GAME DAY: Hurricanes Visit Warriors in Potential Playoff Preview
Regina, SK – The Lethbridge Hurricanes continue a two-game road trip tonight at 6:00pm MT when they visit the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The Hurricanes (30-19-3-3) had their four-game point streak end on Monday with a 4-2 loss to the Regina Pats at the Brandt Centre. Jett Jones and Brayden Edwards scored in the defeat while Harrison Meneghin made 30-saves in the loss. Lethbridge enters tonight with a 3-1-0-1 record in their last five games and are 12-11-2-0 on the road. The ‘Canes enter sitting three points back of the Warriors for fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Warriors (33-19-0-3) enter on a three-game losing streak after suffering a 5-2 loss in Prince Albert to the Raiders on Saturday night. Brayden Yager and Josh Hoekstra scored in the setback while Jackson Unger made 18-saves in the loss. Moose Jaw has been outscored 20-7 in their three-game losing streak. The Warriors have posted a 17-9-0-1 record at home this season.
Tonight will be the final of four meetings on the regular season between the Hurricanes and Warriors; Lethbridge has posted a 1-2-0-0 record against Moose Jaw this year having won the last meeting on February 1st at the ENMAX Centre. 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: 2023-02-21 – LET at MJ
VS. WARRIORS: Tonight will be the final of four meetings on the regular season between the Hurricanes and Warriors. The ‘Canes have posted a 1-2-0-0 record against the Warriors so far this year after posting a record of 4-2-0-0 in six contests against Moose Jaw, including winning the final four meetings. Lethbridge has posted an all-time record of 85-77-5-1 with six ties against Moose Jaw.
2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON SERIES:
October 15th/2022 – at Moose Jaw (4-3 MJ)
January 4th/2023 – at Lethbridge (5-3 MJ)
February 1st/2023 – at Lethbridge (4-1 LET)
February 21st/2023 – at Moose Jaw
2021-2022 REGULAR SEASON SERIES:
November 5th/2021 – at Lethbridge (4-1 MJ)
November 14th/2021 – at Moose Jaw (3-2 MJ)
February 9th/2022 – at Moose Jaw (2-1 LET)
February 15th/2022 – at Lethbridge (1-0 SO LET)
March 12th/2022 – at Moose Jaw (5-2 LET)
April 15th/2022 – at Lethbridge (5-4 OT LET)
2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON STATS LEADERS:
Goals (20) – Logan Wormald
Assists (28) – Cole Shepard
Points (47) – Cole Shepard
PIMS (75) – Joe Arntsen
Plus/Minus (+14) – Chase Pauls
Wins (19) – Harrison Meneghin
Shutouts (2) – Bryan Thomson
Save % (.944) – Bryan Thomson
Goals Against Average (1.75) – Bryan Thomson
WHO’S HOT:
– Brayden Edwards has points in 3 straight games (2g-1a); 4 of 5 games (2g-2a); 5 of 7 games (2g-3a)
– Logan Wormald has points in 3 straight games (1g-2a); 5 of 7 games (2g-3a); 12 of 23 games (9g-6a)
– Miguel Marques has points in 2 straight games (2a)
– Cole Shepard has points in 5 of 6 games (2g-4a); 9 of 14 games (6g-7a); 34 of 53 games (19g-28a)
– Joe Arntsen has points in 5 of 6 games (1g-5a); 8 of 10 games (2g-8a); 10 of 14 games (3g-9a)
– Jett Jones has points in 4 of 5 games (2g-3a); 6 of 11 games (3g-6a); 27 of 43 games (15g-24a)
– Logan McCutcheon has points in 3 of 4 games (4a); 4 of 6 games (1g-4a); 5 of 8 games (1g-5a)
– Blake Swetlikoff has points in 6 of 10 games (4g-5a); 15 of 23 games (9g-14a)
– Nolan Bentham has points in 4 of 9 games (1g-4a); 5 of 11 games (1g-5a)
– Tyson Laventure has points in 4 of 8 games (3g-1a); 6 of 12 games (4g-3a); 17 of 27 games (15g-11a)
– Trae Wilke has points in 3 of 8 games (1g-2a); 4 of 10 games (1g-3a)
REGULAR SEASON MILESTONE WATCH:
– Chase Pauls is 3 games away from 150 career games
– Chase Pauls is 7 points away from 50 career points
– Joe Arntsen is 11 games away from 200 career games
– Anton Astashevich is 3 games away from 100 career games
– Logan Wormald is 22 points away from 100 career points
– Blake Swetlikoff is 4 games away from 150 career games
– Cole Shepard is 4 points away from 100 career points
– Tyson Laventure is 10 points away from 100 career points
NEWS & NOTES:
Thru 55: The Hurricanes enter tonight with a record of 30-19-3-3 (66 points) on the season after 55 games. The ‘Canes are 18-8-1-2 at home while posting a record of 12-11-2-1 on the road. In 2021-2022, Lethbridge had gone 24-27-2-2 after 55 contests. Lethbridge 6-2-3-1 in January and are 4-3-0-1 in February.
