Hurricanes Shut Out For Second Straight Game, 2-0 Kootenay

LETHBRIDGE - Jaedon Descheneau scored twice as tie as the Kootenay ICE blanked the Lethbridge Hurricanes 2-0 Sunday night in a key WHL game at the ENMAX Centre.

The Kootenay ICE came out with a huge jump in their step in this game.  Ty Rimmer put on a goaltending clinic in the opening 20 minutes. The Canes netminder was bombarded with shots, but kept the game scoreless.  The first period was just over 10 minutes old, the ICE had out shot Lethbridge 14-0 and Rimmer was perfect between the pipes.  When it was all said and done, the buzzer would sound with the two teams in a scoerless tie.  Kootenay heavily out shot the Hurricanes 21-5.

In the second, the Hurricanes would come out with a few solid scoring chances, but Kootenay end up breaking the scoreless tie.  Sam Reinhart with a great pass from behind the Lethbridge goal to Jaedon Descheneau who buried by Ty Rimmer to make it 1-0 Kootenay. That lead held up through 40 minutes of play and the ICE would held to the dressing room with a one goal lead.  Kootenay held the edge in shots 31-18.  Up to this poiont and going back to the 2-0 to Red Deer, the Hurricanes havd been unable to score in 5 consecutive periods of hockey.

In the third, the Hurricanes pulled out all the stops to find the equalizer, but it wouldn't happen for a second night in a row.  Jaedon Descheneau iced it for Kootenay with an empty net goal, his second of the game to give the visitors a 2-0 victory.  The ICE out shot the Canes 50-36 in this game.  Lethbridge went 0/2 on the power play and the ICE went 0/5.  The loss drops the Hurricanes record to 25-28-2-7 on the season, for 59 points in 62 games.  Lethbridge has also lost 6 in a row.  The Hurricanes were shut out twice this weekend, both by 2-0 scores.

RIMMER SETS SAVES RECORD

Ty Rimmer set a franchise record in this game, setting the Hurricanes all-time single season saves record surpassing Jeff Ferguson from the 1987-1988 season.  He stopped 1837 pucks that season and Rimmer surpassed that mark Sunday evening.  With 10 games left in the regular season, Rimmer will likely set a new record which will last for a lot longer than 25 years. 

NUMBERS GAME

With the Hurricanes now trailing the final playoff spot in the East by 5 points, time is not on their side.  Looking at the numbers, the Canes will have to go 8-2 and at worse 7-3 in these final 10 games to get into the playoffs.  Included will be two regulation wins against the Kootenay ICE in the final week of the season.  Lethbridge has just 8 wins in it's last 23 games going back to just after the Christmas break.  The Canes also trail Swift Current by 6 points and Medicine Hat by 10.  In the final 10 games of the season, the Hurricanes will face Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, Red Deer twice, Kootenay twice, Medicine Hat two times and one game against the Calgary Hitmen.

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes now hit the road for their final multi-game swing of the season with 3 games in 4 nights in B.C.  The Canes to Vancouver Island Wednesday (Feb. 27) to play the Victoria Royals. That will close out the February portion of the Hurricanes schedule and leave them with 9 games left in the season.  Friday (Mar. 1) the Canes will head back to the mainland for a date with the Vancouver Giants and they'll close out the trip Saturday (Mar. 2) when they play the Rockets in Kelowna.  The Victoria and Kelowna games are both 8:00 pm MST starts on 94.1 CJOC.  The game in Vancouver will start at 8:30 pm MST.

Thanks,

Pat