LETHBRIDGE - The Lethbridge Hurricanes gave up the tying goal with less than a minute to go in the 3rd period as the Vancouver Giants came back to win 4-3 in a shootout.
The Vancouver Giants would open the scoring in this game. Nathan Burns tapped in a rebound by Ty Rimmer who made his 17th consecutive start in goal for the Hurricanes. That goal gave the visitors a 1-0 lead. Lethbridge though would get back to even terms not too long after. Graham Hood moved in on a 2-on-1 rush with Russ Maxwell and the Magrath native buried his team-leading 11th of the season. That tied things up at 1-1 and that's the way the period would end. The Giants out shot Lethbridge 12-8 through 20 minutes of play.
In the second, the Hurricanes would grab the lead for the first time. Dan Johnston took a drop pass from Russ Maxwell and fired a shot low, along the ice beating Liston to give Lethbridge it's first lead of the night, 2-1. That was Johnston's 4th goal of the season. Before the end of the period, the Giants would tie the game again. Carter Popoff found a loose puck at the side of the Hurricanes goal and knocked it to even the game at 2-2 after 40 minutes. Vancouver out shot Lethbridge 26-19 through two periods.
In the third, the Hurricanes would grab the lead for a second time when Axel Blomqvist, who's had more scoring chances this season than any other play on this team finally scored his first in the WHL to give Lethbridge a 3-2 lead. It looked like the game was going to end that way, but the Giants pulled the goalie in the final minute and Dalton Sward tipped in a point shot past a screened Ty Rimmer to tie the game at 3-3 and sending things into overtime. The extra period solved nothing so the two teams would have to go into a shootout to decide a winner. Neither team was able to score through 3 rounds of the shootout and in the 4th round, Nathan Burns lifted a backhander over Rimmer to give the Giants a 4-3 come-from-behind victory. Vancouver out shot Lethbridge in this game 36-29. The loss drops the Canes record to 8-7-1-1 on the season and despite the loss the Hurricanes earn a big point. Lethbridge sits with 18 points through 17 games and just 4 points out of first place in the WHL's Eastern Conference.
It really wasn't a hugely exciting game to watch to be honest. Neither team really had that extra jump, especially compared to the Canes last few games. It was a chippy game, though with plenty of things after whistles. Lethbridge went 0/5 on the power play and Vancouver 0/4.
HOME VS. AWAY
Of the 17 games the Hurricanes have played this season, 11 have been at home and just 6 on the road. The Canes are 6-3-1-1 at the ENMAX Centre this season while on the road they sit with a record of 2-4. The Hurricanes will make up for all these home games later in the season with the bulk of their road games coming in mid to late January, the first week-and-a-half of February and almost the entire month of March when they play 6 of 9 games in the final month of the regular season on the road.
NEXT UP
The Hurricanes will play game 4 of this current 6 game home stand on Friday (Nov. 2) when they play host to rival Medicine Hat. The Canes and Tigers are battling each other and 8 other teams in a very clogged up and tight Eastern Conference. This will be the 3rd of 8 meetings this season, which each club winning once already. These two Highway 3 rivals have very similar records as well heading into this match-up. Game time Friday night at the ENMAX Centre is 7:00 (MDT). The pre-game show on CJOC at 6:30. The Hurricanes will play host to Saskatoon Saturday.
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.
If Ron Robison threatened the Canes with huge suspensions and/or fines, then ignore this post...
ReplyDeleteRobison continues to let Kessy play in the WHL and the Canes ended up letting Kessy get the last laugh tonight... late in the game, his hard shot injured our D-man's ankle and he laughed it up at him while skating back to the Vancouver bench.
What happened?! Only a 5'10 d-man had the "courage" to go after a certain player tonight? Does Preston need to give the C to Galbraith instead? Our captain has no problem beating up a young 17 yr old 3 nights ago... Maybe he is scared of Kessy, those two were on the ice together several times tonight, a 2+5+10 penalty would have been well-earned. Maybe our captain was scared of their captain? The Canes lead the WHL in PIM yet wouldn't take a few more to defend it's top prospect... Unbelievable!
