Hurricanes Drop 5-1 Decision to Raiders
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes suffered their first loss of the new year against the Prince Albert Raiders with 5-1 loss at the ENMAX Centre.
Tonight’s match up was a meeting of former players as Trevor Thurston returned to the ENMAX Centre for the first time since being traded to the Raiders in December. Tyson Laventure and Ross Stanley meanwhile played their first game against their former club.
Prince Albert came out strong to start the period in their first game back since the WHL COVID pause. Raiders goaltender Tikhon Chaika didn’t face a shot from Lethbridge until the five-minute mark of the first period. The Raiders strong start was rewarded when Keaton Sorensen opened the scoring at the 14:02 mark to make it 1-0 Raiders. Both sides had even shots on net with 7 a piece to end the first frame.
The Hurricanes had a strong start to the second period when former Raider Laventure scored against his former team, netting his first as a Hurricane to make it a 1-1 score; assists went to Nolan Bentham and Bryan Thomson. The Raiders were quick to respond to Laventure’s goal when Sloan Stanick scored his first of two goals in the game striking at the 14:50 mark to make it 2-1 Prince Albert. The Raiders had a chance on the power play when ‘Canes forward Justin Hall headed to the penalty box for holding, but PA could not capitalize with the extra man. Raiders captain Reece Vitelli beat goaltender Bryan Thomson for his 11th of the season to give the Prince Albert some insurance making it 3-1 for the road side. At the end of the second period the Raiders had outshot the ‘Canes 14-5.
The ‘Canes started the final frame of the night on a power play when Vitelli headed off for a face-off violation. Despite some good chances, the ‘Canes couldn’t solve Chaika who stood tall keeping Lethbridge off the board. Stanick found the back of the net for the second time, putting the Raiders up 4-1. The ‘Canes had a few good chances on a later power play when Landon Kosior headed to the box for boarding but again couldn’t beat the Raiders rookie netminder. With a late third period power play, the ‘Canes pulled goaltender Thomson, but the Raiders added an empty-netter which sealed the deal with a score of 5-1.
The Hurricanes outshot the Raiders in the third period 11-7, but the Raiders held the edge in shots with a total of 28-23. Both teams were not able to capitalize on the man advantage with the ‘Canes going 0/3 and the Raiders going 0/1.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Raiders – #23 Sloan Stanick (2 goals)
2) ‘Canes – #28 Tyson Laventure (1 goal)
3) Raiders – #20 Keaton Sorensen (1 goal, 1 assist)
The loss for the ‘Canes is the first against the Raiders this season as they fall to 1-1-0-0 against Prince Albert. The ‘Canes are now 13-14-2-0 on the season while their home record changes to 9-6-2-0 on the year.
The Hurricanes will now head to Medicine Hat on their first three-in-three weekend of 2022 as they will face the Tigers on Saturday at 7:00pm. The ‘Canes will be back in action at home on Sunday as the welcome the Edmonton Oil Kings at 6:00pm.
- Brynna Doucette
