Tuesday 14 January 2014

Medicine Hat Defeats Lethbridge Hurricanes 2-1

LETHBRIDGE - It was a span of just 17 seconds which changed the game as the Medicine Hat Tigers defeated the Lethbridge Hurricanes 2-1 Tuesday night at the ENMAX Centre.

The Hurricanes and Tigers would renew the rivalry in fine fashion with a couple of fights in the first few  minutes of this hockey game, the 5th of 8 meetings this season between the clubs. The Tigers held a 10-3 edge in shots for the longest period of time. The game remained scoreless until the final seconds of the period when Macoy Erkamps fired a point shot with 2.8 seconds remaining in the period to break the scoreless tie. It was a power play goal for the Hurricanes and Erkamps' 5th of the season to give Lethbridge a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. The shots favoured the Tigers 10-6.

In the second, the Tigers would tie the game and then take the lead with a pair of goal 17 seconds apart. Just over 5 minutes into the period, Cole Sanford would score on the power play to even things at 1-1. Right after that the Tigers would get a 3-on-1 off the face-off at centre ice and they would come down and beat Jonny Hogue with a goal from Curtis Valk. That gave Medicine Hat a 2-1 lead. The Canes pressed hard to tie the game, but the Tigers were able to hold to that one goal lead through 40 minutes of play. The Tigers held a sizable 26-10 edge in shots on goal.

In the third, the Hurricanes would try to even the score, but they could only manage five shots on goal. The Tigers had a great chance to put the game away early in the period, when the Hurricanes got into penalty trouble and that put the Tigers on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:58.  Lethbridge managed to kill that off and stay within one goal. The Hurricanes pulled the goalie with 1:10 remaining, but they were unable to get the equalizer and the Tigers would skate away with a 2-1 victory. Jonny Hogue had a huge game in goal for Lethbridge as the Canes were out shot heavily, 42-14. Medicine Hat went 1/6 on the power play and the Hurricanes 1/3.  The loss drops the Canes overall record to 9-33-2-3 in 46 games this season.

AMA Hits the Ice With the Hurricanes

400 Lethbridge area AMA School Safety patrollers will enjoy a fun-filled morning skate at 11:00 am on Wednesday, January 15 with members of the Lethbridge Hurricane — an event that rewards the young volunteers for their efforts. “These patrollers are safety leaders and important members of our community,” explains Allison Pike, spokesperson with the Alberta Motor Association. “This is one small way we can say thank you for protecting our children in the community.” The Alberta Motor Association and partners like Alberta Health Services, Office of Traffic Safety and Brain Injury Relearning Services will teach the children about the importance of protecting their heads. Patrollers will share the message, teaching younger children to wear a proper fitting helmet, whether it's on the ice, the ski hill, or cycling on city streets.

Next Up

The Hurricanes are now off and running on the road for the next five games. They play this weekend in Red Deer against the Rebels on Saturday (Jan. 18). After that the Canes will head up to northern B.C. to get set for their only game this season against the Prince George Cougars next Tuesday (Jan. 21). The B.C. swing is part of 4 games in 5 days for the Hurricanes. They'll also make stops in Kamloops, Vancouver, and Kelowna. The next home action for Lethbridge is January 29th when they host Prince Albert.

Thanks,
Pat

22 comments:

  1. Hogue was outstanding! Deserved first star. Goaltending is not an issue here and whoever said hes too small knows nothing. Cooke in Kelowna is the same size and is argueably the best tender in the league. Johnny will be just fine...give him the chance. There are many other things that need attention more on this team then the goaltending.

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  2. Very happy for Jonny tonight. Made me proud to be a hurricane fan. Keep up your hard work.
    Long Run

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  3. Gotta find a way to get Sheen, Ramsey, Ercamps more ice time, only chance to win games!

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  4. The Canes coaches must be thrilled that all their hard work and focus on their "systems" and all their "teaching" is paying off so quickly.

    Holding their most hated rival to less than 45 shots while managing to get almost 15 of their own at least half of which came from inside of centre ice, too! It won't be long now until they will be running a big string of victories together.

    Even with an OUTSTANDING performance by Hogue in net, this is just another huge embarrassment for the home team. Great kill on the 5 on 3, and the screen by Alldridge on the Canes only goal was EXACTLY what they need to be doing, but the rest of the game was just one pathetic system failure after another.

    Schlenker needs to have his mouth strapped closed with duct tape before he officiates another game. Giveaways by the home team that he made worse with his incessant yelling, "move .... move .... move." It didnt matter if the players were battling in the corner, in front of the net, or on the face off dot, this Spotlght-seeking dweeb felt the need to contribute this to every play. Of WHAT benefit is it to ANYONE to yell this all the time? You are not adding any value or improving the pace of play, Shlenker! Will somebody please sit this idiot down and tell him to SHUT THE F*#& UP so the fans can enjoy the hockey game!