I didn't expect anyone to knock 5 of his teeth out or take out his knees... but I do remember when former Canes captains Wright, Bancks, Reddington, Braes, and Sutter would all "stick up" for their teammates.
What if Pilon had sustained a neck injury to end his hockey career at age 15?
@ 3:47AM
ReplyDeleteRobison allowing Kessy to serve only 10 instead of his 12 game suspension before returning to WHL play makes Robison a manipulatable fink.
Kale Kessy has esteem and personality problems that would not be improved by any Hurricane in the penalty box or by being suspended from play. He is a good player and was much better controlled on the ice last night.
The best "defence" of their illegally injured team mate would have been to outwork, outhit, outplay, and outscore their opponent; which clearly they weren't able to do last night.
The Canes had a few players that had maybe their worst game of the year, and as the exception to the norm, Rimmer wasn't able to steal the game for them.
Liston played well, so good for him.
Although I would have LOVED to see the Canes dominate play and take both points from the Giants, I would absolutely congratulate the players (and coaches?) for NOT engaging in some medicine-hat-like response.
Well-done, team! - Richie.
For a very poor effort I am happy to get the single. Couple missed breakaways, poor back checking and just an all round low intensity game. Not sure why Pilon was out but if he was a healthy scratch, I applaud it. Not having Pilon in the line up did affect the play of our team especially on the power play. Hope he is back for Friday and the team effort has to be much better. I am fine with us not going after Kessy as I am sure the W had their eyes on this game. Last thing we need is multiple game suspensions for any of our players. HLR
ReplyDeleteIf you count the days Kessey served, in fact they were 12 games. Count the games while he was a member of the Tigers and the games while he was a member of the Giants, they add up to 12 missed games. First one back was Oct 28 vs Edmonton. I agree that possibly the 2 games that occur on the date of his trade could be questionable, however either way, had only one of those games been allowed on the trade date, he was still eligible to play against the Canes.
ReplyDelete@ 10:39am
ReplyDeleteKessy's first game back SHOULD have been against the Canes, but somehow he was allowed to play two games prior to that. WHY, RON ROBISON?!
Kessy played Sept 22 against the Canes, and was penalized at 5:49 of the THIRD period; 5min for his hit to the head plus a 10min game misconduct. These were game incurred penalties; not part of the suspension.
He was suspended on Sept 24 "for 12 games."
He sat out SIX with the Tigers (From THEIR schedule, Sept 28,29, Oct 3,5,6,10)
His trade was announced at 2pm on Oct 12th. Both the Hat and Giants played that night (not against each other), so you can only count ONE of those games. Since he was a member of the Giants at 2pm that day, he WAS able to play that night for Vancouver where he only served 4 games there (From THEIR schedule, Oct 12,13,20,24) before playing again on Oct 26th where he took a 2min minor penalty and had zero points on the game sheet for Vancouver against VICTORIA!
So... 6+4 is WTF is going on at the WHL office??
What kind of math are YOU using to get 12 games out of that? Are you looking for work with Don Hay, or the WHL office? - Richie.
Wow what a terrible game. Zero speed and even less puck pressure. Anon 3:47 I could not agree with you more about Hood. Even if the league did threaten the team as far as I could tell Hood never said a word to Kessy. He could of got in his face and said I am going to hit you ever time you touch the puck so you better watch out because I will get you. I think everyone that reads this knows how I feel so enough said. If only Spencer was 4-6" taller and 20-30 lbs. heavier. What was up with the refs apparently they have an issue with the name Blomqvist. Why were they letting the Giants get away with all the after whistle crap. There captain (I will not even try to spell his name) should have spent the whole game in the box for all the crap he was upto. Lets go Boys, its a big weekend and time to get back to speed and puck pressure.
