Medicine Hat, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes closed out opening weekend of the 2012 season with the backend of a home and home series with the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Canes struck first in the 8 game series with a 4-2 win in front of 4500 fans at the ENMAX and looked for a perfect start to the season. Not dressed in the game were Connor Sutton, Daniel Johnston, Tyler Wong, Adam Henry and Reid Duke while the starters were: Ty Rimmer, Albin Blomqvist, Lenny Hackman, Sam McKechnie, Jaimen Yakubowski and Russell Maxwell.
The Canes got off to a good start and would get few chances to open the scoring but couldn’t find a way to put one behind Dawson MacAuley including a 2 on 1 chance with Jamal Watson and Remi Laurencelle. The Tigers had plenty of chances of their own but Ty Rimmer was solid in goal for the second straight night and would deflect a Hunter Shinkaruk shot off the shoulder keeping it a scoreless game. After killing off two straight Tigers powerplays, Medicine Hat would finally beat Rimmer on their third powerplay when Dylan Busenius buried his first of the season on a high wristshot. The Canes ended the opening 20 minutes trailing 1-0 and were narrowly outshot 11-9.
The Hurricanes started the second period with more than a minute and a half of powerplay time but couldn’t find a way to notch the equalizer. Moments after their PP time expired, Kale Kessy gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead less than 3 minutes into the middle frame. The Canes would run into penalty trouble in the 2nd but killed off the man advantages, including 1:26 of 5 on 3 powerplay time. Medicine Hat would also get the better scoring chances but Ty Rimmer would only allow the one goal through 40 minutes as the Tigers took a 2-0 lead into the final 20 minutes while a late penalty gave the Canes 39 minutes of powerplay time to work with to start the third.
Penalties would plague both sides and once again the Canes were unable to score on the powerplay or get enough shots on net in the final 20 minutes. A checking to the head major (and a game misconduct) was assessed to the Tigers Kale Kessy (who hit Ryan Pilon) which ended his night but the powerplay was shortlived as the Canes would take a penalty of their own. Curtis Valk gave the Tigers a 3-0 goal lead and midway through the period Hunter Shinkaruk made it a 4-0 game as the rough stuff continued. Rimmer would make some key saves in the period, but the Tigers would go up 5-0 before Lethbridge would break the shutout when Sam McKechnie (assist to Craig Leverton) scored his 2nd of the year in the final minute and a half to get the Canes on board. Final shots favored the Tigers 31-24. The Canes ended the night 0/8 on the powerplay while the Tigers were 3/7.
The Hurricanes host the WHL Champion Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday, September 26th. Game time vs the OK's is 7:00 with the pregame show 6:30pm with Pat Siedlecki and Fred Jack on the home of the Hurricanes – 94.1 CJOC. Home or on the road follow your Lethbridge Hurricanes with news and team headlines on Twitter @WHLHurricanes, play by play analysis @CanesCast or by checking out our website at www.lethbridgehurricanes.com. Fans can also follow us on our Official Facebook Fan Page at facebook.com/WHLHurricanes or check out the game live on WHL Web TV - log on to whl.ca for details and pricing. Fan can also drop by Pop's Pub South to watch the WHL Webcast live as they present all 36 Hurricanes road games this season.
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