Wednesday 5 February 2014

Blades Storm Back to Beat Canes 6-3

LETHBRIDGE - The Saskatoon Blades erased a 2-0 deficit late in the second period and came back to defeat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-3 Wednesday night.

 The Lethbridge Hurricanes struck first in this game. Nearly 5 minutes into the period, Tyler Bell let a long shot go from the blueline and that beat Saskatoon's goalie Troy Trombley to give Lethbridge a 1-0 lead. That was Bell's 4th goal of the season. The Canes had some solid chances as the period moved on. The Blades best chance came when Ryan Graham hit the crossbar. Other than that, Jonny Hogue was able to shut the door and the Hurricanes would hold on to that one goal lead through 20 minutes of play. The shots favoured Lethbridge 9-6.

In the second, the Hurricanes would add a little insurance to their lead when Jamal Watson cashed in his 14th goal of the season to give the home team a 2-0 lead.  It appeared as if that two goal lead would hold up through the the rest of the period, but the Blades would have something to say about that. Saskatoon would tie the game late with a pair of quick goals from Austin Adamson and then shortly after that, Cory Millette tied it up on the power play to even the score at 2-2 through 40 minutes of play. Lots of shots in this one. Lethbridge held a 32-22 edge in shots on goal.

In the third, just over 90 seconds into the period, the Blades would take their first lead of the night when Mitch Lipon scored, beating Jonny Hogue to give Saskatoon a 3-2 lead. The Blades were down 2-0 late in the second period and three quick goals turned this game around in very short order. The Hurricanes had a glorious chance to tie the game when they had a 5-on-3 power play for nearly 1:20. The Blades killed off the first penalty, when Dylan Busenius stepped out of the penalty box and moved in on a shorthanded breakaway, beating Jonny Hogue upstairs to give the Blades a big 4-2 lead. The Canes got one of those back when Jamal Watson notched his second goal of the night and 15th of the season to cut the Blades lead to 4-3. Just when it looked like the Hurricanes may be on their way back, Saskatoon came back right off the face-off at centre ice, came storming down and scored to take a two goal lead for a second time in the game. Ryan Graham scored the goal off a rebound to give Saskatoon a 5-3 lead. The Hurricanes pulled the goalie with a couple of minutes remaining, but Brett Stovin scored into an empty goal to give Saskatoon a 6-3 come-from-behind victory. This was a very wide open game. Lethbridge out shot Saskatoon 53-38. The Canes went 0/6 on the power play and gave up a shorthanded goal while the Blades finished the game 1/5. The loss ends the Hurricanes two game win streak and drops their overall record to 11-39-2-3 in 55 games this season.

Assistant Coach Brad Lukowich was absent for the Hurricanes bench for a second straight game. He did not accompany the team to Red Deer last weekend and has not been at practice all week. Media was told Lukowich is not feeling well and no date was given for his return.

Mid-Season Shareholders Meeting

This is to remind all Lethbridge Hurricanes Shareholders of the upcoming Shareholders Mid-Term Information Meeting on Thursday, February 6th, 2014 at 7:00pm in the ENMAX Centre Lounge (upstairs of the ENMAX Centre, 2510 Scenic Drive South). The purpose of this meeting is to give all Lethbridge Hurricanes Shareholders an overview of the Hockey Club at this point of the season as well as to allow for a question and answer session. Shareholders can expect to hear from Board President Brian McNaughton as well as Business Manager, Terry Huisman. The Hurricanes Board of Directors and the hockey club encourage all of the shareholders to attend and take part in this event. Please Note: this meeting is for Lethbridge Hurricanes SHAREHOLDERS ONLY. 

Next Up  

The Hurricanes next action is Friday at home when they take on the visiting Kootenay ICE. Game time is 7:00 pm MST. The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30. This will be the the 5th of 6 meetings between the two clubs. The Canes and ICE will close out their regular season set Saturday night in Cranbrook.

