Saturday 22 October 2016

Wheaties Down Hurricanes 6-1 in Brandon

The Lethbridge Hurricanes continue to struggle, not only putting pucks in the net, but keep pucks out of their own goal.

That was the case again Friday night, with a 6-1 loss at the hands of Wheat Kings in Brandon.

The loss dropped the Hurricanes record to under the .500 mark for the first time this season at 5-6-1-1. In 13 games this season, the Canes have now surrendered 58 goals against. That's by far the most in the WHL. As of Saturday, the Kootenay ICE are the only other club to have given up 50 or more goals this season so far.

Brayden Burke was the only Lethbridge Hurricane to light the red lamp on Friday in Brandon, scoring his 3rd of the season on the power play. For the Wheaties, they had goals from six different players including Reid Duke, Cole Reinhardt, Tanner Kaspick, Kale Clague, James Shearer, and Ty Lewis.

The Canes went 1/5 on the power play in this game and Brandon was 1/3. The Wheat Kings held a 38-33 edge in shots on goal.

Is it panic time for the Canes? Well, no not yet. We're not even a quarter way into the season yet, however the lack of scoring and the number of goals the team is giving up should be a concern.

Hopefully, the the confines of the ENMAX Centre will help the Hurricanes put the breaks to a five game losing skid. The Hurricanes are back home on Friday (Oct. 28) when they host the visiting Prince George Cougars. This is going to be a tough test. The Cougars sport the best record in the Western Hockey League with 10 wins in their first 13 games as it sits right now. Then next Saturday (Oct. 29) the Red Deer Rebels pay their first visit to Lethbridge this season. They also have a winning record at the moment.

Those games will close out the October portion of the Hurricanes schedule. They will head out the BC coast during the first week of November.

Thanks,
Pat


3 comments:

  1. Things aren't getting any better for this season's Hurricanes team. I think it would fair to expect some changes especially on the defensive end, but who do you get rid of? Mennell has a proven track record and lots of potential. Reagan is one of the only grit-and-sandpaper type guys left and Addison is a bright spot and should lead the Canes defense in the years to come. Never been a big fan of Merezhko but he at least offers some size while Pankewicz was chosen over Folk to stay with this team and be a leader. Riddle is new to the roster so hard to fairly judge him yet and King is just a young guy who is learning the ropes.

    So who goes so someone can be brought in to shake up the back end and help reduce all the shots and goals against?

    dw

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are a few unbelievables about the season so far.

    - The Pats - Wow! If they stay healthy, can't see how they won't be the Mem Cup WHL entry this season. I Haven't seen a team even close to as impressive for several years.

    - Babenko (whipping boy for Kisio some nights) has the best +/- on this team at +3.

    - #17: Quite possibly the softest player in the league (despite having stone-hands) has the second best +/- rating on this team (+1) so far this season (while getting a ton of what I thought was completely undeserved ice & power play time).

    - Through his 9 games, Sabres prospect, Giorgio Estephan is the team's worst +/- at -10.

    Hope this was a week of revelations for the coaching staff, or the Cougars are gonna absolutely maul the small, weak, and pass-handicapped 2016 Canes.

    Owen Seven

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok finally some conversation. Lets start with the coaches- Kisio had a great year one but failed in the playoffs because he never made any changes after game 1 and Regina DOMINATED after 1st game. Not sure which coach is the defensive coach but holy if he can't get these guys to figure out how to play their position and make a pass to get out of our zone we are in trouble. That being said part of that blame has to go to the forwards as well. I sure feel sorry for Skinner. Anholt huge fail trading Skeoch for Mennell. Skeoch was the one guy this team had that would actually hit guys and now instead we have another guy that could care less about his team (He demanded a trade 2 years in a row) plus he is small and not a great d-man. Anholt brought in some great guys last but the trades he made this year at least for now are all busts. Forwards are ok but sure could use some size. Did some quick research and here are a few #'s for you. Canes 10 guys under 6' and 5 of them under 5'10". Regina 4 under 6' and 0 under 5'10". P.G. 2 under 6' and 0 under 5'10. There only 2 teams in WHL that I would say are similar size with a better win % then the Canes and that's Med. Hat. and Saskatoon. There are 2 guys that I would be trying to trade and they are Pank. and Mennell, maybe we can find a couple d men with some grit. With that said lets hope we can turn this around and make the playoffs again.

    ReplyDelete