Red Deer 5 & Lethbridge 3

The Red Deer Rebels scored four times in the third period to beat the struggling Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-3 Tuesday night at the ENMAX Centre.

Despite the loss, the Canes did open the scoring in this game. Tyler Wong got things going with his 15th goal of the season on a power play at the 8:37 mark of the first period to give the Canes a 1-0 lead.  That goal would hold up as the only offence until early in the second period.

The Rebels evened things up at 1-1 when Rebels Captain Connor Bleackley scored his first of two goals on the night at 1:14 of the second period. Jayden Sittler started his third straight game in goal for the Hurricanes as Stuart Skinner remained out of the line-up with sickness. The game remained tied at 1-1 through 40 minutes of play.

In third, the visitors took control of the game scoring four times to win it. Hayden Fleury gave Red Deer its first lead of the night at 2:08 of the period to make it 2-1. Four minutes later, Connor Bleackley scored his second goal of the night to put the Rebels ahead 3-1. The Canes got one of those goals back when newly acquired forward, Johnny Wesley scored to cut the Rebels lead to 3-2. Red Deer eventually regained its two goal lead when Evan Polei scored to make it 4-2. The Hurricanes though kept battling away and cut back into the lead late in the period, when Carter Folk put home his 6th of the season to make it a 4-3 hockey game. The Hurricanes pulled the goalie to try and tie things up, but Wyatt Johnson scored into an empty net to see the deal and the Rebels would skate away with a 5-3 victory.

The loss drops the Hurricanes overall record to 10-25-3-3 in 41 games this season. Red Deer out shot the Canes 40-25 int his game. The Canes went 1/2 on the power. Lethbridge played a very disciplined game as the Rebels didn't have one single power play.

The Hurricanes have a very tough test ahead of them as they travel east to take on the Eastern Conference's best team in Brandon Friday night (Jan. 16). The Wheat Kings have 31 wins in 44 games. That's the second-best record in the WHL, just behind Kelowna. The Canes will play in Moose Jaw Saturday (Jan. 17). The Hurricanes return home Friday, January 23rd to host Vancouver.

Thanks,
Pat