LETHBRIDGE - A lucky bounce late in the third period helped the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes Wednesday night at the ENMAX Centre.
A great pace to this hockey game. Just a couple of whistles in the first 10 minutes or so. Both teams has some real solid scoring chances, but goaltenders Damien Ketlo and Calvin Pickward were very good in the opening 20 minutes of play. Lethbridge held the slight edge in shots, 11-10 in that first period.
In the second, the Hurricanes finally found a way to break the scoreless tie. Landon Oslanski wired a shot off the post and in to give Lethbridge a 1-0 lead. It was Oslanski's 4th of the season. 30 seconds later, Seattle would even the score at 1-1. Marcel Noebels fired the puck by Ketlo and just like that the game is tied once again. Neither team was able to find the back of the net the rest of the period. Again both goalies, Pickard and Ketlo were outstanding between the pipes. The shots favoured Lethbridge 25-21 after 40 minutes.
In the third, both teams continued to press to get the go-ahead goal. Seattle ended up getting a lucky bounce with about 7 minutes remaining. The puck was dumped deep into the Lethbridge zone, Ketlo came out of his goal to play it, when the puck took a funny bounce off the end boards and straight out in front of the goal and tapped into the empty net by Mitch Elliot. That put Seattle ahead 2-1. A few minutes later the T-birds went ahead 3-1 when Brendan Rouse scored. That turned out to be a key goal because, seconds later the Hurricanes got one of those back when Adam Henry scored his first goal of season. That made it 3-2 Seattle, but that's as close as the Hurricanes would get in this one. The Hurricanes out shot the Thunderbirds 35-28 and for the first time in a while held their opponents to under 30 shots in the game. The Hurricanes went 0/3 on the power play and Seattle finished the game 0/4. The Hurricanes have just one victory in their past 17 hockey games.
The Hurricanes actually had a full defensive corp Wednesday night. The Canes had seven healthy defenceman for the first time in over a month. Getting Daniel Johnston back from the injured listed was a huge boost for this team against Seattle. Jay Merkey and Liam Liston were healthy scratches for the Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes are finally into their new dressing and training rooms. The team officially moved in this week. The facility consists of a separate dressing room, training room, video room, coaches room, trainers room, and skate sharpening room. I had a tour of the new digs Wednesday before the game and will post a few photos this week.
NEXT UP
The Hurricanes are off until Saturday (Nov. 12) when they host the Tri-City Amercians. This game will mark the return of defenceman Derek Ryckman who was dealt to the Ams a few weeks ago. Tri-City is one of the top teams in the WHL's Western Conference. Fred and I will have the pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30 pm (MST). The puck drops at 7:00. The Hurricanes will then tavel to Calgary Sunday afternoon for a 2:00 pm (MST) start against the Hitmen.
Thanks,
Pat
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Sitting Merkley now, healthy scratch, great. Won't be long and he will be asking to be traded.... nice work Preston. Here we go again. - Richie.
ReplyDeleteMerkley a healthy scratch?
ReplyDeleteThat's how you develop a 3rd overall pick in hurricane land. My god.
I feel a deep sadness for every player on this roster that has the guidance of this management and coaching staff. It an absolute shame and reflects so poorly on the city.
It really makes me want to cry.
the worse thing about it is we do not see these kids getting better. you could only hope for players development to improve over the course of a three year term, but we are not seeing this.i really feel that the current coaching staff is killing alot of potential hockey careers.and that is sad to say the least.
ReplyDeletelast night we were one bad bounce away from silence from the critics and a few compliments
ReplyDeleteThat 1 bounce you speak of wouldn't have silenced anyone. Look at the big picture. Yes, they could have beaten hapless Seattle but big deal.this team is horribly coached and is developing noone. R Maxwell, Hood, tot, Jackson, Ryckman, Anderson, Kuvaev and the list goes on and on have all taken steps back during their time here. this is all on coaching
ReplyDeleteHave any improved?
ReplyDelete@bob........which kids are you referring to?? I question the ability of some of "these kids" to actually GET BETTER because they aren't talented in the FIRST PLACE. The talent lies in the 16 year olds, not in the 18 and 19 year olds. Most of the older players don't (and never did) have a future in the NHL after their WHL careers. I wish more people would understand that the older players are Roy Stasiuk's bantam picks and most were late round picks at that. Yes, a few late round picks can turn into a diamond in the rough, but I'm afraid none of Stasiuk's picks fit that bill.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous (8:07)....the players you listed are EXACTLY the type I'm referring to.....no way, no how were they going to develop under ANY system. They weren't talented to begin with and wouldn't have developed in ANY organization.
I disagree with the benching of Merkley as well. He IS one of the players that the coaches should be trying to "develop" (bob). He and Erkamps are easily the most talented kids on this roster, so I don't understand how he gets benched??