30+ Wins: Lethbridge earned their 30th victory of the season on Friday, February 17th against the Brandon Wheat Kings marking the seventh consecutive season (not including the shortened 2021 season) that the ‘Canes have record 30-or-more victories in a year. The seven straight years in the longest stretch in Hurricanes history with 30+ wins – previous long was five years from 1989-90 to 1993-94.
20-Goal Guy: Logan Wormald became the first Hurricane to reach the 20-goal mark this season after scoring his 20th goal of the season on Wednesday against the Calgary Hitmen. It is the first time in Wormald’s career he has reached the 20-goal plateau. Cole Shepard and Jett Jones both have 19 goals while Tyson Laventure has 18 goals on the season. Last year, the ‘Canes only had three 20+ goal getters.
Strong PK: Entering tonight, the Hurricanes have allowed just nine power play goals against in their last 23 games having killed 71-of-80 penalties taken in that span for a kill rate of 88.8%. The ‘Canes have not allowed a power play goal against in three of five games and 15 of their last 23 outings. Lethbridge sits seventh in the WHL in penalty kill percentage this season while holding the best home PK in the league.
Streakin’: The Hurricanes enter play tonight having posted a 9-4-3-2 record in their last 18 games. Lethbridge has posted a 25-11-3-3 record in their last 43 games – 40-win pace. Lethbridge has gone
16-5-1-2 in their last 24 games on home ice and 9-6-2-1 in their last 18 games away from home.
Back-to-Back: Hurricanes netminder Bryan Thomson recorded shutouts in back-to-back starts on February 10th against Medicine Hat and February 15th against Calgary. He became the first ‘Canes goaltender since Stuart Skinner in January of 2016 to record back-to-back shutouts. Thomson had posted 7-1-1-0 record in his last nine starts with those two shutouts. He has a 1.75 GAA and a .943 SV% this season. Thomson was named the WHL Goaltender of the Week for the week ending February 19th.
Rookie Tendy: Hurricanes netminder Harrison Meneghin enters tonight with a 19-11-2-2 record, sitting one win shy of becoming the 14th goalie in ‘Canes history to reach 20-wins in a season – he would become just the fourth rookie goaltender to reach that mark joining Logan Koopmans, Juha Metsola and Carl Tetachuk who previously accomplished the feat. Meneghin enters tonight 17-8-2-2 record in his last 29 starts.
Faceoff King: Jett Jones enters tonight as the WHL leader in faceoffs taken this season with 1,357 draws taken, averaging 24.7 draws per game. Jones has won 20+ faceoffs in a game four times this season, becoming the first Hurricanes centre-man to accomplish that feat on four occasions since the WHL began tracking faceoffs in 2017, surpassing Jake Leschyshyn and Giorgio Estephan – who both did it twice.