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  5. Appears that this coach only really believes in a hand full of these players, they get all the opportunity...hope they can start getting us some wins here soon? No wonder there have been so many defections this season....

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  6. There is not much more to be said about young Jonny Hogue. He was outstanding and I absolutely agree he should have been given the first star.

    I am a big Ramsay fan. That kid is as tenacious as they come but holy crap does he log a lot of minutes. Regular shifts, powerplay, penalty kill. I am surprised they haven't thrown him in goal here and there. He must be exhausted at the end of the game while some others are sitting on the bench without having ever broke a sweat.

    Look Drake, you are the only one that can't see it so let me mention once more that your systems suck. You whine about turnovers but how many times did we skate it to the blue line, dump it in as per your system only to have their defence pick it up and send it back the other way. The problem is not the players. They are doing exactly what you told them to do. Sorry Mr. Wonderful but the problem is you. But keep going on the news after each game and tell us where the PLAYERS screwed up and don't take any accountability for YOUR place in the loss because that only endears you to the hard core fans that much more. (Sarcasm for those who didn't catch it)

    -cc

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  7. Excellent performance by Johnny Hogue, especially during the 5 on 3. IMO when a untested young goaltender stops 40 of 42 shots for a team that is struggling as much as the Canes are, he deserved to be the first star of the game, despite the performances of the MHT player who was chosen ahead of "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny", (get that guy off the microphone---be a professional).

    Dump'n Chase

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  8. While the Hurricanes were losing to Medicine Hat the Seattle Thunderbirds were locked in a desperate game with the Spokane Chiefs, (with whom they were tied in the standings) which eventually ended in overtime with the T-Birds prevailing 1-0.

    The Seattle play-by-play man Thom Buening had this to say in his blog post today about that game relative to the former Hurricanes involved:

    "There were expectations in Lethbridge, before the season started, that the Hurricanes could make the playoffs out East. Of course things went sour almost from the get go and the 'Canes are sitting dead last in the league with a .245 winning percentage. But seeing the former 'Canes players who are now suiting up for the T-birds, it is easy to see why Lethbridge had playoff aspirations back in September. All four players Seattle has obtained via trade from the Hurricanes are hard working, sixty minute players. The latest acquisition, Russell Maxwell, epitomized that in the third period against Spokane when, without his stick, he blocked or deflected away three Spokane shots while the Chiefs were on the power play. Gutsy, gutsy effort."

    Ah. Those aspirations. What happened indeed?

    Red Line

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    1. Ya, I read that two and watched BR's interview about trading Maxwell so he could have a playoff experience? Maybe BR should be trading players for the betterment of the Hurricanes hockey club rather than for what is best for the players??? He is to nice of a guy...nice guys finish last! I hope the league passes a bylaw that will commit any player that walks out on a team, to tier 1 for the remainder of their season, that would fix this problem, BR should have played hard ball with the defectors! It is a privilege to play in this league, not a right!!! - Lindon

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    2. I think the deal with Maxwell is a little more complicated than just to give him a playoff experience. He had declared for his LDS mission in the overage year, so he was only going to be a Hurricane for 3 months in a non playoff year. By trading him now the Hurricanes get something for the future for him. If he just played out the year they get nothing. Of course the downside is that they don't have his grit to help hold the ship together for the remainder of the year. But this year is lost already. Every team looks at those metrics at the trade deadline. Those out of the playoffs look to sell and the ones in the playoffs are buyers. If you can sell for value a player that you won't have in the future anyway it's a win win and a bonus for the player who gets to have a playoff run in his life. So Robson was right, but it wasn't the whole story and it did benefit the Hurricanes - in the long run. This year, not so much. But that's the nature of trade deadline dealing.

      And Hurricanes fans can now follow Seattle and be just as familiar with the players as they are with the Lethbridge team. So we have double the pleasure.

      And of course, we do still have Drake's infallible system to enjoy... Apparently the trade deadline came and went on that.

