Canes Beat Broncos 5-3 in Swift Current

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are off to their best start in a WHL season since the 2007-2008 campaign.

Brayden Burke and Tyler Wong each had a goal and one assist as the Hurricanes beat the Broncos 4-3 in Swift Current Saturday night.

The Canes scored the only goal of the first period when Tyler Wong put home his 12th of the season to make it 1-0 Lethbridge after 20 minutes of play.

In the second, the Hurricanes jumped ahead by a pair. Andrew Nielsen scored his 4th goal of the season at the 2:59 mark to make it 2-0 for the visitors. Less than two minutes later the Hurricanes struck again, this time Justin Gutierrez with his 4th of the season as well and just like that the Canes were up by a score of 3-0. Three minutes after that the Hurricanes added another when Brayden Burke scored his 3rd of the year to make it 4-0 Lethbridge. Before the end of the period though, Swift Current cut that lead in half with a pair of goals. Former Canes defenceman Kade Jensen put the Broncos on the board and then not too long after that Glenn Gawdin scored on a power play to make it a 4-2 game in favour of the Hurricanes through 40 minutes of play.

In the third, the Broncos continued to chip their way back into the game. Jon Martin scored at 6:21 of the period to make it a one goal game in favour of the Canes, 4-3. Swift Current tried to even things up, but they couldn't find a way to beat goalie Jayden Sittler. The Hurricanes ended up icing this one with just over a minute left when Kord Pankewicz sealed the game with his first of the year and the Canes skated away with a 5-3 win. Lethbridge out shot the Broncos 43-30 on the night. Swift Current went 1/4 on the power play while the Canes never had a man advantage in the game.

The victory if the Hurricanes 4th in a row and improves their overall record to 6-2. An impressive start for a team that could only manage 8 total wins before the Christmas break last season. Mind you, this Canes team looks nothing like that team or any Lethbridge team in the past few years for that matter.

Tyler Wong continues to be on a torrid scoring pace. His 12 goals on the season is tops so far in the Western Hockey League. A lot of the chatter around this team so far this year has been about Wong, but lets not forget about Brayden Burke. He leads the WHL in assists with 15. So the Hurricanes have the League's top goal scorer and the player with most assists right now. Not too shabby I'd say. Burke sits tied for second overall in the total scoring in the league with 18 points, while Wong is right behind with 16 points.

The Hurricanes have plenty of time to rest as well. They don't play again until next Friday (Oct. 23) when they host Swift Current. The following night the Cans will head to Edmonton (Oct. 24) to play the Oil Kings. That'll be the start of a six game road swing which will take the Hurricanes through the entire B.C. Division.

Thanks,
Pat