. You certainly can't fault the Canes' effort in this game. After the first period, the Hurricanes really took things over until the overtime. They played hard, but just ended up with one point for their effort. With Prince Albert losing, Lethbridge remains 5 points back of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. This was also the 18th time this season that the Hurricanes have gone into either overtime or a shootout. Lethbridge has one win in it's past 10 hockey games.
FAMILY DAY WEEKEND
Parents and family members of the Lethbridge Hurricanes will be in town this weekend to celebrate the Alberta Family Day long-weekend. The Canes' will host Edmonton Saturday and Red Deer Monday afternoon. Before Saturday's game, the Hurricanes will recognize the parents of the players who were able to make it this weekend. This is something the hockey club has done for the last few seasons. On Sunday, the Hurricanes will hold a special breakfast for the players families and billet families. On Family Day on Monday, the Canes' are offering a special youth ticket price for that day. With the purchase of an adult ticket for the Red Deer game on the 21st, you can get youth tickets for just $2.00 each.
NEXT UP
The Hurricanes will host the Edmonton Oil Kings Saturday night at the ENMAX Centre. This will be the third game this season between the two teams and the first of three games in the next week that the two hockey clubs will go head-to-head. The Oil Kings have won both previous games back in late December. Edmonton right now is holding down 6th place in the Eastern Conference and are looking to secure just their second playoff spot since coming back in the WHL in 2007. Game time is 7:00 pm (MST). The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.
Thanks,
Pat
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1 of 2 points out of Red Deer?-Mission accomplished, nicely done, lads!
ReplyDelete.. Why do our best results against Red Deer come with Sutter OUT of the line-up??
We have been shut-out a couple of times against Red Deer this year (5-0, 3-0) with Sutter in the line-up for both, and we fell 10-2 in our other loss to them with him playing in the game.
We WON on Nov 24th in a shoot-out in Lethbridge without Sutter in the line-up, and we got a point in this one, again without Sutter in the line-up.
Sutter does not make our team worse, does he? Whatsup coach? - Richie.