Wednesday 26 September 2012

Rimmer Unbelieveable as Hurricanes Lose 3-0 to Oil Kings

LETHBRIDGE - Ty Rimmer put on a sensational goaltending performance, but it wasn't enough as the Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Hurricanes 3-0 Wednesday night at the ENMAX Centre.

It didn't take long to see the first goal of the game in this one.  Just over a minute in, Curtis Lazar powered to the Hurricanes goal and slid the puck under a falling Ty Rimmer to open the scoring on the Oil Kings first shot of the game.  That gave Edmonton a quick 1-0 lead.  After that Rimmer stole the show.  Edmonton came on strong for the entire period, but Rimmer was up for the challenge, stopping everything else he faced.  When the buzzer sounded, the Oil Kings had out shot the Hurricanes 22-6.  The Canes had a few late chances in the first period, but not much to show.

In the second, the Oil Kings would keep it coming, but again it was all Ty Rimmer.  Edmonton continued to throw everything they could at the Lethbridge goal.  Rimmer came back with save, after save, after outstanding save to keep his team in it.  Despite being heavily outplayed, the Hurricanes still trailed 1-0 after two periods of play.  Rimmer received a near standing ovation from the ENMAX Centre for his play after the period came to a close.  Edmonton out shot the Canes 43-14.

In the third, Ednonton kept rolling.  The Oil Kings ended up getting a power play midway through the period and they would find the equalizer when TJ Foster's shot went off a leg or two out in front the Canes goal and beat Rimmer to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead.  Before the end of the game, the Oil Kings would add one more off the stick of Henrik Samuelsson to make it a 3-0 hockey game and that's the way things would  finish up.  The Hurricanes were out shot 60-20, but Ty Rimmer was outstanding and gave the Hurricanes a chance. He was the game's first star and more than deserving of the honour.  The Hurricanes have only been able to muster one goal in their past two games.

The loss drops the Canes early season record to 1-2 while Edmonton improves to a perfect 3-0.

The Hurricanes were shorthanded on the backend Wednesday.  With Dan Johnston still sidelined till this weekend and now Ryan Pilon nursing an inury, the Canes dressed only three veteran D against the Oil Kings: Galbraith, Erkamps, and Blomqvist. 

KESSY GETS A DOZEN

medicine Hat's Kale Kessy got nailed with a 12 games suspension Wednesday afternoon for his hit to the head of Hurricanes rookie defenceman Ryan Pilon last weekend in the Hat.  Pilon left the game and is listed as being out indefinately.  Kessy is a repeat offender and since 2009, he's been suspended a total of 26 times in 7 incidents. 

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes next action is Saturday (Sept. 29) when they hit the road to Cranbrook for a game against the Kootenay ICE. Game time 7:00 pm (MDT) with the pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.  The Hurricanes will play in the U.S. next weekend with games in Tri-City and Spokane.  Their next home game isn't until October 9th when they host Prince Albert.

Thanks,
Pat

20 comments:

  1. Rimmer played one helluva game! This wasn't a good game to evaluate the Canes. Oil Kings too big, too skilled, too experienced.

    But I WILL say a couple of things I noticed:

    1) Johnston's absence on the blueline is really hurting the team. Not sure what his status is?

    2) Merkley was like a ghost. Nowhere to be seen...especially in the 3rd period with his butt stapled to the bench.

    3) Wong isn't afraid to mix it up and certainly earned himself some ice time in the 2nd and 3rd periods! Big hit behind the Oil Kings net with Duke on Oil Kings d-man!

    I have to reserve judgement on the size of the Canes' as I don't think it's fair to compare them to the very large Oil Kings forwards. But the smaller Canes just couldn't get any puck possession or quality scoring chances against the big bodies of the Kings.

    But Rimmer played incredible!

    ps. Sophilas needs to pick his spots better. I realize he wants to stand up for a teammate, but he's coming off a concussion and was giving up about 6 inches against the Oil King player! Just glad nothing bad happened to him.

    Darren

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  2. Rimmer was amazing ...and the rest of the players were weak at best. Did anyone else notice how Edmonton protected the puck? How strong they were? How they passed the puck ? The hurricanes are too weak and too small. Our biggest player (hood) plays with eggs in his pocket.

    The team seemed unprepared for both home games. We have very small weak players. Well I guess it will be next year!

    GT

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  3. Rimmer was unreal tonight. Certainly the bright spot of this team. Here's what really concerned me tonight. Where was the veteran push back in the 3rd?

    The Oil Kings are huge and were bullying the smaller Canes which is when I would expect some of veteran leadership to step in. Ewanyk had been going after Duke for a few shifts and it was finally Wong who had to jump in there? What's wrong with that picture.

