LETHBRIDGE - Four goals in the second period lifted the Prince Albert Raiders to a 6-3 win over the Hurricanes Saturday night.
A delay to get this game started. The lights at the ENMAX Centre wouldn't come on after the pre-game announcements. One things got underway. the Hurricanes had some great chances in the early going with three straight power plays, but were unable to beat Cole Holowenko in the PA goal. That was about all the offence in the opening period. Neither team was able to score and the two teams would head to the dressing room in a 0-0. Lethbridge held the edge in shots 12-8.
In the second, the Raiders would open the scoring. Just over a minute in, Tyler Yaworki let a wrist shot go, beating a screened Liam Liston up high give Prince Albert a 1-0 lead. Just over two minutes later, the Raiders would strike again, this time on the power play. Logan McVeigh's spin shot, would beat Liston low along the ice, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. Those two goals were scored just over two minutes apart. Before the half way point in the period, the Raiders would make it 3-0 with another power play goal. Mike Winther jammed the puck by Liston to give the Raiders a little more breathing room. The Hurricanes finally got their offence going with a pair of goals later on. Tyler Kizuik scored to get Lethbridge on the board. It was his 1st of the season and got the Hurricanes to within two. A few minutes later the Canes would get another one, this time Nick Bounassisi notched a highlight reel goal with a great passing play from Jay Merkley and Jaimen Yakubowski. That was Buonassisi's 13th of the season and cut the PA lead to 3-2. The Raiders though would get their two goal lead back with less than a minute to go in the period when Josh Morrissey scored. That gave Prince Albert a 4-2 lead after two periods of play. Lethbridge held a slight edge in shots 29-26.
In the third, the Raiders would keep the offence coming and would put the game away. Just like the second period, PA would score twice in the first 5 minutes of the third. Josh Morrissey scored his second of the night to increase the PA lead to 5-2 and then just a few minutes after that, Shane Danyluk hammered home a shot by Liam Liston to make it 6-2 Raiders. Before the game would come to a close, Lethbridge would get one more, a power play goal this time by Tyler Kizuik. His second of the night to make it 6-3 Prince Albert and that's the way this game would end. Lethbridge out shot PA 37-35 on the night. PA finished the game 2/4 on the power play while the Hurricanes went 1 for 6.
Assistant Coach Chris Chisamore said on the CJOC post game show: "We couldn't match their compete level and and their energy tonight. It was just a disappointing weekend. We are way better than this. We need to regroup over the next few days, because we can't play like this on the road. There were several goals that went in tonight that I wasn't happy with."
This was just the second of four meetings this season between Lethbridge and PA. The two clubs will play twice more, in Lethbridge February 11th and in Prince Albert February 29th. Both clubs have had their fair share of ups and downs this season. With the loss, the Hurricanes sit only two points ahead of the Raiders in the standings. Lethbridge sits with a record of 19-32-0-1, while PA is 17-30-1-2.
The Hurricanes called up defenceman Joel Topping for Saturday's game. Topping was chosen in the 2nd round, 41st overall in the 2010 WHL draft. He's having a good year with AAA Rebels in Red Deer and was recently named AMHL All-Star game.
NEXT UP
That does it for the Hurricanes January schedule. The Canes went 5-7 during the month and now have just 20 games to go in the regular season. They'll kick off the month of February next week with three games in four nights in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Canes will play in Swift Current Wednesday (Feb. 1), Brandon Friday (Feb. 3), and Regina on Saturday (Feb. 4) before returning home February 8th to host Cam Braes and the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Thanks,
Pat
The views expressed on this blog are those of the moderator and contributors and are not endorsed by 94.1 CJOC or the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Very discouraging loss. Liston needs to be better than that to be our starting goalie next season. This team needs to finish on a positive note and go 10-10.
ReplyDeletePenalties, stupid penalties cost us. This team is can not afford to give up powerplays because of selfish penalties. Discipline and compete lacking.
ReplyDeleteVery discouraging weekend.
I think it is time that the coaches send a stern message to some of our team members that take undisciplined and unnecessary penalties.
Wow! This has been a loooooong weekend, coming in from out of town to watch the games against MH and PA.
ReplyDeleteI am still cheering the 'Canes on, and won't stop doing so, but the 10-game flex pack I have is more often than not an endurance test to my enjoyment of the games.
That being said, they did look much better for portions of the match tonight than in the entire 60 minutes on Friday.
Hopefully they'll have better results next month for games 7 and 8 for me.
Come on Hurricanes!
