BRANDON, MB. - The Brandon Wheat Kings scored four times in the second period as they beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-2 Wednesday night.
A very decent opening period for the Lethbridge Hurricanes in this game. They were the better team for most of the opening 20 minutes, but unfortunately it was the Brandon which got things going. Eric Roy hammered a shot by Jonny Hogue to give the home team a 1-0 lead. The Canes were able to shake that off. Late in the period, they evened the score on a two-on-one rush. Carter Folk's pass went off a Brandon defender and past goalie Curtis Honey to even the score at 1-1 after one period of play. The Canes had some very good chances. They out shot the Wheat Kings 16-10.
In the second, the Wheat Kings would take advantage of a double minor for high sticking called against Canes forward Tyler Wong. In the last half of the power play, Rene Hunter blasted a point shot, beating a screened Jonny Hogue to make it 2-1 Brandon. The Wheaties added three more before the end of the period. Jayce Hawryluk with a great slap shot on yet another power play to give Brandon a 3-1 lead. Just over a minute after that Rihards Bukarts made it 4-1 Wheaties halfway through the second period. Brandon added one more when Jens Meilleur beat Hogue after a great pass from Ryan Pulock. That made it 5-1 Wheat Kings after 40 minutes of play. The home team made some big adjustments after lack-luster first period. They hammered 23 shots on goal in that period and held a 33-25 edge after 40 minutes of play.
In the third, the Wheaties extended their lead once again. Jayce Hawryluk early in the period, less than a minute in snapped one by Hogue. The Hurricanes ended up scoring one more before the final buzzer sounded. Tyler Wong with a nice back-hander, scoring his 15th of the season to cut Brandon's lead to 6-2. That's the way this game would end. Brandon out shot Lethbridge 46-38. The Wheaties went 2/5 on the power play and the Canes 1/3. The Hurricanes have now lost seven games in a row and this loss drops their overall record to 12-48-2-3 in 65 games this season. The Canes have also given up 319 goals this season, the most out of any team in the WHL.
Next Up
It's down to the final 7 games for the Lethbridge Hurricanes. They get Thursday off for a travel day back east. The Canes play game three of this four game road trip Friday (Feb. 29) when they take on the Warriors in Moose Jaw. This will be the last meeting of the season between the teams. Game time is 6:00 pm MST. The pre-game show on CJOC at 5:30. The road trip ends Saturday (Mar. 1) when they travel to Swift Current. Lethbridge has three remaining games at home. They're back Friday (Mar. 7) to host Regina and Saturday (Mar. 8) when Swift Current comes to town.
Thanks,
Pat
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Great "systems" coach-Drake!
ReplyDeleteNever trailed by more than 5! OUTSTANDING!
Some REAL improvement in this one!
The use of "video" to show players their faults is REALLY paying dividends, now.
ONLY 46 shots on net AGAINST!
Still SOLIDLY in 22nd place.
Congrats to BRADY RAMSAY for being the only player on the "plus" side of the "plus/minus" at PLUS ONE!
Mr Robson.... WHY is Drake Berehowsky still travelling with the team? WHAT POSSIBLE GOOD CAN COME OF THIS? Send him HOME to await a TRADE (and save the organization some per diems!)
You need to sit down with him ASAP and ask "Thanks for having me" to resign!
Hope you have your Snuggle Blanket for the drive to Moose Jaw, Pat!
Watt Tuheler Thaywaytengfur.
After 65 games already played this season, you would think that there should be some type of consistent thread that could be noticed on a nightly basis on this team??? Right now, the only consistent threads are that of total bewilderment on the coaching side and total confusion on the players side??? They skated a bit in the first period and then looked totally overwhelmed and lost the remainder of the game with long periods when the players were just standing around watching the mediocre BWK's look like MemCup Champs??? What a disgrace to the players, our city and the game! Couldn't believe that Pilon said that he has to do only whats best for his career, if all the Cane's players all had that attitude, there would not have been a team here this season! These players have to be commended at the highest level for not identifying with the quitters and showing extreme character by staying! Likely cost some of them a career in this game, what a price to pay for this stupidity!!! However, if nothing changes before the beginning of next season, it would be absolutely shocking if even one player would return for another season of this? This is shameful at many or all different levels! This guy is not a coach, if he was, he would have taken himself out a long time ago just for the sake of his players well being! Mr. Robison will need to choose his words very carefully if he agrees to come on the radio show, I doubt he will though, until there is some kind of resolution to this situation or he stands to have an egg or two on his face...