Thanks,
Pat

13 comments:

  1. Decent start again, Blades made adjustments during intermissions that the Canes did not match, pretty clear that goaltending is a major issue and Erkamps should switch to a forward position, all he wants to do is rush the puck and shoot, very un responsible in his own zone, but the coaches love him so why would he want to change? Maybe the "system" is good...just not for this group and not in this league...

    Lindon

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  2. Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Blades Storm Back to Beat Canes 6-3":

    As good as the Canes were in the first period, they more than made up for it with their ineptness in the third.

    Its hard to believe how little the Canes coaching staff have learned during all their time in the NHL about running a 5 on 3. Absolutely pathetic!

    Culture change. Accountability. Competitive every game.

    Change the entire roster because the players are all at fault and don't want to play within the "systems."

    Net result: 11 wins. 39 losses! Yah, Drake.... Keep dreaming of taking a team to the Memorial and Stanley Cups!

    Drake taking the podium at the semi annual meeting should be to advise the shareholders that he is ashamed of the job he has done, and to advise the group that he will be giving ALL the wages back to the organization until he actually contributes some VALUE to the organization as a coach instead of having a negative impact for the entire season!!

    Money for NOTHING.

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  3. love the way you put SHAREHOLDER ONLY in large letter like this team need to aleinate more of the public on it downward spiral, to funny how this joke of a franchise seems to feel SO IMPORTANT that not just everyone can attend, people dont want to go to the games so why would anyone want to go to this joke of a meeting, you can put BANKRUPT in large letters on this team by next year... bob

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  4. So, the coach who has been with the team for one season, is he also responsible for the four years of awful, losing hockey previous?
    And Bob, bankrupt by next year? Read the newspaper. They needed financing THIS year. $700-800k, by my reckoning.
    I think if fans are looking for where to place blame, look at the drafting and development of players over the past four, five years.
    It's easier to look for just one target, the truth is usually a little more difficult to discern.
    There are problems that existed prior to the hiring of the new coaching staff but it's very hard to evaluate them after this short a time. Not that they have done much to encourage optimism, but this team's been bad for five seasons now, and those guys have only been here for one. As an aside, the team was awful last year, they just had Ty Rimmer stopping shots.
    Dylan

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  5. Dylan
    Nice spin and one we as hurricane fans have to buy into. If we are borrowing money to get through the season no way we can afford to replace Drake. Drake and his staff could be the largest factor with this seasons struggles and it wouldn’t matter.
    For me, the past 5 years struggle is the bod’s doings. No way you extend Preston if it was that clear he couldn’t draft or develop. No way you then elevate the man in charge of scouting. No way you hire a rookie staff 4 years out the playoffs.
    All economically driven decisions. We need a big pocketed owner who won’t allow complete mismanagement.
    Long Run

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  6. (Pat, thanks for taking the time on the tweet updates on tonights' shareholder meeting; that is awesome!)

    The only positive out of this is that it will probably be the source of a blockbuster movie entitled, "Incomps Lead Incomps."

    What a gaggle of unaccountable incompetents running and operating this franchise!

    A board member that defends the biggest problem of them all is enough to convince me that McNaughton has an alternative agenda that is not in alignment with the interests of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Clearly he is the master puppeteer, and to me, the biggest obstacle to this organization having ANY future success.

    McNaughton thinks this franchise is headed in the right direction?
    Drake thinks "it will take more time."

    Who is believing this boatload? Has a new bylaw been passed in Lethbridge? I thought marijuana in public gatherings was not allowed? Check the vents? Are there a lot of SNACKS being consumed there tonight?

    After changing nearly the entire roster and still showing very little improvement, what it will take, is someone ELSE as coach, and probably someone else as GM and someone else as Head Scout.

    Robson first sees fit to lie about a Lukowich illness, then continues to coverup his inability to manage this organization?

    Lukowich is probably the only guy with any true sense of the urgency and incompetence this team is currently saddled with.

