Hall’s Historic Night Helps Hurricanes Over Tigers
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes, on the back of a five-goal effort by Justin Hall, ended a three-game homestand on Friday with a convincing 9-2 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers at the ENMAX Centre.
It was a spirited start to the contest for the Hurricanes who entered on a three-game home losing streak after falling 8-1 on Friday to the Calgary Hitmen. The ‘Canes had a great start hitting two posts in the opening five minutes as both Brayden Edwards and Logan Wormald hit iron to keep the game scoreless. Lethbridge opened the scoring when Tyson Laventure finished a give-and-go with Ty Nash to make it 1-0 at the 13:31 mark. The ‘Canes doubled their lead when Hall knocked a puck out of the air on a power play to make it 2-0 before adding a second goal on a one-on-one rush after an alley-oop pass from Yegor Klavdiev to make it 3-0 after twenty minutes of play. The Hurricanes outshot the Tigers 17-4 in the first period.
Hall continued to roll in the second period completing his fourth hat-trick of the season just 1:22 into the middle frame to make it 4-0; Logan McCutcheon and Klavdiev earned the assists on the goal. With his fourth hat-trick, Hall became the first Hurricane to score four hat-tricks in a single season since Dylan Cozens. Hall wasn’t finished there as just over eight-minutes later, the ‘Canes leading scorer added a fourth on a deflection of an Alex Thacker point shot to make it a 5-0 lead. Chase Pauls made it 6-0 as he ripped home his first goal of the season, ending a 70-game goal drought on an unassisted marker. The Hurricanes continued to pour it on as Hall was sprung on a breakaway and made no mistake scoring his fifth goal of the game – and 28th goal of the season – to make it 7-0. Hall became the first Hurricane to score five goals in a single game since Jaimen Yakubowski netted five in a game in 2012 against the Tigers. Before the period was out, the Tigers added a pair of goals as Tomas Mrsic scored his first WHL goal before a power play strike by Bogdans Hodass make it 7-2. Lethbridge added one more the middle frame with under a minute left when Nash fired home his 15th goal of the season to make it a big 8-2 lead after two periods of play.
In the third period, Jared Picklyk entered the game to steer things home and would stop all five shots he saw in the frame including a breakaway save on former Hurricane Logan Barlage, who made his return to the ENMAX Centre, to keep the lead in tact for the ‘Canes. Lethbridge added one more goal for good measure as Wormald ended a 12-game goal drought with his ninth of the season with 8:33 remaining in the game to make it 9-2; Thacker and Hall earned the assists on the goal, completing a six-point effort for Hall – matching a career-high in points.
The nine goal output for the Hurricanes matched a season-high for goals in a single game marking the nine scored on opening night against the Hitmen. The nine goals also matched the number of goals the Hurricanes had scored in the previous six games.
Lethbridge outshot Medicine Hat 42-16 in the game. The ‘Canes went 3/4 with the power play while the Tigers were 1/5 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #9 Justin Hall (5 goals, 1 assist)
2) ‘Canes – #28 Tyson Laventure (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) ‘Canes – #21 Ty Nash (1 goal, 1 assist)
The victory for the Hurricanes ended a two-game losing streak and a three-game home losing streak while improving their record to a perfect 6-0-0-0 against the Tigers this season. Lethbridge improved their home record to 13-10-2-1 on the season and their overall record to 21-24-2-1 on the campaign.
The Hurricanes embark on a seven-game, 13-day road trip due to the Tim Horton’s Brier. The ‘Canes begin their trip in Winnipeg against the ICE on Wednesday at 6:00pm MT.
The Hurricanes will return to the ENMAX Centre on March 16th when the welcome the Regina Pats at 7:00pm. Tickets can be purchased online at www.lethbridgehurricanes.com or in person at the ENMAX Centre Ticket Centre.
