Saturday 10 December 2011

Canes End Long Losing Streak Against Vancouver

VANCOUVER, BC - Jaimen Yakubowski scored twice to lead the Lethbridge Hurricanes to their first victory against the Vancouver Giants in seven years.

The Hurricanes came out the gates like a house on fire in this game. The Canes had five quality scoring chances in the opening few minutes, including hitting a cross bar less than 30 seconds in. Both teams would continue to come at each other and then late in the period, the Giants would open the scoring when Taylor Makin knocked the puck by Damien Ketlo while down on his knees. That made it 1-0 Giants, not too long after the Hurricanes responded to even the score. Cam Braes took a feed on the power play from Nick Buonassisi for his 16th of the season to tie the game at 1-1. The shots were even through one period at 8-8.

In the second, the Hurricanes would keep the offence rolling with two goals in less than five minutes to open the period, both by Jaimen Yakubowski. Yakubowski was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down on a partial breakaway. He would make no mistake beating Adam Morrison in the Vancouver goal for his 5th of the season. That gave Lethbridge a 2-1 lead. Then two minutes later, the Hurricanes would go ahead by a pair. Yakubowski tipped a slap pass by Morrision to give the Canes a big 3-1 lead early in the second period. Vancouver would get one of those back when James Henry scored on the power play, to cut the Lethbridge lead to 3-2 after 40 minutes of play. The shots favoured the Giants 20-17.

In the third, the Giants would press to get the equalizer, but Damien Ketlo shut the door for the rest of the game. The Hurricanes added one more into an empty net, Russ Maxwell scored short-handed for his 7th of the year to seal the game for the Hurricanes. Final score: 4-2 Lethbridge. It was the Hurricanes first win over the Giants since December of 2004. The win improves their record to 11-22-0-1 on the season. Vancouver out shot Lethbridge 30-21. Both teams went 1/5 on the power play in this one. Dan Johnston was a physical monster for Lethbridge in this game. He laid two huge hits in the opening period, although he was penalized on hip check that looked pretty clean to me.

The Hurricanes played a very solid 60 minutes in Vancouver and were very good right from the goaltender out. For their 3rd game in 4 nights, there were no passengers in this game. Despite two losses in three games on this trip, it was a nice week out in B.C. and a nice way to finish things with a victory in Vancouver. I know the players really enjoyed the trip on the ferry to and from Victoria and for a lot of guys, it was either the first time they saw the ocean and for a few others, their first ride on a ferry.

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes have three game left before the WHL's 10 day Christmas break. The Hurricanes will play three games in the coming week, all back home at the ENMAX Centre. Wednesday they play host the Calgary Hitmen, Friday the Victoria Royals come to town, and then on Saturday the Swift Current Broncos make the trip to Lethbridge. Once again, Saturday night (Dec. 17) is the Hurricanes annual Teddy Bear Toss game. All fans coming to the game next weekend are encouraged to bring a stuffed animal to throw on the ice when the Hurricanes score their first goal of the game. All the toys collected will be donated to local charities.

Thanks,
Pat

6 comments:

  1. Nice bounce back for the Canes. Was expecting 3 or 4 points on the trip. Hope the team bonded some more and will string a few wins together at home.
    Pat how would you rate the effort of our team on the 3 games as I only got to listen to a portion of each game?

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  2. Great win boys. Out work and out hustle adds upto 2 points

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  3. Its great to be wrong when it means the Canes get a win! With their "vacation" play against Victoria, I thought the Canes were primed for another beating.

    We have seen that the Canes can play bad enough to lose to any team, and they can play well enough to beat any team. If we have to get outshot to win, so be it.

    They have plenty of talent to get it done every night, but everybody has to play relentlessly. - Richie.

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  4. Wow. Very interesting stat that they haven't beat the Giants since 2004?!!

    Ketlo seems to be the reliable of the two netminders. That's unfortunate as I think Ketlo could fetch a nice price come the trade deadline. (That is if the Canes aren't in a playoff spot at that time).

    In any event, it's a good way to end the road trip!!

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  5. Watched the game on the net...Canes really out played Vancouver most of the game and could have easily had two or three more goals. Ketlo was calm ond cool in net and was solid. I thought Johnston had a huge game and set the tone with that big early hit...he dominated in the corners. The young kids up front were relentless in their forecheck...good effort on the road and they could have been 3-0 without the couple of breakdowns. TD

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  6. Ritchie....not sure about your "vacation" comment against Victoria. Check the shots on net and I think you'll see that the Canes didn't get very good goaltending from Liston and that was pointed out in the post-game remarks by coach Chiz.

    It's a game they could've won, but didn't and came back against Van.

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