    WHL! PLEASE step in and get this group of destroyers OUT of there before they destroy any more young hockey players lives!

    Money for Nothing

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  7. What is his alternative agenda ?? You sound like the one consuming those so called snacks... What had you predicted them to say this evening, oh wise one??

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    1. LOL! An alternative agenda is one that is generally unknown to others, otherwise you get kicked out. I am sorry to tell you that I am not writing this from inside McNaughton's head.

      It has nothing to do with being wise, rather just not being a mindless lemming and fool incapable of any rational thought. I didn't PREDICT them to say anything. I was HOPING they might eventually own the "accountability" they were selling at the beginning of the season by admitting to the large wart on their faces, that apparently you have not yet noticed.

      What does "accountability" mean to you? You make decisions that end in failure multiple times, there should be consequences. Eventually you need to own it or be moved on.

      What I had hoped from the board is that they admit that they screwed the pooch twice with Preston (Hiring him for both roles was their first mistake. Forgivable until they extended his dual contract having seen the way he ran the operation and having nothing but failure to show for his lack of effort).

      What I also hoped is that they admitted that at such a critical time for the franchise, they should not have signed a GM and then a Head Coach neither with any history of success in the roles. Cut your teeth somewhere else. We can't afford to be the experiment job. Talk about history repeating itself! A couple of members of the board may be able to offer something valuable to the organization, but a couple need to move on.

      If they possessed even a fraction of the intellect that they are being given credit to have, they would realize they are collectively over their heads, and incapable of leading this organization to success.

      The Canes have only had 11 wins this year! Do you think they will get to 18 to tie the previous worst year on the books? Barring a significant deviation from the current trend, this team lead by this GM and this coach will almost certainly post the worst record for wins in the history of the franchise with at LEAST 10 wins fewer than LAST YEAR,...Yet from the board to the GM to the Head Coach, they are all saying they are headed in the right direction!!? Last year with the Solar Bears, Drake ended the season posting a 0-4 streak, a league worst 2-7-0-1 last ten, yet felt he was headed in the right direction.

      I think that anyone involved with the team or any fan who has been paying attention the past five years will agree that the next two or three years are going to determine if there is a future beyond that. It hinges on winning. Making the playoffs in 2014-15 is a minimum. they have not shown enough improvement so far to give me any reason to believe that this staff can do any better next year.

      If Brad Robson is truly interested in the ongoing viability of this franchise, he will remove himself immediately, and replace himself with a GM that has a record of managing players and staff while producing contending teams. The sooner they hire a GM that has done it before, the better chance they have of getting there again. The sooner they hire a coach that has history of winning and who doesn't need an entire season and new roster only to continue to post the WORST winning percent in the league, the sooner we will know whether this team needs to be sold or not.

      Money for Nothing

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  8. Someone isnt telling the truth...
    Huisman: our debt has not increased
    McNaughton: we have secured a line of credit

    I could become a billionaire with those accounting rules!!



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  9. Did anyone ask if Brad L is in the future plans of this organization? Or is he just one of the 15 that have been traded, requested a trade and sent home, retire for an education or flat out quit? Guess it’s just part of the process in changing the culture/attitude etc. etc. etc.
    You would think the shareholders of this publicly owned team should get some answers on one of their employee’s?
    Long Run

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    1. Long Run, the reality is that the laws in this country are built to protect the employee, therefore the team cannot talk publicly about issues with staff, because if they did, they open the entire organization up to prosecution.

      jhj

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    2. Is there some law in the country that requires you to tell the media that your missing employee has the flu when he doesn't? A management that continues to tell us that things are going in the right direction when they decidedly are not is becoming so economical with the truth that they can't be trusted in anything. Baghdad Bob comes to mind.



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    3. Fair enough. Too bad some in this organization didn’t have the same sort of respect for the kids when they chose to leave.
      Sure we will get answers soon?
      Long Run

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