I want to see this coaching staff coach the players Preston drafted. That will give a much more accurate reflection on their "development" abilities.
just win baby - you have no clue. Those guys that are listed are all established WHL'ers. Rich and matt are the problem. You're buddies with them or whatever, thats okay. but the fact is we have the worst two coaches in the whl and thats why we are where we are.
ReplyDeleteAZ
I'm so tired of the excuses...bad bounce...hot goalie...coming from the team, the coaches AND from the media!! Last night we looked mediocre at best against a team doing almost as poorly as us. I couldn't even listen to the post game show as it was all rah rah excuses excuses! I feel bad for the boys individually as well. I can't think of any team in any sport with our record who has not made a coaching change.
ReplyDeleteI agree the younger kids need to be developed better. Erkamps started off strong but the last few at home he has made a considerable amount of errors,like any other 16 year old as you'd expect but you'll never hear any talk of that. It's not fair to put the weight of the team on one or two heads by the coaches and media(Erkamps and Merkley), yes they are the future but you can't make a team with 2 or 3 players. Think of the pressure these two must feel. And benching the younger guys (with the exclusion of the golden children)hasn't done anything but screw up the lines to no avail. Maybe some consistency would help the lines, seemed to have more flow last night for the first 2 running the same lines. At least our D are scoring some points, that's positive.
ReplyDelete@ AZ.........you need to check yourself. I know exactly what talent is and Ryckman, Jackson and Anderson were low bantam picks, so please explain to me how they are "talented" players. "Established" and "talented" are two completely separate things. "Established", they might be. But "talented" enough to be difference makers on a team they ARE NOT!
ReplyDeleteEveryone is entitled to their opinion but some of your opinions are really getting old. Lay off the kids. Quit telling them how bad they are, how they have no talent and how they have no future. These are just kids for crying out loud. Do you have to be so harsh? Don't for a minute say to me that they put themselves in this position by being on a WHL team and should therefore man it up and expect it. That in no way absolves your duty to just show little decency and a little compassion
ReplyDeleteSay what you want about the coaching staff but these are young men who are struggling right now and want nothing more than to shut a few of you up with a couple of wins.
I don't know why Merkley was scratched. Maybe there was more to it than we know, maybe not. But it is pretty hard to go off about it when you don't have a clue as to the reason and then act like it was because Preston wanted to personally tick you off.
You all know these kids are going through a tough time right now. How about you get behind them instead of cutting them deeper with your degrading and demoralizing talk about them?
Pathetic.
-cc
@cc, well said...one of the best written comments I have read on here in quite some time.
ReplyDeleteThese kids are in a tough spot, imagine your job that you go to every day was as cut and dry as winning and losing and you went 1-16 and then you had a bunch of adults telling you how bad you are at your job and how you have no future in it when they have absolutely no clue. Some people need to give their head a shake.
I got one even better. How about everyone stop their griping about the board, coach, GM, players, rink Reno’s, losing streak, financials, who's being traded, who's being slighted, benched, systems ect. ect. ect. How about all the fans for or against the current regime go cheer for these players you care so much about. Perhaps we are the reason this team is losing? In a city with 80 thousand plus. 4800 rabid fans shouldn’t be so hard to achieve night in and night out!
ReplyDeleteanonymous 1:36pm
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with your comments. This city sucks for supporting their teams. If they aren't in the top four they gripe about everything. I believe the one thing missing on our team is fan support and it would truly inspire the boys to play with more confidence with a good crowd behind them. GO CANES GO...the fans that support you know you can do it!!!!
I think for a team that has one victory in 16 or 17 games, the support has been very good. The fans have been quite supportive at the games. There's many cities that wouldn't attract the numbers the Hurricanes are getting without many "W's".
ReplyDeleteI went to a Tiger's game about 10 years ago when they were missing the playoffs every year and they were only getting half the amount of seats they had to sell too, so I don't think it's unusual. Look at any team (professional or otherwise) that is mired in losing seasons and you will see fan support wane. It's the nature of the beast.
ReplyDeleteI don't like dwelling on the past either, but I feel someone needs to speak up on the coaches behalf because there seems to be a few people (on here) who think that firing the coaches is the next order of business and don't like the way they are "developing" the players. See my previous post........
ReplyDeleteI'd much rather continue to move forward and support the group of players that are here.
Really justwinbaby? Because you are one of the people that said the 18-19 year olds had no talent. Will they go on to play in the NHL? Likely not but cut them some slack. I'm sure they feel bad enough without having to read how some of the fans feel they have no talent at all.
ReplyDeleteDarren I agree the fan support has been good at the arena particularly at the end of periods or the game. Let's hope that continues.
-cc
cc.......The players need to focus on their play and stop reading the headlines.......
ReplyDelete