LETHBRIDGE - WHL Player of the Week Jaimen Yakubowski made a good case to be named to the honour again this week as he scored 5 goals, but that wasn't enough as the Lethbridge Hurricanes fell 8-7 in a shoot out to rival Medicine Hat Friday night at the ENMAX Centre.
The Hurricanes struck first and often in the first period of this game. Russell Maxwell put the home team in front with a power play goal. That was his 17th of the season and gave Lethbridge a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later the Hurricanes would add to their lead. The red hot Jaimen Yakubowski stole the puck shorthanded and move in one a two-one-one rush and snapped the puck over Cam Lanigan to give the Canes a 2-0 lead. That was the Hurricanes 6th shorthanded marker of the season. Lethbridge wasn't done there and neither was Yakubowski. Before the buzzer sounded, Yakubowski put the Hurricanes in front 3-0 with his 2nd of the night and 15 of the season. The Canes would take that comfortable lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes of play. Lethbridge held a slight 7-6 edge in shots.
In the second, the Tigers would get on the score sheet and charge back to even the score in what turned out to be a wild period of hockey. Dylan Bredo took a nice feed from Jacob Doty and he beat Ty Rimmer. That cut the Lethbridge lead to 3-1. The Hurricanes would get that back in short order. Sam McKechnie slammed home his 15th goal of the season on the power play to give the Canes a 4-1 lead, but the Tigers would score three straight to get the game back to even terms. Hunter Shinkaruk scored on the power play to cut the Canes lead in half at 4-2 and the Curtis Valk scored a pair of goals two minutes apart to tie the game at 4-4. Medicine Hat scored 3 goals in a span of 4:01 to even the score. The Hurricanes would regain control of the game late in the period when Jaimen Yakubowski scored his 3rd of the hockey game and 16th of the season to make it 5-4 Lethbridge and with less than one second remaining in the period, Yakubowski would notch his 4th of the night and 17th of the season to give Lethbridge a two goal again, this time 6-4 after 40 minutes of play. That capped off a crazy, 7 goal second period of hockey. Lethbridge held the edge in shots 23-15.
In the third, the Tigers would make it a one goal hockey game again. Miles Koules fired a shot over Rimmer who stopped a screened shot previous and the rebound went to Koules who put it upstairs to make it a 6-5 game in favour of Hurricanes. The Canes would jump ahead 7-5 when Jaimen Yakubowski scored once again, his 5th of the night and 18th of the season off a mad scramble in the Tigers crease. That gave the Hurricanes a two goal lead with about 5 minutes remaining in the period, but it was far from over, because Medicine Hat would come back again with two quick goals to tie things up at 7-7. Hunter Shinkaruk beat Ty Rimmer with a backhander at the side of the goal to make it a 7-6 game in favour of Lethbridge and then just over 2 minutes later Elgin Pearce would tie the game at 7-7 when he moved in and slid the puck under Rimmer to even the score and send the game into overtime. The extra frame solved nothing, so for the second time in less than a week, the Hurricanes and Tigers would go to a shoot out to decide a winner. The Tigers would score twice in the shoot out and stun the Hurricanes with an 8-7 victory. It's the 4th times the Canes have lost in a shoot out this season. They get a single point, but let leads of 3-0, 4-1, 6-4, and 7-5 slip away in this game. The loss drops their record to 15-14-1-4 on the season. Lethbridge out shot the Tigers 32-29. The Hurricanes went 3/8 on the power play and the Tigers finished the night 1/5. You have to give the Tigers a lot of credit for not quitting in this game.
BLOMQVIST OUT
Defenceman Albin Blomqvist is out of the line-up for a while. Head Coach and GM Rich Preston said he took a head shot in the first period of the game against Edmonton and is out indefinitely. The Canes put Connor Sutton back on the blueline and Tyler Wong and Craig Leverton were back in the Lethbridge line-up on Friday against the Tigers.
NEXT UP
The Hurricanes will take on the Kootenay ICE Saturday night (Dec. 8) in their annual teddy bear toss game. Almost half way through the season and these two Central Division teams are meeting for only the second time. Lethbridge won the first game way back in the second week of the season in Cranbrook. Game time from the ENMAX Centre is 7:00 pm MST. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30. The Canes have 4 games remaining before the head out for the WHL's annual Christmas break.
Thanks,
Pat
The views expressed on this blog are those of the moderator and contributors and are not endorsed by 94.1 CJOC or the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
This isn't a game to remember. Letting all those leads slip away is nothing short of a failure, especially the 7-5 lead. Way to waste a nice effort by Yaks. While I'm sure the fans were entertained, it's not a game I'd prefer to pay for. I'm not a fan of poorly-played games.
