Hurricanes Down Moose Jaw Warriors 4-1

LETHBRIDGE - Reid Duke and Jaimen Yakubowski each scored twice and Chris Tai was great in goal as the Lethbridge Hurricanes beat Moose Jaw 4-1.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes would get things going in this game when Reid Duke would finally get the monkey off his back, scoring his first goal of the season when his picked the puck up from behind the Moose Jaw goal and wrapped in by Justic Paulic to give Lethbridge a 1-0 lead.  Late in the period Moose Jaw would get into some penalty trouble and the Canes would make them pay.  On a 5-on-3 power play, Jay Merkley fed a great pass cross-ice to Jamien Yakubowski and held scored his team-leading 22nd of the season to put the Canes ahead 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.  The shots were even at 10-10.

In the second, the Warriors would come out gunning, looking to get back into the game, but Chris Tai came up with a number of big saves, especially late in the period to keep Moose Jaw off the score sheet.  The Canes were unable to find the back of the during the second as well and the 2-0 lead the Hurricanes had after the first period would hold up through 20 minutes as well.  Moose Jaw held a slight edge in shots at 24-22.

In the third, the Warriros would cut the Canes lead in half when Brayden Point scored on the power play, making it a 2-1 game in favour of the Hurricanes.  After that Lethbridge took over again with a pair of goals.  Reid Duke would score a highlight reel goal, moving through the Warriors defence and lifting a backhander over Paulic to give Lethbridge a 3-1 lead.  A few minutes later, the Canes would finish the game off when Jaimen Yakubowski notched his second of the night and 23rd of the season to give Lethbridge a 4-1 lead and that's the way the game would end.  The victory gives Lethbridge it's 20th of the season, and improves their overall record to 20-18-1-5 on the season. Lethbridge finished the game 1/7 on the power play and Moose Jaw was 1/5.  The Warriors out shot the Canes 41-31.

HURRICANES THIS WEEK

Our first Hurricanes This Week radio show of 2013 hits the air Monday night (Jan. 7) on CJOC.  Fred and I will be joined by Hurricanes Associate Coach Matt Kabayama, rookie defenceman Ryan Pilon, and Bob Ridley, the radio voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers.  The show starts at 7:00 pm MST.

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes will play the final game of this four game home stand on Wednesday (Jan. 9) when they play host to the Vancouver Giants.  This will be the second of 3 meetings this season between these two teams.  The Giants beat the Canes in a shoot out the last time Vancouver was in town October 30th.  Game time from the ENMAX Centre is 7:00 pm MST.  The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30.  The Canes and Giants will play one final time in Vancouver on March 1st.

Thanks,
Pat