Hurricanes Blanked 5-0 by Rebels on Saturday
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes suffered a disappointing 5-0 shutout loss to the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
The Hurricanes entered winless through their first four home games of the season having posted an 0-4-0-0 record, but it didn’t get better for Lethbridge on Saturday. Red Deer, who entered with a 1-6-0-0 record on the season, had a great first period. The Rebels pressed early and jumped opened the scoring at the 9:59 mark when Samuel Drancak banged home a loose puck at the side of the net slipping a puck through the legs of Leif Oaten to make it 1-0; Talon Brigley earned the lone assist on the goal. Late in the opening period, the Rebels were penalized resulting in a Hurricanes power play, but they failed to capitalize as Red Deer held a one-goal lead after twenty minutes. Red Deer outshot Lethbridge 11-4 in the first period.
Lethbridge had a great scoring chance early in the second period on a pair of chances in succession by Luke Cozens and Logan Wormald, but Rebels netminder Chase Wutzke turned aside both to keep it a one-goal game. Red Deer doubled their lead at the 10:40 mark when Landon MaSwain wired home his first ever goal in the WHL to five the Rebels a 2-0 lead; Beckett Hamilton picked up the assist on the goal. The Rebels continued to press and carry the play in the middle frame but couldn’t solve Oaten to add to their lead as Red Deer led 2-0 after two periods. Lethbridge was outshot 13-8 in the middle frame.
In the third period, the Rebels kept their foot on the gas outshooting the Hurricanes 12-7. Red Deer added to their lead at the 7:43 mark when Brigley buried his third goal of the season with a shot from the right-wing to make it 3-0 Rebels; Jaxon Fuder registered the lone helper on the goal. Just under four-minutes later, the Hurricanes allowed another goal when Arjun Bawa found the net for his first of the season – Noah Milford and Keith McInnis were credited with the assists. Before the end of the game, Red Deer added another goal when Milford scored his second of the season on a power play redirecting a Matus Lisy point shot by Oaten to make it a 5-0 final.
The Hurricanes were outshot 36-19 in the game by the Rebels. Lethbridge went 0/3 on the power play while Red Deer was 1/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Rebels – #26 Talon Brigley (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) Rebels – #24 Landon MacSwain (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) Rebels – #33 Chase Wutzke (19-save shutout)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their fifth-straight home-ice defeat to start the season while it was their second-straight defeat overall. Lethbridge fell to 2-7-0-0 thru their first nine games of the regular season while their record against Red Deer slipped to 1-2-0-0 on the year.
The Hurricanes will welcome the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday at 6:00pm at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena before visiting the Edmonton Oil Kings on Monday afternoon at 12:00pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
