Hurricanes Fall 6-2 to Blazers in Kamloops
Kamloops, BC- The Lethbridge Hurricanes had their two-game winning streak end on Saturday with a 6-2 loss to the Kamloops Blazers at the Sandman Centre.
Lethbridge entered after back-to-back victories for the first time this season after a 5-4 overtime win in Kelowna on Friday as they improved to 4-2-0-0 in their previous six contests. Leif Oaten made his first start for the Hurricanes after returning from the Under-17 World Challenge helping Canada Red earn a Gold medal. The Blazers had a great start to the game as they came out firing looking for an opening goal and Kayd Ruedig ripped home his eighth goal of the season – and third in two games – to give Kamloops a 1-0 lead at the 9:14 mark; Isa Guram and Jacob Dumansky earned the assists on the goal. Lethbridge tied the game just over three-minutes later when Logan Wormald buried a power play goal for his 13th of the season – and 98th career goal – to tie the game 1-1; Owen Berge picked up the only assist on the goal. Kamloops quickly responded with a power play goal of their own as the WHL leading scorer JP Hurlbert scored his 14th goal of the year to give the Blazers a 2-1 advantage after twenty minutes of play. The Hurricanes were outshot 13-6 in the opening period.
The ‘Canes had an early chance in the second to tie the game when Berge was sprung on a partial breakaway by Enzo DiDomenicantonio, but the veteran forward couldn’t slip it home to tie the game. Despite the early chance for the Hurricanes, the Blazers kept their foot on the gas to open the second period and added to their lead just 4:15 into the period when Nathan Behm went coast-to-coast before firing a cross-ice pass to Tommy Lafreniere and the Oilers prospect made no mistake potting his 13th goal of the year to make it a 3-1 game; Kaeden Tate who made his first ever WHL start for the Blazers picked up an assist on the goal. Kamloops made it a three-goal lead at the 11:15 mark when Jordan Keller scored his 14th goal on a two-on-one to give the Blazers a 4-1 lead; Cooper Moore and Owen Cooper earned the helpers.
In the third period, the Blazers struck in the opening minute as they capitalized after a Hurricanes turnover in the defensive end when Ryan Michael had a point shot redirected home by Josh Evaschesen to make it a 5-1 contest just 28-seconds into the third period; Ty Bonkowski earned the second assist. Lethbridge pulled back to within three when Nathan Maloney wired home a one-timer past Tate for his second goal of the season on a delayed penalty with 4:52 remaining in regulation; Kade Duell and Matteo Fabrizi picked up the assists on the goal. The ‘Canes received a power play late in the game and pulled the goaltender for a six-on-four attack, but Kamloops found an empty-net goal when Lafreniere for his second of the night to make it a 6-2 final. Shots in the third favoured the Blazers 13-9.
The Hurricanes were outshot 37-24 in the game by the Blazers. Lethbridge went 1/3 on the power play while Kamloops was 1/2 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Blazers – #16 Tommy Lafreniere (2 goals)
2) Blazers – #23 Josh Evaschesen (1 goal)
3) Blazers – #1 Kaeden Tate (22 saves, 1 assist)
The loss for the Hurricanes ended a two-game losing streak as their record fell to 2-2-0-0 through the first four games of their current season-long seven-game road trip while falling to 4-3-0-0 in their last seven games. Lethbridge’s overall record fell to 7-15-0-1 on the season while their road record fell to 4-8-0-0.
The Hurricanes visit the Kamloops Blazers at 7:00pm MT on Saturday before visiting the Victoria Royals at 8:00pm MT on Tuesday. Lethbridge returns to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Friday, November 29th when they welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors at 7:00pm. 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.