ReplyDeleteIf you are looking for the WHL head office to ever give the Lethbridge Hurricanes franchise a break forget it! It will never happen. All you have to do is go back to the Lethbridge Broncos WHL championship season (83) and the Mike Vernon fiasco. Next up was the season long suspension to Maxwell (deserved or not) which left a bad taste in the collective mouths of the WHL brass and we have paid the price ever since. Until this club is privately owned by some rich deep-pocketed owner that fits into the BIG BOYS'CLUB, this franchise will never get a break, ruling or whatever else. Is this sour grapes? Yes! But the taste gets more bitter as the years go on.
ReplyDeleteDid Kessey play with the Portland Pirates (AHL) during his suspension? If so, how many Giants games did he miss?
RJ
@RJ
ReplyDeleteThough it seems unfair to me that he was allowed to, whether Kessy played in another league while suspended in the WHL is irrelevant to the point that he only served 10 games of his 12 game WHL suspension.
I don't know where he was during the time period, but he didn't play with the Giants for 4 games including the day of his trade from MH to the day he played against Victoria on Oct 26th.
So why the suspension reduction from 12 to 10 games?
The suspension wasn't reduced to 10 games as it was based on the Medicine Hat schedule and not Vancouvers so from the time he was suspended to the time he played his first game with the Giants the Tigers had played 12 games.
ReplyDelete22 took various chokes, rubs and punches last night. Kept his cool and yep had the last laugh.
ReplyDeleteSuck it.
Dear Tigerfan
ReplyDeleteNo need to come here and behave that way. 20 year old Kessy intentionally hurt a 15 year old player on the Hurricanes and was suspended 12 games for it. That part was not disputed by anyone so it certainly cannot be disputed by you.
Yes he was pushed around last night but most all the players from both sides were. It is part of the game. Kessy may have kept his cool but I think the more impressive thing to remember is that the HURRICANES kept their cool. There were a lot of calls on the fan boards and in the media for some retribution but our players did not lower themselves to that level. If Hood would have gone after Kessy two things would have happened. 1) Hood would be no better than the cheapshot Kessy is on the ice and 2) Kessy would have taken a beating because Hood is a big strong kid who I don't believe has ever lost a fight.
Therefore instead of coming onto a Hurricanes message board and telling us to "suck it" maybe you ought to remember that the former Tiger you seem to be so fond of has been suspended 7 times (3 times for infractions against the Hurricanes)and that he probably got off lucky last night.
-cc
I commend the league or Preston for telling the boys to stay away from Kessy. This team cannot afford to have Hood Galbraith or Yakabowski out of the line up. The team is 4 points out first and 3 points from 9th so every point is critical. They have 2 very winnable games coming up on the weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt was good to get a point last night despite a poor performance. Maxwell and Johnston were excellent last night and continue to lead the team up front and on the backend night after night. The younger players need to learn that success is created by being able to play at a high level night after night over the 72 games and it is what the Canes need to make the playoffs. Time to get back to that high level of play this weekend! TD
Didn't see the game, but just going by 2nd hand news, the Canes got lucky to get their one point. From most accounts, they were outplayed and outchanced. This team can't afford to take ANY team lightly, but apparently, they thought they could. Hopefully, they learn their lesson!
ReplyDeleteLong gone are the days of Eric Goddard!! lol I remember living in Calgary and watching as the Canes were losing 3 or 4-1 to the Hitmen in the 3rd period and Goddard clean up the Hitmen tough guy at centre ice!! It wasn't even a fair fight. Goddard was a beast!
I also saw him when he played for the Flames skate over to Booggard (Minnesota) after he hit Iggy and didn't even ask him to fight. Just started throwing punches at his head and eventually knocked his helmet off! Ahhh, those were the days!! Just fed Booggard a ton of right hands. Didn't care that he got the extra 2min. The message was sent!! Hood is not that type of player and I don't think he will ever enforce like an enforcer. He's just not that type of person/player. Unfortunately, I think that will hurt him in trying to advance to the next level because he doesn't show enough skills on the ice either.
