Hurricanes Edge Wheat Kings 2-1
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes played their final home game for two and a half weeks on Tuesday as they earned a 2-1 victory against the Brandon Wheat Kings at the ENMAX Centre.
It was an even first period that saw the shots even at 11-11 after twenty minutes of play. The Hurricanes opened the scoring at the 17:19 mark as Jadon Joseph extended his point scoring streak to seven straight games as he netted his fifth goal of the season on the power play; Igor Merezhko and Logan Barlage picked up the helpers. The Wheat Kings evened the score as Stelio Mattheos scored his 12th of the season with 59 seconds left in the period on a power play as well as it was 1-1 after twenty minutes of play.
The Wheat Kings controlled the first half of the second period outshooting the Hurricanes 7-1 in the first nine minutes while failing to capitalize with a power play. The ‘Canes took over in the second half outshooting Brandon 12-7 in the final ten minutes as they were also aided by power plays. Lethbridge pulled ahead with a power play goal by Taylor Ross as the 18:05 mark as he jammed home his ninth goal of the season to make it 2-1 for the Hurricanes after forty minutes of play; Calen Addison and Dylan Cozens earned the assists on the Ross goal.
Brandon pushed hard in the third period as they peppered Carl Tetachuk, who made his first WHL start in the game, but the rookie goaltender stopped all 16 third period shots guiding the Hurricanes to the 2-1 final. Hurricanes had just three shots in the final period.
Final shots in the game favoured the Wheat Kings 35-27 in the game. The ‘Canes went 2/4 on the power play while Brandon was 1/4 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #35 Carl Tetachuk (34 saves, first WHL win)
2) ‘Canes – #8 Taylor Ross (1 goal, GWG)
3) Wheat Kings – #12 Stelio Mattheos (1 goal)
The win for the Hurricanes was their second straight victory as they improve to 6-4-1-2 on the season and have now collected points in five straight games and seven of their last eight games.
The Hurricanes will begin a three-game road stretch on Friday when they travel to face the Calgary Hitmen at Scotiabank Saddledome. The ‘Canes will be back at the ENMAX Centre on Friday, November 9th when they welcome the Hitmen at 7:00pm. Tickets are available online, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or by visiting the ENMAX Centre and Yates Ticket Centre’s.
