Hurricanes Thump Cougars 7-3 in Homestand Finale
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a four-game homestand on Friday with a convincing 7-3 victory over the Prince George Cougars at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
Prince George made their first visit to Lethbridge since January of 2023 in the lone meeting of the season between the Hurricanes and Cougars. After an early penalty kill, the ‘Canes found their stride as jumping out to an early 1-0 lead as Will Sharpe scored his first goal of the season just 4:45 into the game to extend a personal best point-scoring streak to four straight games; Miguel Marques and Noah Chadwick earned the assists on the opening goal. Lethbridge kept their foot on the gas in the opening period outshooting Prince George 17-6 and doubled their lead with 5:11 remaining in the game as Kooper Gizowski buried his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-0; Gizowski extended a goal-scoring streak to three games while Logan McCutcheon and Sharpe picked up the assists on the goal as the ‘Canes led by two after twenty minutes of play.
The two teams traded a pair of goals each in the second period. Prince George cut the Lethbridge lead to one as Jett Lajoie muscled his way on a breakaway before slipping it through the legs of Brady Smith to make it 2-1 just 7:08 into the period. The Hurricanes responded with a four-on-four goal on a beautiful goal by Noah Chadwick who cut off the left-wing and ripped home a backhand shot for his first goal of the season; Marques and Kash Andresen were credited with the assists to make it a 3-1 game. Just 33-second later, however, the Cougars also struck four-on-four when Ephram McNutt buried a loose puck in front of the ‘Canes net to once again cut the Lethbridge lead to one. Before the period was out, the Hurricanes restored their two-goal advantage as Shane Smith buried home his first goal as a Hurricane with 23-seconds left in the middle frame giving Lethbridge a 4-2 lead after forty minutes of play. The ‘Canes outshot the Cougars 11-9 in the second period.
In the third period, the Hurricanes continued to rack up the goals as Sharpe scored his second goal of the game on a power play just 4:44 into the frame to put Lethbridge in front 5-2; Logan Wormald earned his 150th career point with an assist on the goal while Marques potted another helper. Just 1:15 later, the ‘Canes added another as Smith redirected a Sharpe point shot through the legs of Ravensbergen blowing open the score; Chadwick added the second assist on the goal. Lethbridge struck again on the power play at the 7:17 mark as Wormald wired home his sixth goal of the season making it 7-2 Hurricanes; Chadwick and Marques picked up the helpers on the goal. Marques collecting his fifth point of the night and Chadwick his fourth. Prince George scored a man advantage goal of their own late in the frame when Koehn Ziemmer netted his fourth goal of the season; Borya Valis and Terik Parascak earned the assists on the goal to make it 7-3. Neither team added any more goals in the game as the Hurricanes skated to the lopsided victory.
The Hurricanes outshot the Cougars 11-10 in the third period and 39-25 in the game. Lethbridge went 2/7 on the power play while Prince George 1/7 on the man advantage.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #17 Will Sharpe (2 goals, 2assists)
2) ‘Canes – #14 Miguel Marques (5 assists)
3) ‘Canes – #8 Noah Chadwick (1 goal, 3 assists)
The win for the Hurricanes ended their four-game homestand with a 3-0-1-0 record while their home record improved to 5-0-1-0 on the season and 15-4-5-0 in their last 24 regular season home games dating back to last season. Lethbridge’s overall record lifted to 6-1-1-0 to start the season marking their third-best start in Hurricanes history thru eight games.
The Hurricanes will visit the Calgary Hitmen on Saturday at 6:00pm at the Scotiabank Saddledome in the first of two straight road games. Lethbridge will return home on Saturday, October 26th when they welcome the Red Deer Rebels at 6:00pm at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Tickets 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.