Have to laugh at Tiger Fan...."suck it"? YOU suck it, your team is a barrel of laughs this year chucklehead! You should've hoped the Canes beat the Giants and then took the night off against the Tigers on Friday. Instead, it's going to be the opposite......they played like crap against the Giants and Friday's going to be hell on ice for your pussycats!
Darren
(Pat, I promise that this is the last I write about this)
ReplyDelete@ 1:02pm
You have figured out the thought process of the WHL league office; good for you, and God help you! You even wrote about it as if it makes sense to you.
That is about as dumb as dumb and dumber to count games of a personal suspension using the games of the team that you are no longer with.
The PLAYER was suspended 12 GAMES that he was eligible to PLAY for a foul HE committed. Once he left the Tigers, the ONLY games that he was eligible to PLAY in the WHL were the games being played by his new team, the Giants.
The dates of the TIGERS' games had NOTHING to do with Kale Kessy as of Oct 12, 2012, as he was NOT eligible to play in them, ergo they should NOT have been used to calculate his REMAINING suspension.
This should not be that difficult to comprehend, even for a WHL commissioner.
IF the Giants had played MORE games than the TIGERS in the same time period after the trade, THEN Kale would have served his 12 game suspension sooner... and you can bet Don Hay would have been bringing this to the attention of his good buddy at the WHL office so his new acquisition did not have to serve 14 games instead of 12!!
What if the Tigers had traded KK to a team immediately after the suspension was announced, and what if his new team had a slow stretch of games and was only scheduled for 4 games during the same period that the Tigers were scheduled to play 12 (This could have been the case)... So Kale would then sit out those 4 games with his new team, then back at it just because the TIGERS had played 12?? (He would only sit out 4 games instead of 12??)
I can't be the only guy that thinks the WHL is using a dipshit method of calculating this suspension? Am I??
Does it STILL make sense to use the TIGERS schedule for the duration of the suspension??!! They need to change this to the way that makes some sense.
Pat, can you pass this reasoning on to someone that effect some change? This should be discussed and fixed - Richie.
The "good old days", "WHL is bad at math", "we're victims of old incidents", "we need cajones".
ReplyDeletewaahh.
That was mean of me, its early, i apologize for pointing those things out. I will leave your board now.
ReplyDeleteWhy the heck is everyone so hung up on if Kessy sat out 10 or 12 games. The league said it was over so thats it. As long as it is the same for all players and teams. My issue is the way the team played and other than Spencer not one guy did anything. Our guys were getting pushed around the whole game during the play and even after the whistle. Why will Hood only fight when he is sure he will win. There captain was after guys all night while ours did nothing. This is a small, fast team that desperately needs someone to step up and watch out for them. I am not sure if Harper is a fighter but he at least has a little size so why not dress him once in awhile. Him and Wong could easily play every other game or something unless he is hurt. Wondering the same thing about Sutton on d. AJ
ReplyDeleteWho are you going to sit on Defence AJ to get Sutton in? Topping is already sitting when Pilon is in? Sutton should go back to Juniior A. The problem gets worse when Henry comes back. Scott
ReplyDeleteHere is just a thought and I know most of you will not agree but how about sit Albin Blomqvist. He may be our best bet for a Trade once Adam is back. AJ
ReplyDeleteOk, enough about Ron Robison's metric dozen...
ReplyDeleteHere looks to be a nice little addition to (maybe?) next year's roster. Cane 2012 3rd round pick (53rd overall) COLT CONRAD.
http://www.lethbridgehurricanes.com/article/saskatchewan-tops-manitoba
How did this kid (KOLTEN OLYNEK) NOT make this year's team?
http://www.smaaahl.com/leagues/stats_hockey.cfm?leagueID=9165&clientID=3433
Going to be a goaltender battle, tonight. Lanigan vs Rimmer - Tigers have been absolutely on fire since giving up basically nothing for him (5th round pick). Tigers definitely have the snipers for the dual, do we??
Olynek is not eligible to play this year as he is over 16. He played last year.
ReplyDelete