Hurricanes Open Homestand with 6-3 Win Over Warriors
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a two-game losing streak on Friday with a 6-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
The Hurricanes opened a four-game homestand after completing a season-long seven-game road trip with a 3-4-0-0 record; the ‘Canes entered 3-2-0-1 in their previous six games on home ice as they played at home for the first time in three weeks. It was a sloppy start to the game between the ‘Canes and Warriors as Moose Jaw jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at the 9:36 mark as Ethan Semeniuk buried his seventh goal of the season; Pavel McKenzie and Landen McFadden picked up the assists on the goal. Just over three minutes later, the Hurricanes tied the game at 1-1 with a goal off the rush as Kade Duell finished a three-way passing play to even the score; Hudson Kibblewhite and Luke Cozens earned the assists on the goal – for Duell, it was his sixth goal of the season. The game was tied after one period as the Warriors outshot the Hurricanes 11-8 in the opening period.
It was a wild second period which saw the teams combined for six goals with the Hurricanes scoring four of the six in the frame. The ‘Canes pulled ahead just 3:42 into the middle period when Tyden Lafournaise knocked down a waist height pass before burying his third goal of the season beating Kyle Jones low glove side to make it 2-1; Enzo DiDomenicantonio and Jake Evans picked up the helpers on the goal. Lethbridge stretched their lead to two when Duel finished his second goal of the game lifting a shot high under the crossbar to end a tic-tac-toe passing play; Kibblewhite and Cozens were credited with the assists. Koen Cleaver made a remarkable pad save on a redirected point shot by the Warriors as they pushed to dig into the Hurricanes lead. Just seconds after the Cleaver save, Moose Jaw pulled back to within a goal when Dominik Pavlek ripped a shot home to make it 3-2 just 2:05 after the Duell goal. The trio of Kibblewhite, Duell and Cozens line continued their strong game restoring the two-goal lead at the 9:33 mark as Kibblewhite jammed home a loose puck at the side of the net to make it 4-2 Hurricanes. The teams traded goals in the back-half of the period as Kash Andresen tipped home a power play goal to make it 4-3 before Easton Daneault jammed home a puck at the side of the net at 14:21 to give the ‘Canes a 5-3 advantage after forty minutes of play. Moose Jaw held the edge in shots 15-14 in the second period as the ‘Canes led 5-3 after forty minutes of play.
In the third period, the Warriors came close to cutting the Hurricanes lead back to one when McKenzie ripped a shot off the right wing, but Cleaver made a great glove save to keep it 5-3. The ‘Canes added to their lead with a power play goal at the 15:42 mark when Cozens tapped home his team-leading 15th goal of the season finishing a centering pass from Logan Wormald to make it a 6-3 game; Nathan Maloney picked up the second assist on the goal. Lethbridge held off a late push by Moose Jaw to earn their ninth victory of the season defeating the Warriors 6-3. Lethbridge outshot Moose Jaw 9-5 in the third period.
The Hurricanes and Warriors each registered 31 shots on goal in the contest. Lethbridge went 1/2 on the power play while Moose Jaw was 2/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #9 Kade Duell (2 goals, 1 assist)
2) ‘Canes – #22 Hudson Kibblewhite (1 goal, 2 assists)
3) ‘Canes – #11 Luke Cozens (1 goal, 3 assists)
The win for the Hurricanes ends a two-game losing streak as they finish the month of November with a winning record ending the month with a 6-5-0-0 record in 11-games. Lethbridge improved to 9-17-0-1 on the season while their home record lifted to 4-7-0-1. The ‘Canes improved to 4-2-0-1 in their last seven games at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
The ‘Canes will continue their four-game homestand on Wednesday, December 3rd when they welcome the Red Deer Rebels at 7:00pm before hosting the Wenatchee Wild on Friday at 7:00pm for the 29th annual Canadian Tire Teddy & Toque Toss at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. 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.
