Saturday 23 November 2013

Raiders Hammer Hurricanes 8-2 in P.A.

PRINCE ALBERT, SK. - The Prince Albert Raiders exploded for five goals in the second period as they hammered the Lethbridge Hurricanes 8-1 Saturday night in northern Saskatchewan.

The Raiders jumped out on the visiting Hurricanes quickly in this game, trying to get the first goal, but Lethbridge would end up scoring first. Just after a Hurricanes power play expired, Bryton Sayers hammered a one-timer past P.A. goalie Nick McBride to give the Canes a 1-0 lead. That was Sayers' 2nd goal of the season and gave Lethbridge a 1-0 lead. After that the Raiders took things over with three goals. Just 44 seconds later, the Raiders would tie things up when Josh Morrissey blasted a point shot by a screened Teagan Sacher, who made his first start in goal for the Lethbridge Hurricanes. That tied the game at 1-1. A few minutes later, P.A. would grab its first lead of the night with Dakota Conroy cashed in a rebound to make it 2-1 and then in the final minute of the period, Prince Albert would jump ahead by a pair of goals when Dakota Conroy scored his second of the game to give the Raiders a 3-1 lead after one period. P.A. came out gunning as they out shot the Hurricanes 19-7.

In the second, the Raider would blow this game wide open. Leon Draisaitl scored on the power play to make it 4-1 Raiders and a few seconds later they'd score again, this time Reid Gardiner would get the goal to give P.A. a commanding 5-1 lead barely two minutes into the second period. The Canes made a goaltending change after that as Sacher would be relieved by Corbin Boes. Before the halfway point in the period, Dakota Conroy would get his third of the evening, beating Boes to make it 6-1 Prince Albert. The Raiders kept it coming. Again on the the man advantage, Josh Morrissey would fire a point shot beating Boes to give the Raiders a 7-1 lead. Not too long after that, Boes left the game, went to the Hurricanes dressing room and didn't return. Teagan Sacher came back into the game and before the end of the period, The Raiders would score their 3rd of the game with the power play on Reid Gardiner's 2nd of the night and P.A. would skate off the ice with a lop-sided 8-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. They also held a sizable 39-12 lead in the shots on goal department.

In the third, no more offence for Prince Albert, but Lethbridge did get one more. Late in the game, Griffin Foulk would score on a Hurricanes power play to cut the P.A. lead to 8-2 and that's the way this game would end. The loss drops the Hurricanes to 3-20-2-2. Lethbridge with just one victory in their last 15 games. The Canes went 1/5 on the power play and The Raiders were 3/7. Joel Topping, Giorgio Estephan, and Remi Laurencelle were all healthy scratches for the Hurricanes in P.A.

Hurricanes This Week

Fred Jack and I are back in-studio Monday night as our next edition of Hurricanes This Week is set for 7:00 pm. On the program this week in Hurricanes Head Coach Drake Berehowsky. He'll be on for the first half hour. Then we will be joined by Corey Graham, the play-by-play voice of the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Next Up

The Hurricanes return home now for their next two games, both against the Edmonton Oil Kings. The Canes host Edmonton Friday night (Nov. 29) and then the Oil Kings return to the ENMAX Centre again two nights later on Sunday (Dec. 1). The Friday game versus Edmonton will start at 7:30 pm MST. It's been pushed back a half hour from the original start tonight. Sunday's game is a 6:00 pm puck drop.

Thanks,
Pat

32 comments:

  1. Close one. Could have gone either way. Very competitive and entertaining hockey. The Drake's system is working perfectly; we just got unlucky eight times.

    Richie

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  2. I wonder how long this is going to be tolerated, with so many changes made and still the same results, it time to look at the coaching staff / gm and quit saying the players are not buying in to the systems or the wrong players are here, I have a feeling that the word " systems" will soon be more hated in town that the word cancer...bob

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    1. After trading away half the roster, the BOD and GM have no choice but to keep the coaching staff in place. They made their choice: Coaches over players. They made their bed, now they can sleep in it.

      Empty Net

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  3. Berehowsky needs to be fired immediately. There is absolutely zero excuse for keeping him. Make Lukowch the head coach for now if you have to but you have traded players, had players walk out and brought in new players. This mess can no longer be blamed on these young men. No where in professional sports can a coach have this kind of record and somehow manage to keep his job. It is about time someone was held accountable and the organization started doing what is right for these young lads.