DeleteLBJ
The Euro draft sweepstakes is about all that's left for drama as the season unfolds. So far so good, but that 1 game lead over Kamloops could be lost in a careless lapse of focus. But if Kamloops blinks one more time and earns a point in an overtime loss it looks like the Canes will have a lock on the Euro.
ReplyDeleteRed Line
The Berehowsky experiment has not worked and try as he may, it would have been better having had Drake work as an assistant with a WHL head coach. This is a tough league and is getting tougher competition wise year in and year out. It is not the league for an inexperienced coach. (inexperienced in the sense of no previous exposure to the WHL). However, I do not think some of the best coaches in this league could have improved the standings of this club based on the talent (or lack thereof) on the current roster of the Canes. This team is talent thin to say the least, plus it has been struck by defections, an unusual number of injuries, poor trades, and a lack of size. Blame? Where does the blame lie? Like a lot of others, I thought the hiring of Brad Robson was a good move. A natural progression within the organization. But his hiring of Berehowsky was questionable due to his lack of WHL experience. The hiring of Lukowich rather than Berehowsky picking his own defense coach was a mistake as it caused friction within the coaching ranks. Robson got taken to the cleaners on the Boe trade and then again with the Pilon trade. Basically 2 first round picks for nothing much in return.
ReplyDeleteBlame? How about the scouting staff? All you have to do is look at the successful teams in this league, and they all have one thing in common; players with size, good speed, skill. These are all teams that have drafted after the Canes. Whomever decided that small semi-skilled players could carry the load of a successful franchise is clearly mistaken. There are skilled players on the Canes; Duke, Estephan, and Wong, but they do not have a supporting cast that can open up space, protect them with toughness and make it easy to wheel and deal. Drake's number one concern was the lack of size on this team. It has been addressed a bit, but not with top notch talent. Mediocre at best.
Solution? Wholesale changes (again) not likely as the team (despite the rosy financial picture painted by The President at the shareholder information meeting) can't afford more payouts. Even selling the team will likely result in wholesale changes, (unless The President is part of a purchasing group...heaven's forbid). This leaves a lot of uncertainty as to what can be done for 2014-15. What players will leave the team? What deals will Robson make in order to have this team bigger and far more competitive? What is going to be done about the goaltending (please no more deals...develop!) Will the first round pick report or be signed by the Canes or will they get, "don't draft me". Does Drake stay or does he decide to head back to Ontario for more experience as a junior assistant? Too many unknowns. One thing is for sure, something has to give and I think that it is going to happen sooner rather than later.
As for Pilon, he is a perfect example of a lot of today's kids, "it's all about me'. He could learn a lot from some of his former teammates who have stuck it out.
Dump'n Chase
"Robson got taken to the cleaners on the Boe trade and then again with the Pilon trade. Basically 2 first round picks for nothing much in return." to say nothing of getting half or less of what was available for the Bobsy twins we sent to Seattle for less than half of what he would have gotten had he been patient! Pilon is grossly over rated! #3 was the best overall Dman on the Brandon squad when he was forced to come here for a quitter. There are many good players on this team, had there been a commitment to an identity, culture, system or an overall structure in which these players would have all had defined roles and would have been held accountable, this would have been a great little team this season? Mekeg/Yak, probably would have returned had Robson played a two option hardball game with them? Pilon defecting was no great loss, its just to bad that Robson didn't have the balls to let him sit around the camp fire in Duck Lake and drink whiskey with his buddies this winter? There was a much better deal available for Boes and Portland would have paid more had Robson allowed it to go to 11:59. When this season is all said and done, 2 green horns was the demise of this season and likely now this franchise as we know it, pay now or pay later, should have been either a seasoned GM with a more experienced coach than DB or if had to be Robson, should have been a very well seasoned coach and assistants of his choice, this board wouldn't have been able to recognize either, even if they had bit them in the ass! It would have been a challenge for this management group to have accomplished a .500 atom season. All nice people...and you know what they say..."nice guys finish last"! It's going to be one hell of an off-season, thats for sure!
