Warriors Blank Canes' 3-0 in Moose Jaw

MOOSE JAW, SK. - Some solid goaltending by Moose Jaw netminder Brandon Stone lifted the Warriors to a 3-0 shutout victory over the Hurricanes Saturday night at the Crushed Can.

The Warriors would take the lead very early in this game. Jesse Paradis tipped home a point shot less than two minutes into the first period to give Moose Jaw a 1-0 lead. The Hurricanes had a great chance to tie the game when Moose Jaw's Quinton Howden was given a five minute high-sticking major and a game misconduct. The Canes' had a number of very good scoring chances, but were unable to beat Warriors goalie Brandon Stone. The Canes' fired six shots on goal during that man advantage, but that's the way the period would end. Moose Jaw lead the game 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. The shots were even 13-13.

In the second, Moose Jaw jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Spencer Edwards scored on a power play near the mid-way point of the period. The Warriors would get another before the period would come to a close. Just after a Lethbridge penalty had expired, Moose Jaw would make it 3-0 when Joey Kornelson put the puck passed Anderson. The Warriors would take that three goal lead into the dressing room after two periods. Moose Jaw out shot the Hurricanes 15-6 in that period and held the edge 28-19 through 40 minutes.

In the third, the Hurricanes picked up the pace a little more to try and break the shutout bid by the Moose Jaw goaltender, but not on this night. Brandon Stone stopped all 32 shots he faced, including a flurry of chances by the Hurricanes in the final few minutes of the period to earn the shutout. Things got a little chippy with about 8 seconds left in the game. Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Anderson called Warriors goaltender Brandon Stone to centre ice to scrap, but the linesmen stepped in before anything got started. Moose Jaw finished the night 1 for 5 on the power play while Lethbridge went 0 for 4. The final shots favoured Moose Jaw by a slim margain 34-32. It was a big victory for Moose Jaw as they moveto within one point of the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference standings.

Overall, certainly not the Hurricanes strongest effort of the season. They looked not too bad in the first period, but started to tucker out as the game went on. They got some life back in the third, but it was too little too late. Lethbridge just finished up a stretch of hockey that saw the team play 7 games in 11 nights. They went 4-2-1 in those seven games and earned 9 out of a possible 14 points. Not too bad I would have to say. The loss Saturday night drops the Hurricanes record to 10-7-1-3 in 21 games this season. I thought Moose Jaw looked like a hungry hockey club. They played very well, especially in the second period when they took control of things. The Warriors have now won seven of their passed eight games.

The Hurricanes called up (F) Taylor Balog for yesterday's game. He was injected into the line-up to fill the void left with injuries to Graham Hood and Jacob Berglund. Balog is playing with his Midget 'AAA" team in Tisdale, Sask. He's the Captain of that team. As for Hood and Berglund, they were injured in Brandon the other night. Rich Preston stated on our CJOC per-game show that both players will likely be out about a week or so with shoulder injuries. Hood was injured in the first period at Brandon and Berglund in the third period of that same game. They'll be re-evaluated this coming week.

Oldtimers Hockey Challenge

Hurricanes Head Coach/GM Rich Preston will take part in the Oldtimes Hockey Challenge on Monday evening (Nov. 15) at Nicholas Sheran Arena. Preston will be joined by former NHLers like Dave Ellett, Thomas Steen, Glenn Anderson, and Bryan Trottier just to name a few. The game takes place Monday evening at 7:00. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket sold will go to support the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation.

Next Up

The Hurricanes will be at home for their next three games and will play four out of their next five games at the ENMAX Centre. They won't play again until next Friday night (Nov. 19) when the Canes' host Prince Albert. On Saturday (Nov. 20) the Hurricanes welcome Saskatoon to town. Those two games will be part of the Hurricanes second annual "Pink in the Rink" event to raise awareness and money for breast cancer. Lethbridge will play host to Red Deer for the first time November 24th. After that, the Canes' will take on Swift Current in three straight games between the the Hurricanes and Broncos between November 26th and December 1st. That pretty much wraps up the Hurricanes on-ice schedule for the month of November.

Thanks,
Pat

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