Hurricanes Tame Tigers in Canadian Tire Toque & Teddy Toss
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes extended their winning streak to three-straight games on Friday with a 5-3 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers at the ENMAX Centre in the 26th Annual Canadian Tire Toque & Teddy Toss.
The Hurricanes looked for their first win in a Teddy Toss game since 2019 but it was the Tigers who had a good start to the game outshooting the ‘Canes early. Medicine Hat opened the scoring at the 12:17 mark when Dru Krebs netted his third goal of the season on a back-door feed from Oasiz Wiesblatt to make it 1-0. Just 1:15 later, the Hurricanes tied the game as Logan Wormald scored his 10th goal of the season on a breakaway to send the bears flying – Miguel Marques and Cole Shepard earned the assists on the Teddy Bear Toss goal. The Tigers outshot the Hurricanes 10-7 in the first period.
Early in the second period, the Hurricanes jumped out to a 2-1 lead when Marques scored his third goal of the year redirecting a Joe Arntsen point shot passed Tigers goaltender Evan May just 6:51 into the frame. Lethbridge added to their lead when Tyson Zimmer finished on a two-on-one finishing a pass from Tyson Laventure to make it 3-1; Zimmer extended his point streak to 10-straight contests. Just 19-second after the Hurricanes took a two-goal lead, Medicine Hat answered back as Owen MacNeil beat Harrison Meneghin with a wrist shot to make it 3-2. Before the period was out, the Tigers tied the game when Brayden Boehm scored his 11th goal of the year on an odd-man rush to make it 3-3 after forty minutes of play. Medicine Hat outshot Lethbridge 20-11 in the middle frame.
In the third period, the Hurricanes broke a 3-3 tie at the midway point of the period as Zimmer worked in on the left wing and rifled home his second goal of the night to make it 4-3 – Jett Jones earned the lone assist on the goal – as Zimmer potted his second-straight two-goal game. Medicine Hat continued to press looking for an equalizer, but Meneghin was sharp in the third turning aside all 11 Tigers shots. The Tigers pulled the netminder late in the game and Jones won a board battle behind the Medicine Hat goal and was able to muscle to the from of the net and bang home his team-leading 13th goal of the season to help the Hurricanes to a 5-3 victory.
The Hurricanes were outshot 41-25 in the game by the Tigers. Lethbridge was 0/1 on the power play while Medicine Hat went 0/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #35 Harrison Meneghin (38-saves)
2) ‘Canes – #21 Tyson Zimmer (2 goals)
3) Tigers – #7 Oasiz Wiesblatt (1 assist)
The win for the Hurricanes was their third straight victory while improving their record to 12-3-0-1 in their last 16 games. The triumph lifted the ‘Canes home ice record to 9-4-0-1 on the season – and 7-1-0-1 in their last nine at the ENMAX Centre – while lifting their overall record to 17-11-0-1 on the year.
The Hurricanes will visit the Swift Current Broncos at 6:00pm MT on Saturday night before returning to the ENMAX Centre on Wednesday when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first of a three-game homestand to head into the Christmas break. 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.