DeleteChicks for free
Agreed, the reason that the Canes cannot win is that there is no "system" or "structure! Ever wonder how good players like Ramsey, Duke, Erkamps can have such ridiculous +/- stats? Erkamps has to be the perfect example and this is not to pick on him or suggest that he is not a good player! If you really watch him play, he has no clue where to be from a positional standpoint all he does is follow the puck around and is usually 50 feet out of position when goals are scored when he is on the ice, good defencemen are very proficient at playing without the puck and not chasing it and being out of position, playing good positional hockey limits passing lanes, keeps the puck on the perimeter and eliminates opponents options. Same goes for our forwards, all they do is chase the puck. Once our forwards get the puck, they do not seem to see their options or even know how to recognize them so they skate, stick handle and shoot, how many times all year do we watch the end to end rush that ends in a low percentage shot from well outside or an impossible angle when their are guys open all over the ice? At least when Lukowich was their, there was some sort of defensive structure and since he has been gone, well, look at the scores, there is none at all. Drake has yet to explain the "system" he swears is developing, not sure what his definition of "culture" is unless it is the" losing culture"? He has yet to publicly accept any responsibility for any part of this season and its total failure? When is some common sense going to kick in here? We cannot afford to pay another coach...the reality is that this franchise cannot afford to pay this coach and if they must pay him, he should be paid to stay away from these boys, he has caused enough damage to player's careers and also this franchise!
DeleteWayner
Wayner,
DeleteThe boys have been playing hockey all their lives. They know that passing is a good and necessary option on an odd man rush. So why don't they pass? Because the coach has dictated they should shoot. If they shoot the coach likes it. If they pass they are held accountable. Does that sound stupid and demoralizing? It is. And it doesn't help when fans notice the flawed strategies and blame the players for being out of position or making bad decisions when that positioning and decision making has been required by the coach.
Red Line
Don't think anyone on here is blaming players for positioning or decision making? If thats what your getting, maybe you better read some things again? The misfortunes of of this team are a direct result of poor coaching, everyone knows that! LOL
DeleteHey Chicks For Free,
DeleteI agree that the Boes deal was poorly thought out, and I hated it, but do you really think we did poorly on the twins?? - I loved Yak and McKechnie, but difficult to get max value when the players leave the team, refuse to play, get sent home, forget where the rink is, or whatever exactly happened, .... but I think Sheen and Folk have been real good for us.... PLUS we get a 3rd round in 2015.
Strictly from a points perspective, Sheen alone has exactly the same number of goals as the "twins" and he has more points than the "twins" combined total.... Completely different roles, agreed.
Add to this the hits, 8 points, and 100+ PIM toughness that Folk has and I think the trade looks pretty good to me. If on the outside chance the Canes exist ... in Lethbridge... next year, I am going to be PSYCHED to see both Sheen and Folk play.... If either of them bother to report for duty... (Plus the 3rd rounder in 2015)
Money for Nothing
This season is such a disaster and so disheartening, I hardly even post here anymore. It is just too depressing. Oh how I feel for Pat S. He keeps broadcasting as professionally and positively as he did when we were winning in 2008. I am just afraid that one of these next few games he is going to break and go nuts on air....hehe.
ReplyDelete@Wayner.... Erkamps is a great example of the brutality of the coaching he has received. As a 16 year old, everyone talked about his awesome potential and he was a damn good 16 year old D-man on a bad team. Look what the Canes brutal coaching has done to him. I feel so sorry for the players that have stuck it out here. They deserve so much better than this.
There are a dozen other examples, but the Erkamps situation says it all for me.
canes don't rock
If my name started with "Drake" and ended with "howsky," knowing what I achieved with the Orlando Solar Bears last year vs what they have become without me this year, THEN seeing what I did this year to turn a team that won 28 games (with a disinterested coach) last year into a 12-win franchise, I could NOT possibly look at myself in the mirror without thinking that I might be in the wrong line of work.... But that's just me.
DeleteAside: For a twenty year old, Swenson has done nothing but coast since he has been here. I wouldn't even dress him the way he has played. - NO goals? To give him all the ice time he has been given with the absolute lack of production... for a TWENTY year old that offers NOTHING else... is absurd - To sit him out to "punish" him is fine. But... IF my name started with "Drake" and ended with "howsky," and I benched my best player Sheen, AND a decent defenceman named Khenkel and announced that they were ill when they were not, I would KNOW that I don't have a CLUE what I am doing.... IF they weren't actually ill, that is.
Del Ushional
I don't know what makes me laugh more. Your names, your posts (well done!), or the fact that this club continues to lie to the fans over and over again. They used "sick" with Lukowich. Couldn't they be more creative this time?
ReplyDelete-cc