      Red Line

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    3. Infallible maybe, I wouldn't use the word "system", Canes are playing nothing more than fastest man pond hockey, put your fastest guys out, shoot the puck in and hope they can get to it before the other team. Then, throw out your shut down group and hope you don't get scored on while your speedsters are resting, thats all I seem see night in and night out...please correct me if I'm wrong though? - Lindon

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    4. To LIndon.... So if player is not happy and is not progressing and sees an opportunity to move on and still play hockey so they ask for a trade - you think they should be penalized for this and sent to Tier 1 ... that is just ridiculous. Why should any player be penalized because they want to play hockey for a different coach or team. It is a business to every owner and GM out there. In the end they only care about their "business". Why do you think the coaches are still here? Because as a business the Hurricanes can NOT afford to send another one packing. Have to finish out paying his contract. Anyway I think your comments about "defectors" is so off base! Get over it!
      Barry

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    5. Hey Barry, here is what a few GM's think about the players that think they don't need to pay any dues and not play on rebuilding teams, you are right, it is a business and a mean one at that...seems that maybe these types of players only hurt themselves and the teams that drafted them? - Lindon

      http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/jrhockey-buzzing-the-net/whl-trade-requests-stir-conversation-among-general-managers-163939796.html

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  9. You are right Lindon. That's exactly what you see happening. But that is Berehowsky's 'system' so the players are doing exactly what they are told they must do. Great isn't it?
    David

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  10. Yup and they will continue to have their asses handed to them until there is either a system put into place and taught that is in line with Jr hockey at this level or there is a coaching change or both? Till then, what you see is what you get and they will continue to be eaten alive!!! Likely the latter, I agree with a previous poster, they will be lucky to win 4 of the last 25 games...if there was any kind of system in place, there should be some results by now don't you think? When players are not learning anything and getting shit kicked every night, it becomes very difficult to blame them for demanding trades or moving on to something of more benefit like furthering there education, you can only allow for a certain amount of wasted time and then you gotta move on! I doubt that unless some real success is realized and the "system" begins to consistently prove itself, that many of these players will be back next season to again endure a repeat of this disappointment??? - Lindon

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  11. After reading so many comments about the Canes' coaching and managing it is apparent that we have many qualified people in our area . My question is , why aren't some of you in any of these positions.....either in major junior or for that matter in the pro. ranks ? The answer probably is that you would rather criticize and complain than use your own talents.

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    1. Typical, typical, typical. Whenever someone makes an observation on the bottom of the league direction that this team has acquired this year, they are called criticizers and complainers. Furthermore, it is asked why they have not thrown their hat into the head coach or GM ring. I'm guessing that also applies to questioning a mechanic's opinion, a plumber's estimate, or a doctor's diagnosis.

      To blindly accept what passes for a "system" on this team is not only ludicrous, it is delusional. I do not think it takes someone with coaching or GM experience to believe that an 8-0 game is a direct result of either a bad, or an unplayable system. Hockey fans know that 45-50 shots against, dump and chase (and not chasing) and having a breakout plan that involves chipping it off the glass at every single opportunity is not the way that successful teams play the game. I believe that if we are still teaching systems and structure in the middle of January, something is terribly wrong.

      Hockey fans get this. Hockey fans can be students of the game, can understand what well played hockey looks like, can appreciate 100% effort without necessarily winning, and knows what a good "system" looks like without being a coach.

      Sean and the rest of the sunshine and daffodil crowd need to understand that many of the "criticizers" and "complainers" are die hard, passionate, Canes fans.

      They also need to realize that if it looks like road apples, and smells like road apples, it is not apple pie.....I do not need to be a coach to know that.

      Chuck





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    2. I see you are also an expert on road apples . Figures.

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    3. Just a tidbit….found an interesting comment by a fan on an Orlando Solar Bears blog site (http://solarbearsforum.proboards.com/)
      when it was announced Drake was leaving: "Glad to hear it. Did not care for his system (if he had one). " I guess we're not the only ones that don't understand the "System"
      Tidbit

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  12. Not making any comments, but there were interesting results last night. Brandon wins, Pilon 1-1; Victoria wins, Blomquist 0-1; Swift loses, Merkley 1-1; Seattle wins, Yakubowski 1-1, Maxwell 1-0, Mckechnie 1-0.

    On a positive (or negative depending on your point of view) Canes still sit #1 in the Euro draft with a .245 pct and Kamloops at .278.
    But if the Hurricanes make a selection, would they come?

    Dump'n Chase

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    1. Dn'C are you suggesting by your post that the BOD was remiss in some of their duties and should have been more diligent in their choices in the past year. Had they been more diligent we may have kept these players thereby increasing our win loss percentage.

      On a side note I personally would like the CHL to abandon the Euro draft. We need to develop our own players as evidenced by last few showings at the World Jrs.

      A View From Above

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  13. AVFA, one can always second guess the BOD's choices. There have been more than a few times that I have wondered, "what the heck?"

    You sound like Don Cherry with your dump the Euro draft. Thing is I agree with you and while we are dumping the Euro draft, let's get rid of the soccer game endings......."shoot outs".

    Dump'n Chase

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