Hurricanes Beat Rival Medicine Hat 8-4

LETHBRIDGE - The Lethbridge Hurricanes erased a two goal deficit heading in the third period as they stormed back to beat the rival Medicine Hat Tigers 8-4 Friday night at the ENMAX Centre.

The Hurricanes struck first in this game when Adam Henry scored his 5th goal of the season for Lethbridge in front of a packed house at the ENMAX Centre to give the Canes a 1-0 lead. The visitors though would get back on to even terms not too long after that.  Just over a minute later, Matt Staples scored for Medicine Hat, tying the game at 1-1.  The Tigers would soon after take the lead for the first time when Hunter Shinkaruk would score his first of the night to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.  Before the end of the period though, Lethbridge would get things back to even terms when Brady Ramsay put home his 13th of the season to tie the games at 2-2 after 20 minutes of play.  Medicine Hat out shot the Canes 18-13 in the period.

In the second, the Tigers regained the lead early when Myles Koules' shot beat Ty Rimmer to give Medicine Hat a 3-2 lead and then the visitors would strike again, this time a shorthanded goal as Curtis Valk would put Medicine Hat ahead 4-2.  The Tigers would take that two goal lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes. Shots were 30-25 Tigers.

In the third, the comeback kids would rally in a big way.  Just 17 seconds into the period, Brady Ramsay would knock home his 2nd of the night and 14th of the season to cut the Tigers lead to 4-3. Right off the face-off at centre ice, just 13 seconds later the Canes would come down and tie the game. Josh Derko would knock home his 7th of year and just like that, the game was tied up at 4-4. 2:30 after the tying goal, Derko would give the Hurricanes the lead with his 2nd of the night at 8th of the season to give Lethbridge a 5-4 lead.  The Canes kept it coming when the red hot Tyler Wong snapped home his 6th of the season to give the Hurricanes a 6-4 lead. That would cap off a span of 4 goals in just under 10 minutes. The Hurricanes kept it coming in front of the sold out home town crowd, when team-leading scorer Russell Maxwell scored his 22nd goal of the season to put the Hurricanes into a 7-4 lead. The home team would light the red lamp would final time in the final seconds of the game with a goal from Captain Graham Hood and the Hurricanes would skate away with an 8-4 win. The strong 3rd period would have the Hurricanes out shoot the Tigers 45-35 overall.  The Canes went 0/5 on the power play while Medicine Hat finished the game 1/7. The victory improves the Hurricanes record to 28-33-3-7 on the season. A win in their final game of the season Saturday would equal the Canes win total of last season.

HURRICANES 2012-2013 PLAYER AWARDS:

* Community Relations Award - Russell Maxwell
* Scholastic Player of the Year - Craig Leverton
* CJOC Three Stars Award: Ty Rimmer
* Award for Perseverance: Michael Sofillas
* Top Scorer Award: Russell Maxwell
* Top Defenceman Award: Dan Johnston
* Top Rookie of the Year: Ryan Pilon
* Fan Favourite Award: Tyler Wong
* Most Valuable Player: Ty Rimmer

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes will close out their season Saturday (Mar. 16) when they travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Tigers. Game time is 7:30 pm MDT. The pre-game show on CJOC at 7:00. I'll be back to behind the mic for this one. A big thanks to Fred Jack, Paul Kingsmith, and Colby Hayward for pinch-hitting for me on Friday as I was away.

Thanks,
Pat