    -cc

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    1. As I said above, I highly doubt there will be any coaching changes. You don't move out all those players and then fire the coach.

      Empty Net

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  4. That's some kind of system.

    Offside Again

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  5. I completely agree with CC but would add Robson must go as well. He was the architect of the last 4 years and the current situation. We have got nothing for the trades and our prospect pipeline is weak. The change needs to be made if not solely for the reason so that prospects will sign in the future. Will a first round pick next year really sign under this Management group??? We are in another major rebuild with the guy who did the last one. As they say the definition of insanity is ":doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" Not a chance the situation would have gotten this bad or continued this long under private ownership. SN

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  6. The system I can't stand is the penalty kill. It is without a doubt the worst in the league. Who runs a 1-1-2 style, this isn't basketball. Why try to reinvent the wheel? The reason the 2-2 box is used by nearly every team and has been for decades is because it works. The system the Canes are using on the PK applies no pressure on the opposing team and leaves a top shooter wide open because the two forwards are standing in a line in the middle of the ice. This format just let's the goalie get peppered with shots by the other teams top sniper. Run a better PK and you'll see the shots per game go down.

    I know the power play is always a popular part of the game for the home fans to complain about but in the grand scheme of things for a 3 win team to have a PP ranked 12th in league sitting at 21.7% is not too bad.

    It's time to make some changes on the leagues worst penalty kill (69.1%) you quit giving up 2-4 power play goals a game and you'll find your team being competitive in a lot more hockey games.

    CanesFan17

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  7. It is time for Mr. Robson to admit his mistake with the goaltending. Boes is not the answer and we need a number 1 goalie. Or at the very least a good backup to Sascher. We need to trade for another goalie we got rid of a good young backup to Brandon. I do question the goalie coach as Boes even though he has received 90% of the playing time has not improved.

    Your best penalty killer has to be the goalie and with Boes flopping on the ice like a trout out of water he is no help!

    A View from Above

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    1. The outstanding goaltending the Canes have received in the past two years from Damion Ketlo and last year from Ty Rimmer has covered up a LOT of problems with this team and organization. Robson's attempt to do the same this year hasn't worked and has exposed the team for what it is/was. Not very good.

      I wasn't happy about the Boes trade in the first place. It was well known the Wheaties were about to cut Boes loose, but Robson jumped the gun and traded for him. Poor move. By the time Skinner is ready to play for the Canes, he won't want to.

      Empty Net

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  8. Preston is still on contract. Pretty sad when bringing him back is a valid option.

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  9. This team has been basement dwellers for 4 years and they have had more high first and second round Bantam picks than any team in the league and they are worse off today than 4 years ago? There is no Prospect on the horizon to lead this team to a playoff spot let alone anything more? Whose responsibility is that? I would say Mr Robson. The Coach and Mr, Robson must go and go now....no 1st round overall draft pick in the right mind will sign with the Canes if there is not a change in the organization and that should include a move to sell the team. LthHnds

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  10. We scored first. We scored last. Just have to clean up those 8 opposition goals in between and we are golden!

    Teams with records ahelluvamuch better than ours have lost games worse than 8-2 this year and the PA Raiders have size, speed, and skill in abundance to justify the drubbing, but.... are we not supposed to expect BETTER results when the marjority of the "top" players brought in by the current regime are in the lineup?

    I don't see how Robson and/or the Drake would be/could be (viably) turfed before the end of the season. Give them until the end of the season so they can either make their complete and utter failure successful, or (miraculously) climb out of it.

    I don't know how the contracts for these guys have been written, but I assume that the board was short-sighted enough to set both Robson and the Drake up for big bucks whether they stunk at their jobs or not.

    If there isn't SIGNIFICANT improvement between now and the end of the season, either the current board needs to replace Robson as GM, OR with WHL counsel, they need to initiate/work toward selling the team. To me, there are no other options, and here is part of the "why."

    Nothing with respect to this team is more evident to me than that the current board is NOT capable of running a successful WHL club. Not to suggest that I have a better president or board in mind.

