SPOKANE, WA. - Three goals in the second and three more in the third period lifted the Spokane Chiefs to a 6-0 win over the Hurricanes Friday night.
No offence in the first period of this game. The Canes' played a solid opening 20 minutes despite not being able to find the back of the net. They out shot the high-powered Spokane Chiefs 7-2.
In the second period, the Chiefs would get thinsgs going with a lucky-bounce that turned into the game's first goal. Tyler Johnson thew the puck out in front of the Lethbridge net. It went off Mike Reddington and behind Brandon Anderson just 25 seconds into the period. That gave the home team a 1-0 lead and really kick-started Spokane. The Chiefs would score a couple more before the end of the period. Dominik Uher tipped home a shot to make it 2-0 and soon after that Kenton Miller put home a shot at the side of the Lethbridge goal to give Spokane a 3-0 lead after two periods of play. The Chiefs out shot Lethbridge 15- 7 in the period and held the edge 17-14 after 40 minutes.
In the third the Chiefs would keep it coming. Blake Gal, the Lethbridge boy gave Spokane a 4-0 lead when he blew passed the Hurricanes defence and put a back-hander by Anderson. They weren't done there either. The WHL's highest scoring team would pot two more before the final buzzer sounded. Anthony Bardaro and Mitch Holmberg managed to find the back of the net and the Chiefs would skate away with a convincing 6-0 victory of the Hurricanes. The final shots in this game favoured Spokane 32-21. The power plays looked like this: Lethbridge 0 for 3 and the Chiefs 0 for 1. For Spokane, it was the 12th time this season that they've scored 5 or more goals in a game.
The loss drops the Hurricanes record to 13-18-2-6 on the season and with only one win in their passed 10 games, the Canes' have some serious company in the race for the final couple of playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. Lethbridge is now tied with Regina in points with 34 and Brandon is only one point back. The Canes' still trail Prince Albert by two points and have games in hand on all three teams. The Hurricanes certainly didn't play poorly in Spokane. The Chiefs offence woke up in the second and took control. The Canes' did have some decent scoring chances, but couldn't hold off a very potent Spokane team. This was also the second time in three games that the Hurricanes have been shutout. On a more positive note, the Hurricanes maybe played their most disciplined game of the season. They gave Spokane just one power play all game and that lasted for just 10 seconds.
NEXT UP
The Hurricanes will close out this quick trip to the U.S. with a game in Kennewick Saturday night. The Tri-City Americans, like the Spokane Chiefs have been hot the past five weeks or so. This will be the final U.S. Division team the Canes' will face this season. After this game it's back home for what will be a mini-series against the Calgary Hitmen starting Wednesday night at the Centre. The Hurricanes and Hitmen will play three straight games versus each other over the course of five days, twice in Lethbridge (Wednesday & Friday) and once in Calgary (Sunday afternoon Jan. 16). Game time Saturday from Tri-City will be 8:00 pm (MST). The pre-game show on CJOC at 7:30.
CANES' ANNUAL MID-SEASON SHAREHOLDERS MEETING
The hockey club held it's mid-season shareholders meeting on Thursday night. Obviously I wasn't there, but Dylan Purcell has the run down in the Friday edition of the Lethbridge Herald. Dylan's article says a season ticket shortfall is the main reason for a drop in revenue this season and once it's all said and done, the Hurricanes could lose $250,000. Canes' President Brian McNaughton is quoted in Dylan's article saying, "I'm not going to lie. We're at a 10 year low in attendance and a number of factors go into that". You can read Dylan Purcell's entire article on the mid-season shareholders meeting by clicking on this link:
No offence in the first period of this game. The Canes' played a solid opening 20 minutes despite not being able to find the back of the net. They out shot the high-powered Spokane Chiefs 7-2.