ReplyDeleteDarren
What a horrible waste of a 5 goal performance by the WHL's player of the week YAK ATTACK!You'd think that his teammates would have put the pedal to the metal in order that his 5 goal night (with his parents in attendance) would mean something more than an 8-7 shoot out loss. Brutal effort after such a good game against Edmonton. All they had to do is shut down Shinkaruk and Valk. The Tiger's duo looked like they had a free pass to the Canes' net. This mess came to a shootout and the dye was cast. Tigers were going to win. The comments of Chris Chissamore regarding the Hurricanes effort in the shoot out leave one wondering what the heck he was talking about. Medicine Hat has three natural....natural goal scorers in Shinkaruk, Valk and Pearce. The Hurricanes do not have one. Their goals come from "greasy spots" on the ice. You do not see many tick tack toe plays from the Canes. Heck all 5 of YAK Attack's goals came from that greasy spot around the net. Until the Hurricanes have bonifide natural goal scorers, they will continue to lose shoot out games. CC was wrong with his assessment. Is it just me, or is anyone of the opinion that Axel looks weak, is becoming a liability with this club. Sutton looked out of place. The team better be in a nasty mood tomorrow night and set this right.
ReplyDeleteGood luck trying to find out who if any former Hurricane has scored 5 goals in one game. The WHL website does not list such a record.
RJ
Time for the 95 group to start to play like they can. HLR
ReplyDeleteAny idea what Reid Dukes status is? Coming back soon?
ReplyDeleteWOW!!!!! An incredible game for Yak goes to waste because not one guy on any of the other 3 forward lines knows how to play "D" or back check. Ramsey line all -2, Merkley line with Sofillas all -2 Wong -2, Remi -1, and Leverton 0. What is up with the coaches not saying anything to the players or taking a timeout when the score got to 7-6. Rimmer looks tired and I for one hoped Tai would start last night, maybe tonight. Sutton did look a little out of place but still ended the game at even +/-. Ax. Blom is on a downhill spiral and needs to be demoted or rested, but ended the game +3 because of his linemates. I talked to Duke at Wednesday's game and he was hoping to be back for next weeks game. Once Duke is back he should play in Ax's spot and Ax. should sit for a while. We better play better tonight or we will lose to the Ice. AJ
ReplyDelete@ Anon 10:01 AM....
ReplyDeleteThe reason for Preston not taking the time out when the score got to 7-6, was because he had already taken it back in the second period when the Tigers had tied it up a 4 goals apiece. I was there, and saw it happen.
Doesn't matter anyway, they could have taken ten time-outs if it was allowed, and it still likely would not have helped much....
I got my money's worth in amount of goals scored, but this is a bad omen for playoffs should the 'Canes make it there. I am sure they will, but they have to play better with a lead in order to go far.... :-/
Consistency is the key for a young team and as good as they were for 60 minutes against Edmonton they thought they could get away with playing 30 minutes last night. From poor goaltending to poor defence and bad penalties I think the shock of this game will resonate for awhile. It could be a key lesson learned going forward. My bet would be Tai gets the start tonight and team will have to be sharp in front of him. Albin B is a loss on defence. Sutton cannot play many minutes . Henry will be back but he is not a big body and Canes had the smallest D in the league with Albin. Johnston can only do so much on his own and he is doing a hell of a job. Hopefully Canes can pick up a D man and forward at the trade deadline. TD
ReplyDeleteHi Pat. Like your poll about the Canes adopting a plane as part of a permanent logo. I for one absolutely love that 3rd jersey. My brother pointed out to me that the marketing kind of thing is "get on the Canes Train".
ReplyDeleteThat should be changed along with the Jersey to "GET ON THE CANES PLANE".
canesrock
canesrock
ReplyDeleteThe "Cane Train" was not a marketing kind of thing but was started by the players themselves last season. It is unlikely you will see them change it to Cane Plane because of a logo.
-cc
I think that They should start using the "Cane Train" for marketing and merchandise. I also think that from a figure of speech point of view train makes much more sense the plane. Besides as it was started by the players it should not be changed.
ReplyDeleteNN
Can someone explain to me the connection between a Hurricane and an airplane or a Hurricane and a Train?? Neither fit for a logo..only for a motto. ("Running Down a Dream" was used back in the early 90's for the Ruff, Walz, Lyons team, but wasn't and shouldn't have been considered as an addition to the team logo).
ReplyDeleteDarren
Darren,
ReplyDeleteLethbridge has connections with the Hawker Hurricane aircraft which was stationed in Lethbridge by the British military back in the 1940's.
The train thing is simply something that was coined by the players calling it the Cane Train. It's something that's caught on with fans.
Pat
Thanks Pat. I remember this now from back around the Remembrance Day game. However, I still think it's a real stretch to for most people to draw that connection.
ReplyDeleteThanks and keep up the good work. Will be listening to tomorrow night's podcast!
Darren