    I personally doubt that there is any board member available (or interested) that would do a better job than the current leadership considering the lack of accountability, the enormous time requirement to succeed in the role, and the lack of remuneration.

    Odds of the Rough Riders taking another penalty on the last play of the game to lose again? That would be priceless.

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    1. Very much agree with your closing sentiments (not the Rider one!). The BOD is a complete joke. Our vice-president wouldn't know a hockey game if he was the starting centre and had ZERO experience when elected to his position other than owning KFC franchises that his father passed on to him. It's a complete disaster in the board room. Sell the team gentlemen and save yourselves and OUR TEAM any more embarrassment!

      Empty Net

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  11. Two winnable games. Outscored 13-4! A solid performance against the Silvertips meant nothing.

    Enough said.

    Dump'n Chase

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  12. I listened to the Mon, Nov 25, radio show and while I recognize that it is tough to ask tough questions, are you guys not serving the role of journalists-broacasters? You let the Drake off the hook way too easy.

    Despite his year beginning speech about accountability, he is the stereotypical hockey player that says little of substance, and regardless of the question, says exactly the same thing over and over. There were certainly no tough questions asked, and even less answers or discussion of expectations. Where was the simple question, "Given the difficult start to the season, what are your expectations for the remainder of this season?" He would have undoubtedly given the standard answer something about ``getting better every game`` and ``continuing to improve.``

    As a followup question, since he would definitely not offer it,
    ``Is there a final season win-loss record that you would consider a successful season.`` -Are you guys not also wondering this?

    ``With so much talk about changes in accountability at the beginning of this season of change, what are the consequences if you don`t achieve this record, or the success you have defined.``

    Where was the question, "Drake, you talk about this process as if you know and expect that excellent results will come. In the results-driven position that you are in as Head Coach, how long do expect that your board, your GM, your players, and the fans should wait for better results?``

    Whether it is was about a specific player or the team and its "progress," he said nothing specific to make this fan believe better results should be expected this season, or the next, or the next. THERE DON`T SEEM TO BE ANY MINIMUM EXPECTATIONS! THE GROUND`S THE LIMIT!

    We only learned from him that everybody is trying their hardest, that he hopes for the best for Axel, for Ryan Pilon, Sam and Jaimen, and he is proud of the current players and their contributions to the city, and of their efforts on the ice.

    This is all great positivity, but without positive history, or improvement shown as WINS instead of whatever mystic metrics he is using, how can he be so sure that positive results are coming, and more specifically, WHY should we believe him. I couldn't believe he even mentioned "ten years" when talking about the culture change process.

    He talks as if he has been coaching for years and that it is just a matter of "time" before everything he says comes to fruition, and the team hoists the cup.

    As far as I can tell, prior to coming to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Drake was a head coach for exactly one season with the ECHL's expansion team, the Orlando Solar Bears. He coached them to a 28-37 losing season and ended it on a four game losing streak and posted a depressive 2-7-0-1 to end their season. To his credit, 3 of 22 other teams had fewer wins than his team, but as he is here now, the ownership group of the Solar Bears apparently no longer shared his commitment or optimism with the process.

    I am all about giving him a chance for his first success on his quest to coach a team to the Memorial Cup then the Stanley Cup, but what has he done or what makes him think that he can be successful?

    So far, under his care, at least four players (that has been made public) have asked to leave the team, his team has earned the worst record in the WHL with only 3 wins in 27 attempts, (which is HALF as many wins as the next worst team), they have the fewest goals for, the most against, the most penalty minutes, and the worst record for past 10 to show for his ``improvement.`` So again, I don`t know what mystic metrics HE is showing improvement with, but I am familiar with THESE metrics, and they are humming a different tune.

    The Orlando Solar Bears have a new coach this year. They are 10-6, they are 7-3-0-0 in their past ten games, and are only 4 points out of first place in their conference. Either way, you could sell their success this year as ``his doing.``

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    1. Excellent points made here Rantus, but I'll stand up for Pat and Fred in that Fred asked some specific questions but Drake danced around them like PM Harper in Question Period over the Senate scandal. They're both employed by the Hurricanes, so I don't blame them for not continuing to flog a dead horse.

      Speaking of a dead horse...........

