Hurricanes Double Up Kootenay ICE 4-2

LETHBRIDGE - The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a long goal scoring drought on home ice as they beat the visiting Kootenay ICE 4-2 Wednesday night at the ENMAX Centre.

A decent first period of hockey by both teams in this one.  The Canes and ICE started their back-up goalies as Chris Tai and Wyatt Hoflin would grab the spotlight for a change and they would play extremely well.  Neither team was able to score in the opening 20 minutes.  The shots would favour Kootenay 14-12.

In the second, the Lethbridge Hurricanes would break the 0-0 tie.  Tyler Wong scored off a rebound, for his 4th goal of the season to give the home team a 1-0 lead.  That ended a long goal drought for the Hurricanes on home ice which lasted 208:38.  The Canes would keep it coming with a goal late in the period when Jamal Watson snapped home his 19th of the season to give Lethbridge a 2-0 lead.  In the final minute, Kootenay would get back in the game with a power play goal courtesy of Luke Philp to cut the Lethbridge lead to 2-1 after 40 minutes.  The Canes held the edge in shots 27-21.

In the third, the ICE would tie the game with an early power play goal. Sam Reinhart tipped the puck past Chris Tai to tie the game up at 2-2.  The Hurricanes would take things over the rest of the night.  Captain Graham Hood would score the eventual game winner on a man advantage, getting his 11th of the season to give Lethbridge a 3-2 lead.  The Canes would ice the game when Lenny Hackman hammered home his first-ever goal in the WHL to give the Hurricanes a 4-2 lead and that would be the final score.  The Canes end a 6 game losing skid with the victory and improves their record to 27-33-3-7 on the season.  The Canes went 1/5 on the power plat and Kootenay finished the game 2/4. Lethbridge out shot the ICE 38-29.

PRESTON SPEAKS ABOUT MISSING PLAYOFFS

Head Coach and GM Rich Preston says he's disappointed this Hurricanes team won't make the playoffs this season.  He spoke to me about it prior to Wednesday's game: "It's disappointing Pat, no question.  It's tough to reflect on this all right now.  At the end of the season we can sit down and look back.  There was a lot of positives this year, obviously with out young players.  It's just disappointing.  It seems just the last month we just couldn't score any goals for whatever reason".

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes are down to their final two games in the season, both against rival Medicine Hat.  The Canes play their final home game Friday (Mar. 15) versus the Tigers.  Prior to the start of game, the club with give out it's annual player awards, including the Mose Valuable Player which will be presented by former Lethbridge Bronco and NHL Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier.  It's also the Hurricanes annual Jersey Off Our Back Night.  The puck is not expected to drop until around 7:15 pm MDT.  Fred Jack will call the play-by-play for this game as I will be out of town at a family funeral.  I'm back behind the mic for the Canes last game Saturday (Mar. 16) in Medicine Hat at 7:30 pm.

Thanks,
Pat