TABER - The Lethbridge Hurricanes erased a 3-0 second period deficit, but fell just short losing 4-3 to the Calgary Hitmen in a shootout in pre-season WHL action Thursday night at the Taber Arena.
The Canes rallied in the second period and eventually tied the game in the 3rd period on goals by Cam Braes, Tayler Balog, and Craig Leverton. There was also a couple of big scraps at the start of the second period that seemed to fire up the Hurricanes. That rally by Lethbridge pushed the game into extra time. The overtime solved nothing, so the the Hurricanes and Hitmen would head to the shootout to decide a winner. Calgary would end up scoring three times in the shootout and Lethbridge twice. The Hitmen would hold on for a 4-3 win. Brandon Anderson played goal for the Hurricanes. Anderson leaves for Washington Friday to take in the Capitals training camp. Tanner Kovacs will likely start in goal the next two pre-season games.
Game Summary from www.whl.ca
1st Period-1, Calgary, Miller 1 (Trzonkowski, Gordon), 11:22. 2, Calgary, Brassart 2 (Humphries), 17:53. Penalties-MacMaster Cal (inter. on goaltender), 1:59; Mckechnie Let (hooking), 8:11; Kirsch Cal (inter. on goaltender), 9:16; Johnston Let (cross checking), 9:16; Trzonkowski Cal (roughing), 14:16; Guiel Let (roughing), 14:16; Wilson Cal (tripping), 19:35.
2nd Period-3, Calgary, Rissling 1 (Gogolev, Kirsch), 2:18. 4, Lethbridge, Braes 1 (Yakubowski), 5:08. 5, Lethbridge, Balog 1 9:27. Penalties-Sylvester Cal (roughing), 4:34; Fyten Let (roughing), 4:34; MacMaster Cal (major-fighting, game misconduct), 7:03; Snider Cal (roughing), 7:03; Sylvester Cal (cross checking), 7:03; Wilson Cal (major-fighting, game misconduct), 7:03; Blomqvist Let (major-fighting, game misconduct), 7:03; Hulit Let (major-fighting, game misconduct), 7:03; Mckechnie Let (roughing, charging), 7:03; Miller Cal (cross checking), 10:37; Rissling Cal (roughing), 10:37; Ramsay Let (high sticking, roughing), 10:37; Ryckman Let (roughing), 10:37.
3rd Period-6, Lethbridge, Leverton 1 (Fyten, Merkley), 2:53 (PP). Penalties-Kirsch Cal (hooking), 0:53; Yakubowski Let (interference), 4:16; Trzonkowski Cal (interference), 6:15; Helgesen Cal (high sticking), 6:25; served by Let (penalty shot), 8:48; Sylvester Cal (tripping), 9:40; Erkamps Let (boarding), 12:44; Chase Cal (roughing, unsportsmanlike cnd.), 13:23; Johnston Let (roughing), 13:23; Leverton Let (roughing), 13:23; Harper Let (bench), 14:39.
Shootout - Calgary 3 (Gogolev G, Kirsch G, Brassart G), Lethbridge 2 (Merkley NG, Bezuch G, Mckechnie G).
Shots on Goal-Calgary 19-11-11-3-1-45. Lethbridge 13-15-14-4-0-46.
Power Play Opportunities-Calgary 0 / 6; Lethbridge 1 / 7.
Goalies-Calgary, Snider 0-0-0-0 (23 shots-21 saves); Glover 2-0-0-0 (23 shots-22 saves). Lethbridge, Anderson 0-0-0-1 (44 shots-41 saves).
A-0
Referees-Ryan Bonnett (39).
Linesmen-Matthew Barker (118), Matthew Sanders (70).
The Hurricanes next pre-season game will take place Friday night when they travel to Innisfail to play the Red Deer Rebels.
Thanks,
Pat
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Canes outshot the Hitmen 43-42 and were 1/6 on the powerplay. Calgary was 0/5. The save of the night was by Anderson in the dying seconds of the third when he flashed leather to save a certain goal. This was one observation from the game......Pilon who is still 14 played like he belongs, and was far more poised than one of the veteran d-man who wore an "A" tonight. Just a comparison, but Calgary was playing their 3rd pre-season game, while this was the Canes' first. Calgary had 3-20's, 8-19's and 1-16 year old playing tonight. Lethbridge had 2-20's, 3-19's, 4-16's and a 14 year old playing for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Pilon did well but I also thought that veteran d-man who wore the "A" tonight also did well. The defense was shaky to be sure but I thought both those two did well. A lot of rookie mistakes made by the rookies tonight as one would expect but for the most part it wasn't a bad showing for the first game with a line-up full of youngsters. I suspect the Friday game will see a lot of these young men come out with more confidence now that the first-game jitters are gone.
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Will you be having round-table discussions again this year Pat?? I really enjoyed them last year.
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong (anybody), but I don't think 14 or 15 year olds are allowed to play in the WHL. 15 year olds are allowed 12 games (or something like that).
Saw the game...I thought after the first period which was a "get to know you period" for the Canes they played pretty well...Some good speed and skill for the young guys. Canes played with 4 D for for half of the game and I thought the turning point was Dan Johnston's end to end rush goal to make it 3-2 (for some reason they didnt give him credit for it) whihc gave the Canes some energy, exactly what you want from a veteran. Lots of bad give aways and no team defence but that will come after they play together as a unit. Calgary had already played a few games so had a leg up on them....Bonnet the ref, was in pre-season form and was aweful so everyone was shaking loose the rust...good start for the Canes! TD
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, does anybody know the fighting matchups during those tilts?
ReplyDeleteHockey currently is a sick game. The heads of the leagues, officials and players care nothing about the players safety. Sylvester cross checks a player in the head while he is lying on the ice and it is a 2 minute penalty. I am getting turned off of the game when I see crap like this going on. It slowed down the game to a snails pace and left a bad taste. How the ref sees this (he gave a penalty) and it's a minor is disgusting. Really this game is sick and nothing is being done. Come on WHL, start handing out some impactful suspensions for acts like this. This is a reason why the game gets no respect outside of Canada and is seen as a pseudo-sport on par with roller derby. I really love the games but things like this are keeping fans away and chasing current fans out the door. How do you take a kid to a game, see something like that happen and it gets brushed off as minor? For the sake of the game as a whole something has to be done, but I fear the old boys club in charge does not have the stones or mental capacity to make foreward thinking changes.
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The two best Dmen were Pilion and Erkamps. The Dman who wore the "A" did not play as well as either Pilion or Erkamps. Trade Ryckman and get something for him. Pilion will be 15 in October and will then be available for the 12 games. It was nice to see the speed that the Canes possess. Sure an improvement over this time last year when they looked like they were skating in peanut butter.
ReplyDeleteI don't see Ryckman garnering much attention in a trade. Why rush into a trade when organizations haven't even had time to evaluate what they've got??? That would mean you would just be giving Ryckman away.
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