    I'm not saying someone needs to go out there and fight but they need to stick up for the team. If not opposing teams are going to realize they can bully the younger, smaller Hurricanes with no consequences.

    Maybe Rich needs to add some size and muscle.

    Artie

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  4. Not Merkleys fault that he does not play. Merkley was brought in as a top forward and consistently plays on the 3rd and 4th line...thats Rich Prestons choice! Merkley is very skilled and if played with top players would be a huge asset especially on a team that can't score Rich did the same with Phil Tot and with Ryan Moser...both skilled guys. Both of these players have and will continue to play well on other teams. Rich is a bad coach. He is old school and teaches nothing. Other then Ramsey the 1st 2 lines are grinders on any other team. Maxwell's line was -2 and they get tons of ice like they do every night. When the other team has 60 shots you have to look at the coach and the players that are outplayed...your 1st 2 lines. In 3 games the top 2 lines have 1 goal. You cant win this way. The players he has are the players he drafted. Yes they are young but they should be getting better and they are not. Don't blame Merkley for being a ghost...blame the coach. Time to suck it up and pay out Preston. The worst coach in the league!

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  5. Where was Our Captain out there tonight...

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  6. Fantastic game from Rimmer. So did anyone see Hood on the ice. Oh never mind I did see him on the ice when he tried to check an oilkings d man and Hood ended up on his butt. Did not see Blomquist being his usual in your face d man either. I watched the benches during the ref timeouts and did not see either of our coaches say one thing to any of the players. I did however see them talking to eachother. I hate to say this so early in the season but this team is in serious trouble and not just for this year but for the next 2-4 years. Goal number one for the board should be get rid of the coaches except maybe Chis. I found out that at the end of last year a group of veteran players actually told the board to get rid of Preston because he can not coach and what does the board do they give him a 2 year extension on his contract. Goal number 2 is make some trades to get some size. They don't even have to be the most skilled guys but will make some space for our small forwards and let other teams know that they can not just keep running over our guys without paying a price. Hopefully once some of our injured d men get back we will be better on the defensive end but will not help up front. Pilon said last night that he hopes to be ready to play next weekend and DJ should be back this weekend. Good luck on the road boys. Even with a little more experience this team will still be to small to compete int the corners and in front of the net. AJ

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  7. Why wasn't our biggest forward Axel playing?

    Canes need to practise power plays, and PASSING!

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  8. No doubt Ty Rimmer stole the show last night! 60 shots, another 25 blocked, tells the story of complete domination by the Oil Kings. I would imagine that the Hurricanes will not be the only team that they dominate this year. This is a very, very good hockey club, with lots of size, skill and obviously very well coached.

    Certainly missing Johnston, Pilon, Sutton hurt the club on the back end. But, even with them healthy and in the lineup, the Canes are no match for Edmonton.

    Of course, what I have stated above is opinion.

    But here is a fact that concerns me. On Monday night's Hurricane's this Week show; when asked by Pat about practicing 5 on 3 powerplays, Rich Preston's reply was "because they don't get them that often, most of the work on them is done through watching videos." Last night with the score still 1-0 (thanks to Rimmer) the Canes had a 2 man advantage for 1:18 and did nothing with it.
    A productive 5 on 3 could have tied the game.

    Opinion, other teams obviously practice their 5 on 3's because they are successful. Preston made it clear that they do not put a lot of practice time (thus a system) for 5 on 3's and that combined with his coaching philosophy as stated Monday as well (also posted by me in a previous article) furthers my concern as to what the players are being taught and thus developed.

    Thanks...to all those fans who chanted and stood for Rimmer at the end of the second period and the game. We have not had a goaltender's name chanted in the building since......Juha, Juha!

    RJ

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  9. It should be pointed out that Merkley played on the top line in last night's game. And had one chance, which he promptly made into a slapstick routine.

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  10. The Canes have no cash to buyout Preston AND hire another coach. I would rather see the club move him upstairs to just be the GM. Then bring in another coach or two...

    Michael Dyck still lives in town... and I regularly see Bryan Maxwell and Parry Shockey along the concourse. They are here and AVAILABLE, just pick one of them... they aren't amazing coahes but does anyone think one of them could do any worse?

    Dyck had great players his last two years and BOTH those teams upset a division winner in the playoffs... Maxie usually had sub-par players (his own fault as GM, not coach) yet somehow always had a competitive team... aren't those the signs of a decent coach??

    Back in 2010, 95% of us Canes fans knew that this coaching staff was under qualified... it's unbelievable that they still lead this team. Yes, it's true the players are much better this year, but these coaches show no sign that they can make the club a winner... I doubt they could even win a medal if they coached our World Junior Team (with 20 guys who are usually 1st or 2nd round NHL picks).

    I believe the club's annual budget is close to 6-7 million dollars, just give one of these guys $100-$200 thousand dollars (not even 2% of the budget) and let's turn this ship around.