      Empty Net

      Empty Net

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  13. Previous post was very well written. Drake preaches accountability as does Robson. They are happy to have everyone else be accountable except themselves. SC

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  14. Listen to the show, I did again today after your comments. Meaningful questions were asked especially by Fred. Drake doesn't answer them. What do you want him to do, keep repeating the question? CJOC is the rights holder. They are in a very tough spot. Good job Fred and Pat. Drake has failed miserably here and should be let go.

    Stick Side

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  15. What's the best thing to do when you find that your digging a big hole for yourself?......................stop digging.

    Enigma

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  16. Keep in mind that Orlando was an expansion team last year... just like the Canes "arguably" are this season with a rookie GM, rookie head coach, and two rookie asst coaches... Not to forget the youngest roster in the WHL

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    1. This is an important point, but I'm wondering if this city has the stomach for another rebuild with the current Board, GM and coaching staff?? (Not that there's any choice since the team has chosen to support the coaches over the players). I guess attendance at the remainder of games this season will tell. Personally, I don't think the team's poor on-ice performance will generate much walk-up sales, but I could be wrong. (Not blaming the players. This isn't their mess).

      Darren

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    2. This year has certainly exposed the previous four years poor coaching, development and drafting. Preston did not educate during any of the previous years and our defence was not developed by Kabayama. Drafting Prestons insistence at drafting small fast players set this team back when all other teams are big skilled and fast.

      Darren you are right it is not the players fault! But then again Robson, Berehowski and the other coaches walked into a jackpot that is now rearing it's ugly head. It will take time to get these kids on the right path so they can play and have the knowledge to play in the WHL. Constantly calling for the coach and GM's head is counter productive as I do not care which coaches were chosen to head this team they would be facing the same problem.

      Patience is required here! I know no one wants to here that but it is a fact. Coaches are not going to be fired that costs a lot of money and makes no business sense right now. These coaches need time!

      A view from Above

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  17. "A view from above" makes some good points. With a coach/gm still under contract I doubt there is any appetite to fire more people. The costs become prohibitive.

    Most successful WHL teams tend to be on the bigger side. Bruce Hamilton said in an article once that his philosophy was to generally take the bigger kids. He said that he will only take the smaller kid if he is extremely talented and can be a difference maker. He said big teams tend to be able to handle the wear and tear of a playoff run. Baillie and Merkley are bit smaller but look at their talent level. When one looks at some of the big talented kids the Canes could have had, it's a bit depressing.

    A caoch/gm and his philosophy can impact a team for years both good and bad. I would expect that this team hasn't seen the end of the trades. With the exception of a few players the roster will have to be completely reworked. Then and only then will long term results be seen. Portland was on the skids but turned their situation around. It can be done as long as there is a clear plan in place, and some patience.

    Enigma

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  18. I have always enjoyed reading the posts from both A View and Enigma and I respect your opinions. I however must respectfully disagree with some points.

    I absolutely feel that Berehowsky is the wrong man for this job. If he has to be here because the organization can't afford to fire him, so be it. But while he preached accountability from the start, early on all we heard was that the players were not buying into his systems, particularly the vets, and that was the reason for our dismal start. No accountability on his part. Then the trades started happening to make our team 'bigger and better'. The problem is, they have not improved one iota. Still, no accountability on Berehowsky's part.

    This has nothing to do with the players and everything to do with a coach and his ego who feels that the problem can't possibly be his (or his new systems) and therefore it must be the players who are responsible for what is happening. Easy to fix: trade away a large portion of the team and bring in new players. Still nothing is happening and so now the new players must also be accountable. And again, no accountability on his part. These young men deserve so much better and it sickens me to see them go through this mess game after game.

    If he would have said on Pat's show "Look, I tried it this way and it's not working and I recognize that now so I am throwing these systems out the window and trying something different. I am going to modify things so I get the best development and results from these WHLers because I finally understand that they are not yet NHLers", I would give him the patience that he keeps asking for. Until then, I cannot and will not support Berehowsky.

    Don't even get me started on Robson's part in all this.

