GAME DAY: Hurricanes Visit Americans in First Trip to US in Four Years
Kennewick, WA – The Lethbridge Hurricanes continue a six-game road trip tonight as they visit the Tri-City Americans at 8:00pm MT at the Toyota Center.
The Hurricanes (14-10-0-1) enter on a two-game winning streak after earning a pair of wins over the Brandon Wheat Kings, most recently a 6-4 victory on Saturday. Tyson Laventure scored his first WHL hat-trick in the win while Noah Chadwick, Tyson Zimmer and Brayden Edwards added the others. The ‘Canes are currently 3-1-0-0 in the first four games of their current trip while entering with a 7-6-0-0 record away from home this year. Lethbridge is 9-2-0-1 in their last 12 games.
The Americans (10-13-0-0) enter on a two-game winning streak after earning a 4-3 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Sunday. Ethan Ernst, Adam Mechura, Jordan Gavin and Lukas Dragicevic scored in the victory while goaltender Nick Avakyan made 42-saves in the contest. Tri-City enters 6-4-0-0 at home this season and are 3-2-0-0 in their last five games.
Tonight will be the lone meeting of the season between the Hurricanes and Americans and the first meeting since November of 2019. Tonight’s game can be watched at Browns Socialhouse in Lethbridge, on WHL Live or heard on 106.7 ROCK.
DOWNLOAD GAME NOTES/STATS HERE: 2022-12-02 – LET at TC
VS. AMERICANS: Tonight will be the only meeting of the season between the Hurricanes and Americans. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since November 9th, 2019 while the first visit for the ‘Canes to Toyota Center since an 8-7 shootout loss on December 8th, 2018. The Hurricanes have posted an all-time record of 19-23-1-1 with two ties against the Americans franchise, while going 17-23-1-1 with two ties since their relocation to Tri-City. Lethbridge will search for this first win in Tri-City in 23 years; the last time the Hurricanes won in Kennewick was December 11th/1999 when Lethbridge earned a 5-4 victory. The ‘Canes have gone 0-6-1-1 with two ties in this last 10 visits to the Tri-Cities while going just 1-9-1-1 in the last 12 meetings overall dating back to the 2008-2009 season.
2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON SERIES
December 2nd/2022 – at TC
2019-2020 REGULAR SEASON SERIES:
November 9th/2019 – at LET (3-2 TC)
2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON STATS LEADERS:
Goals (10) – Jett Jones
Assists (12) – Logan McCutcheon & Tyson Zimmer
Points (20) – Jett Jones
PIMS (34) – Joe Arntsen
Plus/Minus (+8) – Noah Chadwick
Wins (10) – Harrison Meneghin
Shutouts (0) – N/A
Save % (.921) – Harrison Meneghin
Goals Against Average (2.36) – Harrison Meneghin
WHO’S HOT:
– Tyson Zimmer has points in 6 straight games (4g-5a); 7 of 9 games (6g-7a); 13 of 24 games (6g-12a)
– Jett Jones has points in 3 straight games (2g-4a); 9 of 13 games (6g-8a); 14 of 24 games (10g-10a)
– Tyson Laventure has points in 3 straight games (5g-2a); 9 of 13 games (8g-7a)
– Logan McCutcheon has points in 2 straight games (1g-4a); 5 of 13 games (1g-7a)
– Noah Chadwick has points in 2 straight games (1g-2a)
– Logan Wormald has points in 8 of 11 games (5g-6a); 9 of 13 games (5g-7a); 12 of 20 games (6g-9a)
– Cole Shepard has points in 4 of 8 games (1g-4a); 6 of 11 games (2g-7a); 13 of 24 games (8g-10a)
– Anton Astashevich has points in 2 of 3 games (2a)
– Joe Arntsen has points in 2 of 4 games (2a); 8 of 18 games (5g-3a)
– Brayden Edwards has points in 2 of 4 games (1g-1a)
– Tristan Zandee has points in 3 of 6 games (1g-2a); 4 of 9 games (1g-3a)
– Nolan Bentham has points in 3 of 5 games (1g-2a); 4 of 9 games (3g-2a)
REGULAR SEASON MILESTONE WATCH:
– Logan McCutcheon is 4 assists away from 50 career assists
– Nolan Bentham is 15 games away from 150 career games
– Joe Arntsen is 8 assists away from 50 career assists
– Jett Jones is 20 games away from 200 career games
– Jett Jones is 9 points away from 100 career points
– Logan Wormald is 20 games away from 100 career games
– Brayden Edwards is 27 games away from 100 career games
– Tyson Zimmer is 7 points away from 50 career points
– Hayden Smith is 2 games away from 100 career games
– Bryan Thomson is 5 games away from 100 career games
– Bryan Thomson is 4 wins away from 50 career wins
NEWS & NOTES:
Thru 25: The Hurricanes enter tonight with a record of 14-10-0-1 (29 points) on the season after 25 games. The ‘Canes are 7-4-0-1 at home while posting a record of 7-6-0-0 on the road. In 2021-2022, Lethbridge had gone 12-11-1-1 after 25 contests. Lethbridge went 5-6-0-0 in October while going 8-2-0-1 in November.
250 Wins: Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio earned his 250th career coaching victory with the ‘Canes on November 26th with a 6-4 win in Brandon. He became the 40th coach in WHL history to reach the 250-win plateau and is one of eight active WHL head coaches to reach the 250-victory mark.
Streakin’: The Hurricanes enter play tonight having posted a 9-2-0-1 record in their last 12 games after earning a 6-4 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings last Saturday. In their previous ten games, the ‘Canes had posted a record of 3-7-0-0. Lethbridge is currently 3-1-0-0 on a six-game road trip.
Been A While: The ‘Canes, who continue a six-game road trip tonight, will make their first trip south of the border since the 2018-2019 season. The last time Lethbridge visited Tri-City was December 8th, 2018 – a span of 1,455 days between visits. By the time the ‘Canes return home from their six-game trip, they’ll have traveled roughly 4,200 kilometres in two weeks.
Rookie Tendy: Hurricanes netminder Harrison Meneghin who was named the WHL Goaltender of the Week for his efforts the week of November 12th has been outstanding this season posting a record of 10-3-0-1 record with a 2.36 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. Meneghin has won his last six starts posting a 1.98 GAA and a sparkling .938 SV%. He is 8-0-0-1 in his last nine starts.
Tight Games: Entering tonight, the Hurricanes have played to a one-goal margin in 15 of their last 18 games. The ‘Canes have gone 9-5-0-1 in those 15 one-goal games and have posted a 10-5-0-1 record in one-goal games this season. Lethbridge went 16-6-4-1 in single goal games last year.
Faceoff King: Jett Jones enters tonight as the WHL leader in faceoffs taken this season with 630 draws taken. The Olds, AB, product has won 20+ faceoffs in a game three times this season, becoming the first Hurricanes centre-man to accomplish that feat on three occasions since the WHL began tracking faceoffs in 2017, surpassing Jake Leschyshyn and Giorgio Estephan – who both did it twice.
World U17: Miguel Marques and Tristen Doyle had a good showing at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Marques finished with six points (1g-5a) in six games while Doyle had one goal in six games, both for Canada-White. Hurricanes assistant coach Ryan Aasman won a silver medal with Canada-Red.
Coach Canada: Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio has been named as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the upcoming 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Halifax and Moncton. Kisio served as the assistant coach for the National Junior Team in 2019. He has coached for Canada multiple times at the U17, U18 and U20 levels, highlighted by a gold medal as head coach at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in 2018.