These 2 games looked alot like the ones they played during that long losing streak. Defensively we are horrible. Apparently you can just stand in front of our net and not worry about anyone touching you until after you score. I realize some of you don't agree with the way I feel about Sutter and that is ok so here are a few more to think about. Some changes for next year. Get rid of Hood even if there is an 20 spot, trade or cut Maxwell unless he grows ( hate to say it but he is to small ). We need to find some big players that play big. Glad to see the emotion after the game but where the "H" was it during the game. AJ
ReplyDeletePenalties were not a problem last night as PA had only 4 PP chances. Penalty killing is a problem as for the second night in a row the PK was only 50%,,,that has to be better. Our defence is and plays small except for Johnston and Bloomquist when he is in the line up. Erkamps, Oslanksi, Galbraith and Henry are all small D men and when teams with some size come in like PA they struggle. Johnston and Kizuik had a really good game last night because they could handle the PA size..others couldn't. Also have to ask where the forwards are when on 37 shots and only one goal from up front and little sustained pressure...that is not acceptable either...a very rough weekend....TD
ReplyDeleteAJ - would have been nice to see Sutter step up more last night. I think we keep maxwell, he is only 17 and he can get stronger.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to hear the panel’s thoughts on next year. We can only keep 3 20 year olds. Do we stabilize the back end with 2 20-year-old d-men or keep Hood and Nick.
What does the panel think of our euro situation? If we get a high pick do we move on from one or both? Has bezuch shown enough to stay?
I did like Toppings skating ability. Would like to see him for more games to finish off the season.
After this weekend, next year can't come soon enough.
Have to agree with Anon 10:21. Penalties undisciplined penalties are a problem. They prevent you from having a sustained attack because you are defending. If penalties are not a problem please explain why Don Hay at the WJC in Calgary and Edmonton wanted to eliminate them and had a goal of only four per game.
ReplyDeleteSize is an issue we do lose battles along the boards. Yes Henry and Erkamps are small dmen but both carry the puck well and move it out of the zone effectively.
I do agree with AJ on his thoughts about Maxell and Hood. We are lacking in the centre position and would like to see some improvement there.
Anon 1034 - Some Thoughts on 20 year olds...Johnston and Buonassisi are a given...We lack so much size upfront I think Hood needs to stay....Moline will help with size if he plays. Need to trade one of our first round draft picks we got for Braes for a legit 18 or 19 year old scoring threat. Bezuch has been a big disappointment. Can't score, can't play defensively and no size so I don't see why he would come back. We have a lot of Bezuchs playing forward right now on the team.....TD
ReplyDeleteI thought the biggest problem with last night was lazy coverage in front of our net. At least 3 goals were scored when a PA player was left all alone in front. Team defense depends on every player doing their job. Also, not a good weekend for the PK. It has got to be better.
ReplyDeleteCalgary beat Tri today 4-1..Someone in the Canes senior managment needs to ask the question how did Calgary go from being a bottom dweller last year to being the hottest team in the league right now and making the playoffs this year...while we have struggled for 3 years with zero improvment...the answer is having a coaching staff who can develop young talent....time to look in the mirror management.
ReplyDelete@ Anon 8:31 PM - couldn't agree more. The team really needs coaching who can develop young talent.
ReplyDeleteAJ, your hockey knowledge astounds me. What sort of experience do you have with the game? Sounds like you know it all full well.
Hopefully the last 20 games of the season show positives and serve as confidence growers for the boys.
I can answer the Calgary Hitmen question without asking anyone. The Hitmen VASTLY underachieved last year. They are doing this year what they should've done last year.
ReplyDeleteBesides that, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver have a much bigger payroll for their respective junior clubs. It's not a fair playing field if we compare payrolls across the WHL. Ron Robinson and company obviously don't care as it's been this way for many years.
About the game. I wasn't there, so I'm limited to what I can say, but I'd have to agree with those that have said that (generally speaking) we have a smaller defensive corps. AND, not having Albin Blomqvist hurts. He seems to know, understand and enjoy the physical aspect of the game.
What is wrong with Blomqvist Pat??
Payroll comes into play when it comes to paying management and marketing and I agree the bigger teams have an advantage. The draft is the same for everyone and the players all get paid the same which is virtually nothing. Lethbridge probably has one of the top 5 highest paid Coach/GM's in the league...Kootenay, Med Hat, Red Deer, Brandon. Tri-city , Spokane, Moose Jaw are all small market clubs and look at their performance versus Lethbridge. Poor management and ownership in Lethbridge, Prince George, Prince Albert and Swift Current are the issue not the size of the city or size of the budget....TD
ReplyDeleteOne reason Calgary has improved is that they have five 19yr old forwards.If you listened to "Hurricanes this Week" the round table discussion mentioned the importance of having good 19yr olds as these guys are the ones who carry the team.Calgary has that figured out and that is why they always have an abundance of 19yr olds and are usually at the top of the standings.
ReplyDeleteWe had 4 19 year old forwards last year...Sutter Fyten, Braes and Berglund...how did that work out for us??? That is not the reason for Calgary's success.
ReplyDelete