Hurricanes Fall 5-3 to Hitmen on Friday
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes played their final home game of the 2024 ENMAX Pre-Season on Friday as they dropped a 5-3 decision to the Calgary Hitmen at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
The Hurricanes and Hitmen both entered the game with a 1-1-0-0 record in the exhibition schedule. Calgary jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Lethbridge product Rylan Ng scored his first goal of the pre-season just 4:12 into the game. The ‘Canes answered to tie the game with a power play goal by Hayden Pakkala just over four minutes later when the overager banged home a rebound for his first goal; Kooper Gizowski and Tristen Doyle earned the assists on the goal. Lethbridge pulled in front late in the period when Gizowski slammed home a loose puck for his first goal after Luke Cozens was stopped on a wraparound; Pakkala picked up the second assist on the go-ahead goal. The Hurricanes outshot the Hitmen 10-6 in the opening frame and held a 2-1 lead.
Early in the second period, Calgary tied the game when Sawyer Mayes fooled Koen Cleaver with a long-range wrist shot that found the net making it a 2-2 game; Hunter Aura picked up the lone helper on the goal. The Hitmen struck again less than four-minutes later when Ben Kindel capitalized on a turnover behind the net as he buried his second goal of the pre-season finishing a centering pass from Chase Valliant to put Calgary ahead 3-2. Before the period was out, the Hurricanes pulled even while shorthanded as overage defenceman Logan McCutcheon intercepted a pass before pulling away on a breakaway; he made no mistake snapping home a shot low blocker on Ethan Buenaventura to tie the game 3-3 on the unassisted goal. Calgary held the edge in shots 12-9 in the period as the game was tied after forty minutes of play.
Calgary broke the tie at the 7:09 mark of the third period when Simon Bowland snapped home a puck past Cleaver after a defensive zone turnover by a Hurricane; Aura earned the lone assist on the goal that put the Hitmen in front 4-3. The Hurricanes pressed for an equalizer in the middle part of the period with their best chance coming on a doorstep look for Gavin Lesiuk, who was stopped on a breakaway in the second period, was once again robbed by Buenaventura who reached to his right to make a massive blocker save. The Hitmen added to their lead with 4:27 remaining in the game when Ng potted his second goal of the game to put the game out of reach as Calgary skated to the 5-3 victory.
The Hurricanes were outshot 10-5 in the third period and 28-24 in the game. Lethbridge went 1/2 on the power play while going 3/3 on the penalty kill.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Hitmen – #39 Rylan Ng (2 goals)
2) ‘Canes – #22 Hayden Pakkala (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) ‘Canes – #15 Kooper Gizowski (1 goal, 1 assist)
The loss for the Hurricanes dropped their pre-season record to 1-2-0-0. Lethbridge finished their home portion of the schedule 1-1-0-0.
Lethbridge will complete the 2024 ENMAX Pre-Season schedule on Sunday afternoon at 4:00pm when they travel to face the Medicine Hat Tigers at Co-op Place. The ‘Canes will open the 2024-2025 regular season with the Dairy Queen Home Opener on Friday, September 20th when they welcome the Edmonton Oil Kings to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
Tickets for the Dairy Queen Home Opener can be purchased by visiting the Yates Memorial Theatre or VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
Season Tickets for the 2024-2025 Hurricanes regular season are still available, including the new premium season ticket. Season Tickets can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
