Friday 31 January 2014

Canes End Losing Skid, Beat Raiders 3-2

LETHBRIDGE - The Lethbridge Hurricanes erased a 2-0 deficit and came back to beat the Prince Albert Raiders 3-2 Wednesday night at the ENMAX Centre.

The Canes found themselves down a pair of goals when PA's Josh Morrissey scored twice in the opening 10:00 of this game. The Canes got one of those back later in the period when Jamal Watson scored on a power play, his 13th goal of the season to cut the Raiders lead to 2-1 after 20 minutes of play. That was the Hurricanes first goal in their last three games. Goalie Jonny Hogue was very good between the pipes as the Canes were out shot 17-6.

In the second, the Raiders kept pumping shots at the Lethbridge goaltender, but Hogue was solid as a rock the rest of the night. The Hurricanes tied the game late in the period when Taylor Cooper notched his 10th goal of the season to even the score at 2-2 through 40 minutes of play. The Raiders held a wide edge in shots, 33-14.

In the third, both teams would go hunting for the go-ahead goal. It looked as if things might head to overtime, but with about 6:30 left Brady Ramsay scored his 12th goal of the season for Lethbridge, to complete the comeback and give the Hurricanes their first lead of the night 3-2. The Raiders pushed to get back to even terms, but Hogue shut the door and the Canes would hold on for the one goal victory and at the same time end a long 8 game losing skid. It was also Jonny Hogue's first-ever WHL win in goal. When it was all said and done Prince Albert out shot Lethbridge 43-20. The Canes went 1/3 on the power play and the Raiders 0/3. The victory improves the Canes record to 10-38-2-3 in 53 games this season.

Next Up

The Hurricanes end the month of January with a game on the road Friday (Jan. 31) in Red Deer. This will be the 6th and final meeting of the season between the teams with the Rebels holding a major edge in the season series. It's been a very busy month for Lethbridge. This will be their 14th game in 31 days. After this they will stay mostly in southern Alberta for the first three weeks of February before heading to Saskatchewan and Manitoba the final week of the month. Their next home action is Wednesday (Feb. 5) against the visiting Saskatoon Blades. Game time from Red Deer Friday is 7:00 pm MST. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30. Paul Kingsmith from Global TV will be calling the play-by-play for that game as I'm still away with my company in Vancouver for radio hearings. I'll be back next Wednesday when the Canes begin their final quarter of the season.

Thanks,
Pat

7 comments:

  1. Despite rarely getting to play with the puck in this one, the Canes made the most of their not-so-many opportunities to give the Kootenay Ice some company on short list of teams the Canes have beat twice this season.

    All three Cane goals were beauties! Watson's deflection on the powerplay shot from the point. Cooper's shot roofed glove side, then the turnover which produced the Highlight-of-the-Year contending slick passing play between Carter Folk, Sheen & Ramsay.

    I think that Brent Sutter's team name would look good on "the list."

    Richie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Although some believe Jonny is just an average Junior A goalie. I believe that he can develop into a decent tender in Major Junior. Not many will win in this league when getting out shot by 15, 20 or more per night.

    If he puts on some mus mass and gets some valuable experience the remaining games, I think he can be our tender next season with Skinner. I would rather give him the experience than try and depend on an injury prone 20 yr old tender next season. Really like Sacher I just don’t trust a player who has had mult concussions (and difficulty recovering from them).
    If Skinner is the best goalie for his age group in Canada (hope Brad is correct), no reason he can’t play a third to half the games next yr. E. Comrie played over 30 in his 16 yr old rookie season.
    Long Run

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While I admire your enthusiasm for Hogue, he is just too small to be top notch goaltender in any elite league.

      When Robson says Skinner is the best goalie for his age group in Canada...what do you expect his to say after the heat he has taken for his draft day discombobulated trade.

      Not to put the Skinner kid down, but he is not even in the top 8 goalies in the AMHL in any categories. Granted that league has players who are soon to, or may have turned 18 already.

      I will reserve my opinion on Skinner as he is one of , if not the youngest goalies that league. Skinner has a "late birthday" in November so he just turned 15 not long ago. That means that in this coming September 2014 Canes training camp, he will be just 15 years old, and does not turn 16 until mid November.

      Unless he turns out to be just to good to not keep, I can see him playing Midget again next year, and that may be the best thing for him and the Canes.

      canesrock

      Delete
    2. So Sacher and Jonny next season? And hope Sacher doesn’t get hurt? Or do we trade for a tender again? I thought they should have drafted a Euro in the past Import draft but didn’t. What is the solution iyo?
      PA’s goalie is just as small in stature, started at 18 and is above average.
      Long Run

      Delete
  3. The moves of Sheen and passing play that led to the Ramsay game winning goal was certainly a highlight reel play. For the few of us fans who were there it was definitely a "wow" moment.

    Apparently Dick Gibson has left the board of directors. Sitting behind him, I could not help but overhear a conversation between him and another fan in which he said he had resigned last week.

    Golf tournament? He was one of the main driving forces behind that event. Really enjoyed last years.

    Cam45

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cam45. Dick has resigned. I spoke with him today and the reasons were "personal and phylisophical" reasons. That was all he would tell me. But yes he has stepped down.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mr. Gibson was the driving force behind both the golf tournament and the heart and soul of the alumni committee. His contributions will be missed tremendously.

    DW

    ReplyDelete