    Come on Board Members, you're at most of the home games... aren't you frustrated?! Many of you own/operate businesses and have the brains to make significant business decisions... let's do something!!

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  11. Trust me the annual budget is nowhere near 6 to 7 million a year. With those numbers and the current losses we would have been broke years ago. Besides the it's not the board members money on the line and they proudly show it year after year. Totally agree though about the coaching, need a new coach and had the chance to change last year when his contract was up, but lethbridge signed him again. So now the board once again has tied our hands, cant fire him, pay out his contract and afford the next guy due to the losses. Worst part is the kids that show they have some talent can't grow, we are not helping the kids grow into nhl players with Preston and last time I checked the whl is a developmental league.

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  12. I'm not one who's panicking 3 games into the season and get shutout by the #2 ranked team in the country. But if we're talking coaches, we're NOT talking Maxwell.

    Darren

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  13. I am a Huge Preston fan as a GM. Huge fan of our scouting staff and Assistant GM. Red Deer got out shot 53-20 against Edmonton and lost 6-2. I don’t think Edmonton’s domination of most W teams is going to be an anomaly. However I do think Rich needs to bring in a strict, intense, developmental type coach. I think Rich treats these kids like adults. Like Hockey dad wrote these are 16-20 yr old kids. Get a coach that will treat them like Kids as Rich, Chris or Matt clearly can’t motivate them. I agree Merkley has the skill but he plays scared. Get a coach that will put a fire under him or trade him. HFL

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  14. I hope Tot starts to develop he is 3 games in with 0 points and minus 3 on a contender and he is apparently in shape now. He might have gotten more ice time with us. Guess he wanted better practices?

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  15. Regardless who is on the board, the money made/lost by the club would not be theirs. For the basic reason it is a community owned team. But, to say that they are PROUD of the fact the team has lost money over the last 3 years, is totally unsubstaniated. I can't imagine anyone in any form of business community owned or privately owned, standing up and beating their chest saying, "oh look at me/us, we just lost $600,000!"

    RJ

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  16. To anon 9 50. Maybe you should have looked at the rest of the team stats before calling out Tot. Team has 1 win and the most points on the team is 3. 1/2 of the forwards have 0 points. Why not show Buonassis stats 3 games 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points. It is to bad that this board has let this team slide so far We can all blame Preston and I do to but the board knew who he was before they hired him and if they didn 't they should have asked and I could have told them. I was told by more than one person in Calgary that he is not a good coach. I don 't know what the answer for this team is other than a private owner. Hopefully I win the lottery and I can put in a bid to own the team. AJ

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  17. Rich is a coach of the 70's. Old school. The players he has are the ones he has drafted. Blame him. Don't blame the players. Accountability should be at the top thats Rich and the board. Merkley played a couple of shifts on the 1st line. Your 1st and 2nd lines are pretty much intact through the 1st 3 games. The second line was -2 Maxwell,Mckecnie and Yakabowski. Your 1st line has 1 point in 3 games. Don't blame anyone kid. Give Rimmer credit it could have been much worse. Im a canes fan but the truth is the truth.

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  18. It's clear that it's Stasiak's fault that Preston picked the wrong guy in Merkley with that 3rd overall pick. It's clear it was the refs fault when Preston tossed all the clipboards in Kelowna.
    It's never his fault.

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  19. I think it's far too early to be trying to fire the coach/GM. It's important to remember a) it's only 3 games into the season and b) Preston was JUST signed to a 2 year extension, so economics plays a role in any changes to those positions. I don't want the organization to get into a situation where they're paying multiple coaches and GM's are firing them before their contracts are due. Yes, he's not proving to be a very good coach, but like it or not, the Board just signed Preston to a new deal, so that HAS to play a factor at this point.

    Looking forward, I hope Preston isn't afraid to deal a draft pick to add a forward with size/experience if they team continues to struggle to score goals. I didn't realize how small the Canes were until I watched the last home game. It's great to have a few small/fast players, but you can't teach size.

    Kootenay should provide a much more even opponent than Edmonton, so should be a more even game (saying that with fingers crossed!).

    Like that the goofball from the Tigers got a 12 game suspension. The league showed it isn't going to tolerate that type of goon-style play. If you can't play the game without that kind of crap, you can't play in this league.

    Good luck tonight boys!
    Darren

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  20. Is the game against the Ice tonight a must win? If we lose tonight we are 1 -3 with our next 2 games in Tri and Spoke so we could easily be 1-5 after 6 games. We than have a long homestand but our first 5 games are all against really tough opponents. The combined record of the first 5 teams we play during our at homestand is 12-2-2. They are all very good teams. If the Canes do not start to turn it around now we could be 1 - 10 one month into our season.

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