GAME DAY: Hurricanes Welcome Pats in Final Meeting
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes return home tonight as they welcome the Regina Pats at 7:00pm at a sold out ENMAX Centre.
The Hurricanes (32-23-3-3) enter on a two-game losing streak after suffering a 2-1 loss on Wednesday in Red Deer to the Rebels to close a four-game road trip with a 2-2-0-0 record. Chase Pauls scored the lone goal in the defeat while Bryan Thomson made 34-saves. Lethbridge enters tonight with an 18-9-1-2 record at home this season. The ‘Canes sit fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Pats (31-26-2-1) enter on a two-game losing streak after a 3-2 loss Wednesday at home against the Edmonton Oil Kings. Connor Bedard scored his league-leading 60th goal of the season while Tye Spencer had the other in the loss. Regina is 6-2-0-0 in their last eight games and sit with a 14-13-2-0 record on the road this season. The Pats sit sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
Tonight will be the final of four meetings on the season between the Hurricanes and Pats; Lethbridge has posted a 1-2-0-0 record against Regina as the Pats have won the last two meetings.
DOWNLOAD GAME NOTES/STATS HERE: 2023-03-10 – LET vs REG
VS. PATS: Tonight will be the final of four meetings this season between the Hurricanes and Pats. The Hurricanes are 1-2-0-0 against the Pats so far this season after going 3-2-1-0 against Regina last year. Lethbridge has earned points in 13 of the last 17 meetings against Regina; ‘Canes are 11-4-1-1 in those 17 meetings. The ‘Canes have posted an all-time record of 85-77-4-6 with 3 ties against Regina.
2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON SERIES
October 16th/2022 – at Regina (4-3 SO LET)
February 3rd/2023 – at Lethbridge (3-2 REG)
February 20th/2023 – at Regina (4-2 REG)
March 10th/2023 – at Lethbridge
2021-2022 REGULAR SEASON SERIES:
November 13th/2021 – at Regina (6-1 LET)
November 24th/2021 – at Lethbridge (3-2 OT REG)
February 4th/2022 – at Lethbridge (5-4 LET)
March 5th/2022 – at Regina (5-4 OT LET)
March 11th/2022 – at Regina (4-3 REG)
March 16th/2022 – at Lethbridge (6-4 REG)
2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON STATS LEADERS:
Goals (21) – Logan Wormald
Assists (32) – Cole Shepard
Points (51) – Cole Shepard
PIMS (75) – Joe Arntsen
Plus/Minus (+12) – Chase Pauls
Wins (19) – Harrison Meneghin
Shutouts (3) – Bryan Thomson
Save % (.929) – Bryan Thomson
Goals Against Average (2.30) – Bryan Thomson
WHO’S HOT:
– Joe Arntsen has points in 2 of 3 games (2a); 8 of 12 games (1g-8a); 13 of 20 games (3g-12a)
– Cole Shepard has points in 2 of 4 games (3a); 3 of 6 games (4a); 12 of 20 games (6g-11a)
– Nolan Bentham has points in 2 of 4 games (2a); 3 of 6 games (3a); 7 of 17 games (1g-7a)
– Brayden Edwards has points in 2 of 4 games (2g-1a); 6 of 9 games (4g-3a); 8 of 13 games (4g-5a)
– Logan Wormald has points in 2 of 4 games (1g-1a); 5 of 9 games (2g-3a); 14 of 29 games (10g-7a)
– Tyson Laventure has points in 2 of 4 games (1g-1a); 3 of 6 games (2g-1a); 20 of 33 games (17g-12a)
– Tyson Zimmer has points in 4 of 7 games (3g-1a); 5 of 12 games (5g-2a)
– Logan McCutcheon has points in 2 of 5 games (2a); 4 of 10 games (5a); 6 of 14 games (1g-6a)
– Blake Swetlikoff has points in 2 of 6 games (3g-2a); 8 of 16 games (7g-7a); 17 of 29 games (12g-16a)
– Noah Chadwick has points in 2 of 6 games (1g-2a); 3 of 9 games (1g-3a)
– Anton Astashevich has points in 2 of 6 games (2a); 3 of 9 games (1g-2a)
– Hayden Smith has points in 2 of 6 games (1g-1a)
– Jett Jones has points in 2 of 4 games (2a); 6 of 11 games (2g-5a); 29 of 49 games (15g-26a)
REGULAR SEASON MILESTONE WATCH:
– Chase Pauls is 6 points away from 50 career points
– Nolan Bentham is 10 points away from 50 career points
– Joe Arntsen is 5 games away from 200 career games
– Joe Arntsen is 23 points away from 100 career points
– Logan Wormald is 20 points away from 100 career points
– Tyson Zimmer is 11 games away from 150 career games
– Blake Swetlikoff is 18 points away from 100 career points
– Tyson Laventure is 7 points away from 100 career points
NEWS & NOTES:
Thru 61: The Hurricanes enter tonight with a record of 32-23-3-3 (70 points) on the season after 61 games. The ‘Canes are 18-9-1-2 at home while posting a record of 14-14-2-1 on the road. In 2021-2022, Lethbridge had gone 27-30-2-2 after 61 contests. Lethbridge went 5-5-0-1 in February and are 1-2-0-0 in March.
Magic Number: Entering tonight, the Hurricanes magic number to clinch a WHL post-season berth is just six points. The ‘Canes would need to get to 76-points to clinch a seventh straight playoff spot. Lethbridge currently sits fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, five points back of fourth place.
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 Guys: Logan Wormald and Tyson Laventure have both reached the 20-goal mark for the first time in their careers this season; Wormald enters with a team-high 21 goals on the season. Cole Shepard and Jett Jones both have 19 goals while Tyson Zimmer sits with 16 on the year. Last season, the ‘Canes only had three 20+ goal getters, led by Justin Hall who recorded 34-goals.
Strong PK: Entering tonight, the Hurricanes have allowed just 16 power play goals against in their last 29 games having killed 90-of-106 penalties taken in that span for a kill rate of 84.9%. The ‘Canes have not allowed a power play goal against in 17 of their last 29 outings. Lethbridge sits 9th in the WHL in penalty kill percentage this season while holding the third-best home PK in the league.
Fourth All-Time: Overage netminder Bryan Thomson sits fourth all-time in victories in Hurricanes history with 55 career wins; Thomson surpassed Darcy Austin for sole possession of fourth on February 25th in Calgary against the Hitmen. He is currently one win from tying Ryan Hoople for third all-time with 56 victories. Thomson is also fifth all-time in games played with 111 appearances.
Rookie Tendy: Hurricanes netminder Harrison Meneghin enters tonight with a 19-12-2-2 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 1,461 draws taken, averaging 24.0 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.
