GAME DAY: Hurricanes visit Saskatoon Blades

The Hurricanes and Saskatoon Blades will face each other 4 times this season. Entering tonight’s action, both teams are coming off wins – the Hurricanes a 2-1 shootout victory over Edmonton while Saskatoon beat Kootenay 5-2 on Wednesday. The Hurricanes are led offensively by Riley Sheen who has 8 points in 11 games, while Alex Forsberg has 10 points in 11 games for Saskatoon. Over the past 5 years, the Blades have had the upper hand over the Hurricanes, including a 7-1 record in Saskatoon.

In 2013-2014, the teams met four times with Lethbridge posting a 1-3 record. The Hurricanes won their first meeting 8-5, before Saskatoon came back with a pair of 5-2 wins and a 6-3 victory. Tyler Wong led the way offensively against Saskatoon with 7 points (5G, 2A) in the 4 games, while Jamal Watson (3G) and Griffin Foulk (3A) each added 3 points. 

Hurricanes Top Scorers:                                                Blades Top Scorers:

Riley Sheen: 3G, 5A – 8 points                                         Alex Forsberg: 6G, 4A – 10 points

Zane Jones: 4G, 2A – 6 points                                           Sam McKechnie: 3G, 6A – 9 points

Jamal Watson: 3G, 2A -5 points                                       Wyatt Sloboshan: 3G, 5A – 8 points

Tyler Wong: 2G, 2A – 4 points                                         Cory Millette: 4G, 3A – 7 points

 

On the Radio:  You can catch the call of tonight’s game on Rock 106. Play by Play voice Dustin Forbes has the call of the game starting with the pregame show at 6:45pm.

 

2014-2015 STATS:

Power play (overall): The PP is 4/47 (8.5%) … (road): the PP 1/23 (4.3%)

Penalty Kill (overall): The PK is 8/46 and ranked 7th (82.6%) … (road): the PK is 3/24 (87.5%)

Stats Leaders:

Goals (4) – Zane Jones

Points (8), Assists (5) – Riley Sheen

Plus/Minus (+3) – Kord Pankewicz

PIM’s (25) – Carter Folk

 

Streaks: Tyler Wong has a 4 game pt. streak (2G, 2A), Carter Folk has a 2 game pt. streak (1G, 1A)

 

Division Matchups:

Central: 2-3-0-0                    East: 0-1-0-0                         BC: 0-4-0-1                            US: 0-0-0-0

HURRICANES DID YOU KNOW:

-Firsts: Pavel Skumatov scored his 1^st career WHL goal on Sept. 19^th … Dexter Bricker scored his 1^st career WHL goal on Oct. 8^th … Stuart Skinner won his 1^st career WHL game on Oct. 1^st (50 saves).

-Games: Nick Walters played in his 250^th game (Oct. 17^th vs. Victoria) … Zane Jones played in his 200^th game (Oct. 18^th vs. Regina) … Lenny Hackman played his 150th career WHL game (Oct. 8^th vs. PG) … Riley Sheen is 8 games from 200

–Points: Jamal Watson is 1 point from 100…Riley Sheen has 100 points in his WHL career (Oct. 11^th vs. Kelowna)

–Jamal Watson is the longest serving Hurricane on the roster with 215 games played, the career record of games played is 336 by Shane Peacock (1989-94)

NEWS & NOTES:

U17 Hockey Challenge: Stuart Skinner was named the goalie for Canada Team Black at the U17 Hockey Challenge scheduled for November 2nd – 8^th in Sarnia-Lambton, ON. The 1998-born goalie is one of 66 players named to the three Canadian rosters. The tournament will be the first to feature three Canadian national teams – Black, Red and White. From 1986 to 2014, Canada was represented by five regional teams: Atlantic, Ontario, Pacific, Quebec and West.

NHL’s Watchful Eye: 2^nd year Centre, Giorgio Estephan has caught the eye of the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau. On the preliminary Draft Watch List for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the 6’0, 184 pound native of Edmonton was listed as a WHL “C” skater indicating a 4^th to 6^th round candidate. Estephan was drafted in the 1^st round (4^th overall) by Lethbridge in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft and last year finished with 24 points (12G, 12A) in 64 games.

-NHL Camps: Nick Walters signed an Amateur Tryout Agreement with the Columbus Blue Jackets and attended their Prospects Camp in September where he competed at the NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan.

-Oh Captain my Captain: Calgary native Jamal Watson was named the 24^th Captain in franchise history. The 6 assistants will wear the ‘A’ either at home or on the road. The A’s are: Riley Sheen, Nick Walters, Zane Jones, Lenny Hackman, Tyler Wong and Carter Folk.

-By the Numbers: The Canes have 27 on their roster: 2 Goalies, 8 Defencemen and 17 Forwards.

-Age Breakdown: 3 – 20 year olds, 5 – 19 year olds, 12 – 18 year olds, 5 – 17 year olds and 2 – 16 year olds. Rookies include (Nikita Milekhin, Pavel Skumatov, Jaeger White, Brandon Kennedy, Andrew Nielsen, Zac Robidoux and Stuart Skinner)

The Hurricanes road trip continues tomorrow night in Prince Albert when they visit the Raiders. Puck drop is 7:00pm, the pregame show can be heard starting at 6:45pm with Dustin Forbes.