Hurricanes Shutout Chiefs 3-0 on Saturday
Spokane, WA – The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a six-game road trip on Saturday with a 3-0 shutout victory in Spokane against the Chiefs at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
It was the Chiefs Teddy Bear Toss game in front of a near capacity crowd and Spokane had a great start peppering Harrison Meneghin – who made his fourth straight start for the ‘Canes – but they were unable to net the Teddy goal. The Chiefs best chance came on an early three-on-one but Meneghin stretched across to rob the Spokane forward to keep the game scoreless. It was a special teams first period as the Chiefs had three opportunities with the extra man going scoreless while the ‘Canes had two but couldn’t cash. Lethbridge was outshot by Spokane 11-7 in the first period.
The Hurricanes had just over a minute remaining on a power play to start the second period and appeared to have scored when Logan Wormald wired one off the cross bar and in; it was ruled a goal on the ice, but after a conference with the on-ice officials, the goal was overturned as the game remained scoreless. Spokane had a great chance to open the scoring when Chase Bertholet was sprung on a breakaway; the forward made a move to the back-hand and hit the goal post but the near capacity crowd threw all the bears on the ice resulting in the Teddy Bear Toss *no* Goal causing a stoppage for the cleanup just 3:36 into the middle frame. Moments after the bears were cleaned up, the ‘Canes opened the scoring when Noah Chadwick pinched from the left point and ripped home his third goal of the season off the post and in to make it 1-0; Jett Jones and Tyson Zimmer earned the assists on the goal. The Hurricanes outshot the Chiefs 13-8 in the second period and led 1-0 after forty minutes.
In the third period, the Hurricanes and Chiefs traded chances in the early part of the third period. Lethbridge would add to their lead with a power play goal with just under six-minutes left in the game when Logan Wormald ripped home his eighth goal of the season to make it 2-0; Tyson Laventure and Logan McCutcheon earned the helpers. Spokane called their timeout and pulled the goaltender but Brayden Edwards netted an empty-net goal to round a 3-0 win as Meneghin turned aside all 36-shots he faced in the game for his first WHL shutout.
Lethbridge was outshot 36-30 in the game by Spokane. The Hurricanes went 1/5 on the power play while the Chiefs were 0/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #35 Harrison Meneghin (36-save shutout)
2) Chiefs – #33 Cooper Michaluk (32-saves)
3) ‘Canes – #8 Noah Chadwick (1 goal)
The win for the Hurricanes ended their six-game road trip with a 4-2-0-0 record while earning the split in a two-game trip to Washington State. Lethbridge improved to 10-3-0-1 in their last 14 games while improving their overall record to 15-11-0-1 on the season. The victory was the Hurricanes first win against Spokane dating back to October of 2016 as it ended a three-game losing streak to the Chiefs.
The Hurricanes will return to the ENMAX Centre on Tuesday, December 6th when they host the Swift Current Broncos before welcoming the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Canadian Tire Toque & Teddy Toss on Friday at 7:00pm. Individual game tickets can be purchased in person at the ENMAX Centre Ticket Centre, the Yates Memorial Theatre Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) and online at www.lethbridgehurricanes.com.