    -cc

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  19. Enigma is right it can be turned around quickly. Every one of the current Canes was drafted or traded for by the Current GM. Although Preston was GM and Coach, Robson brought all draft picks and trades to Preston for approval. So when all the screaming over the last couple of years was about coaching it was in fact the strength of the team while the player selection was the weakness, Portland made excellent draft picks when they were losing and Lethbridge has had more first and second round picks over the last three years than any other team and the have absolutely zero to show for it. There is no reason to believe anything will improve under current management or ownership. NL

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    1. NL.....I don't see the word "quickly" in Enigma's post. I could be missing an earlier post, but the only one I see simply states, "it can be turned around". The 'quickly' part is something to be seen, but I'm not holding my breath. Last night's loss at home on national TV to the powerful Oil Kings only reenforced my opinion that it's going to be a long, painful road back to respectability. I'm not sure if that will include current coaching staff or not?

      Darren

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  20. Changing the topic to: What a disgrace! That idiot who pretended to be a singer and on Twitterverse says" Come listen to me make a fool of myself in 2 languages" prior to the game. What an embarrassment to the WHL, this city and the Hurricanes organization. It was painful to say the least to watch and listen to Dirk Edwards who seemed to take pride in his folly. My question is: who hired this guy? Did he audition for the singing assignment? Or was he accepted on his word that he could sing? Brutal, embarrassing, and down right shameful.4,000 fans including the WHL and CHL brass, had to sit through that. Disgusting.

    Oh a minor point, the WHL did not win the Subway Series Championship as announced at the end of the game. They clinched the series as part of the CHL! Glad I had a program to know who the Russian players were.

    On a brighter note, congrats to coach Sutter for making adjustments and taking away the up the middle rushes by the Russians. WHL dominated them in the last two periods especially.

    Dump'n Chase

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    1. Please keep in mind that the Russian team has travelled across Canada with relatively the same roster. I heard they did not bring two of their players with them west but instead, sent them back to their OHL clubs after the OHL series. I watched the game on TV and it was mentioned more than once that the Russians looked like they were getting tired. I would agree that they seemed to run out of steam in the 3rd period. But make no mistake, the Russians have some super skilled players and will give the rest of the teams at the tournament all they can handle. Their goaltenders look REALLY good.

      And yes, cudos to the crowd for picking Dirk up during the Canadian national anthem. Posting derogatory comments without putting your first and last name on it doesn't show a lot of balls. In fact, it's a very cowardly act.

      Darren

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  21. I was attempting to hold back on the whole anthem singer debacle but since Dump broke the ice so to speak allow me to chime in.

    Disgusting is an appropriate word. I realize the singer may very well have gotten nervous but let's face it, he is not a singer. I actually don't even hold him responsible but rather the person that allowed him to walk out on that carpet.. A trained singer would be used to performing in front of a large crowd and likely wouldn't have had a memory problem brought on by anxiety. This gentleman couldn't care a tune if his life depended on it. I shudder to think what he did/said to the Russian anthem given that I don't know the words nor the melody. So who is responsible for this? Someone needs to step forward and apologize and it should be the person responsible, not the board or the GM. After knowing for months that this event was coming up there is no way you can convince me that this singer was the best they could find for this important occasion. The WHL, OHL, QMJHL, CHL, Russia and the world were watching and someone made Lethbridge look like incompetent buffoons. Who will step up to the plate and own this one?
    David

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  22. As a Canes season ticket holder and a member of a band, I'm pretty sure Dirk's error was unintentional and part of just being nervous, so why not just move on?

    There was a job posting a few weeks ago for someone who knew the words to the Russian anthem... which Dirk sang perfectly (other than a brief/nervous pause between verses)... they could have EASILY just played a Youtube recording of the anthem and got away with it but I thought it was a nice thing to do having a live anthem singer...

    He is a Lethbridge citizen just like many of us... let the morons on Yahoo and the national media waste their time with Dirk's error...

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  23. Feel really bad for the guy, so I'm not gonna trash him.
    But really, why not just get a recording off of youtube, and have someone else sing the Canadian anthem. Would have been just fine. Haha even the girl from Russia who did the "we will rock you" contest in the third period probably could have done it fine. She had quite the voice!
    Tons of class though by the crowd by helping him out rather than heckling him.
    Great game, honored to have hosted it in Lethbridge. Crowd should have been a little bigger, however.

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