In the second period, the Chiefs would get thinsgs going with a lucky-bounce that turned into the game's first goal. Tyler Johnson thew the puck out in front of the Lethbridge net. It went off Mike Reddington and behind Brandon Anderson just 25 seconds into the period. That gave the home team a 1-0 lead and really kick-started Spokane. The Chiefs would score a couple more before the end of the period. Dominik Uher tipped home a shot to make it 2-0 and soon after that Kenton Miller put home a shot at the side of the Lethbridge goal to give Spokane a 3-0 lead after two periods of play. The Chiefs out shot Lethbridge 15- 7 in the period and held the edge 17-14 after 40 minutes.
In the third the Chiefs would keep it coming. Blake Gal, the Lethbridge boy gave Spokane a 4-0 lead when he blew passed the Hurricanes defence and put a back-hander by Anderson. They weren't done there either. The WHL's highest scoring team would pot two more before the final buzzer sounded. Anthony Bardaro and Mitch Holmberg managed to find the back of the net and the Chiefs would skate away with a convincing 6-0 victory of the Hurricanes. The final shots in this game favoured Spokane 32-21. The power plays looked like this: Lethbridge 0 for 3 and the Chiefs 0 for 1. For Spokane, it was the 12th time this season that they've scored 5 or more goals in a game.
The loss drops the Hurricanes record to 13-18-2-6 on the season and with only one win in their passed 10 games, the Canes' have some serious company in the race for the final couple of playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. Lethbridge is now tied with Regina in points with 34 and Brandon is only one point back. The Canes' still trail Prince Albert by two points and have games in hand on all three teams. The Hurricanes certainly didn't play poorly in Spokane. The Chiefs offence woke up in the second and took control. The Canes' did have some decent scoring chances, but couldn't hold off a very potent Spokane team. This was also the second time in three games that the Hurricanes have been shutout. On a more positive note, the Hurricanes maybe played their most disciplined game of the season. They gave Spokane just one power play all game and that lasted for just 10 seconds.
NEXT UP
The Hurricanes will close out this quick trip to the U.S. with a game in Kennewick Saturday night. The Tri-City Americans, like the Spokane Chiefs have been hot the past five weeks or so. This will be the final U.S. Division team the Canes' will face this season. After this game it's back home for what will be a mini-series against the Calgary Hitmen starting Wednesday night at the Centre. The Hurricanes and Hitmen will play three straight games versus each other over the course of five days, twice in Lethbridge (Wednesday & Friday) and once in Calgary (Sunday afternoon Jan. 16). Game time Saturday from Tri-City will be 8:00 pm (MST). The pre-game show on CJOC at 7:30.
CANES' ANNUAL MID-SEASON SHAREHOLDERS MEETING
The hockey club held it's mid-season shareholders meeting on Thursday night. Obviously I wasn't there, but Dylan Purcell has the run down in the Friday edition of the Lethbridge Herald. Dylan's article says a season ticket shortfall is the main reason for a drop in revenue this season and once it's all said and done, the Hurricanes could lose $250,000. Canes' President Brian McNaughton is quoted in Dylan's article saying, "I'm not going to lie. We're at a 10 year low in attendance and a number of factors go into that". You can read Dylan Purcell's entire article on the mid-season shareholders meeting by clicking on this link:
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/local-sports/ticket-shortfall-means-more-losses-for-canes.html.
Pat
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From the stat sheet, it looks like we made the same mistake in this one that we always seem to make. We probably rolled 4 lines in the first period (out-shot Spokane in this case, but with no goals scored by either club), then rode the Fyten/Braes/Sutter line until exhaustion (They were the worst forwards on the team at -4/-3/-3, i.e. -10 as a line)! Spokane pretty much rolls four so how could ANY COACH THINK that you could run one line of studs against four and expect anything else? This has GOT to change. Those three players cannot possibly sustain the compete level necessary to compete with fresher players. Anyone remember the colloquial definition of INSANITY? ... Repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result... - Richie.
ReplyDeleteI've got to say, I don't care if they lose to the West. That's a monster conference.
ReplyDeleteLet them play hard on the road, come home and get some wins. I've still got them penciled in for a playoff spot. Not going to the Pronghorns tonight so I can catch Pat calling the game.
-- Dylan