GAME DAY: Hurricanes End Regular Season in Red Deer
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes will end the 2022-2023 regular season tonight at 7:00pm as they visit the Red Deer Rebels in the second of a home-and-home set to end the year.
The Hurricanes (36-25-3-3) enter having earned a 6-4 victory on Friday night against the Rebels at the ENMAX Centre. Six different goal scorers lit the lamp in the win – the third time in four games the ‘Canes have scored six goals – while Bryan Thomson made 30-saves for his 59th career victory. Lethbridge enters with a 4-2-0-0 record in their last six games while having gone 15-15-2-1 on the road this season.
The Rebels (42-19-3-3) enter on a two-game losing streak after suffering the 6-4 defeat in Lethbridge on Friday night. Kai Uchacz reached the 50-goal mark on Friday while Talon Brigley, Craig Armstrong and Jace Isley added the other goals in the loss. The Rebels outshot the Hurricanes 18-5 in the third period. Red Deer enters play tonight with a record of 22-8-2-1 at Peavey Mart Centriumt his season.
Tonight will be the final of the six regular season meetings between the Hurricanes and the Rebels; Lethbridge has posted a 2-2-1-0 record against Red Deer so far this season but are 0-2-0-0 on the road. Tonight’s game can be watched at Browns Socialhouse in Lethbridge, on WHL Live or heard on 106.7 ROCK.
DOWNLOAD GAME NOTES/STATS HERE: 2023-03-25 – LET at RD
VS. REBELS: Tonight will be the final of six meetings this season between the Hurricanes and Rebels. The ‘Canes so far this season have posted a 2-2-1-0 record against the Rebels. Last year, Lethbridge posted a 3-3-2-0 record against the Rebels in eight games. In the last 50 regular season meetings, the Hurricanes have posted a 35-11-4-1 record against the Rebels dating back to February 2015. Lethbridge is 107-86-9-7 with 8 ties all-time against the Rebels.
2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON SERIES
October 7th/2022 – at Red Deer (5-0 RD)
November 18th/2022 – at Lethbridge (3-2 SO LET)
January 14th/2023 – at Lethbridge (2-1 OT RD)
March 8th/2023 – at Red Deer (2-1 RD)
March 24th/2023 – at Lethbridge (6-4 LET)
March 25th/2023 – at Red Deer
2021-2022 REGULAR SEASON SERIES:
October 9th/2021 – at Lethbridge (2-1 OT LET)
October 22nd/2021 – at Red Deer (6-3 RD)
December 10th/2021 – at Lethbridge (3-2 OT RD)
January 21st/2022 – at Lethbridge (5-2 RD)
January 29th/2022 – at Red Deer (8-1 RD)
March 18th/2022 – at Lethbridge (5-2 LET)
March 19th/2022 – at Red Deer (3-2 SO LET)
April 8th/2022 – at Red Deer (5-4 OT RD)
2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON STATS LEADERS:
Goals (22) – Logan Wormald & Tyson Laventure
Assists (35) – Cole Shepard
Points (55) – Cole Shepard
PIMS (90) – Joe Arntsen
Plus/Minus (+13) – Chase Pauls
Wins (19) – Harrison Meneghin
Shutouts (3) – Bryan Thomson
Save % (.919) – Bryan Thomson
Goals Against Average (2.63) – Bryan Thomson
WHO’S HOT:
– Tristan Zandee has points in 4 straight games (4a); 6 of 8 games (6a); 10 of 15 games (2g-9a)
– Joe Arntsen has points in 4 straight games (1g-3a); 6 of 7 games (2g-4a); 18 of 26 games (5g-15a)
– Miguel Marques has points in 3 straight games (1g-2a); 4 of 5 games (2g-2a)
– Hayden Smith has points in 2 straight games (3g-1a); 3 of 4 games (3g-2a); 5 of 12 games (4g-3a)
– Tyson Zimmer has points in 5 of 6 games (2g-5a); 6 of 9 games (3g-5a); 10 of 18 games (7g-7a)
– Brayden Edwards has points in 4 of 5 games (2g-5a); 6 of 10 games (4g-6a); 12 of 19 games (6g-10a)
– Noah Chadwick has points in 3 of 4 games (1g-2a); 5 of 11 games (2g-4a)
– Anton Astashevich has points in 2 of 3 games (2a)
– Jett Jones has points in 4 of 7 games (2g-2a); 5 of 10 games (2g-3a); 32 of 55 games (17g-27a)
– Tyson Laventure has points in 2 of 4 games (2g-3a); 3 of 6 games (2g-4a); 23 of 39 games (19g-16a)
– Cole Shepard has points in 2 of 4 games (1g-2a); 3 of 6 games (1g-3a); 15 of 26 games (7g-14a)
– Logan Wormald has points in 2 of 3 games (1g-1a); 4 of 9 games (2g-2a); 7 of 14 games (3g-4a)
REGULAR SEASON MILESTONE WATCH:
– Chase Pauls is 4 points away from 50 career points
– Nolan Bentham is 7 points away from 50 career points
– Joe Arntsen is 18 points away from 100 career points
– Logan Wormald is 18 points away from 100 career points
– Tyson Zimmer is 5 games away from 150 career games
– Blake Swetlikoff is 15 points away from 100 career points
– Tyson Laventure is 1 point away from 100 career points
– Tyson Laventure is 7 games away from 200 career games
NEWS & NOTES:
Thru 67: The Hurricanes enter tonight with a record of 36-25-3-3 (78 points) on the season after 67 games. Hurricanes are 21-10-1-2 at home while posting a record of 15-15-2-1 on the road. In 2021-2022, Lethbridge had gone 33-30-4-1 after 67 contests. Lethbridge went 5-5-0-1 in February and are 5-4-0-0 in March.
Clinched: The Hurricanes have officially clinched a berth in the 2023 WHL Playoffs. It marks the seventh straight season that the ‘Canes have qualified for the WHL post-season, marking a new franchise record for consecutive playoff appearances. Lethbridge will finish fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings and will face the Moose Jaw Warriors in the first-round of the WHL Playoffs.
35+ Wins: Lethbridge enters tonight with 36 victories on the season, marking the fifth time in the last seven seasons (not including the shortened 2021 season) that the ‘Canes have reached that mark. It is the 13th time in team history the Hurricanes have reached the 35-win mark. It is also the seventh consecutive season recording 30-or-more wins, the longest stretch in franchise history – previous long was five years consecutively from 1989-90 to 1993-94.
Second All-Time: Overage netminder Bryan Thomson sits second all-time in victories in Hurricanes history with 59 career wins, surpassing Logan Koopmans for second on March 24th; Stuart Skinner is the all-time leader with 88 victories. The Moose Jaw product is also fifth all-time in games played with 117 appearances.
4 x 20: The Hurricanes enter play tonight with four players who have reached the 20-goal mark as Logan Wormald and Tyson Laventure both have 22 goals while Jett Jones has 21 and Cole Shepard 20. Last season, the ‘Canes only had three 20+ goal getters, led by Justin Hall who recorded 34-goals. It’s the first time since 2019-20 season that the ‘Canes have four-or-more 20-goal scorers; that year the ‘Canes had five.
Strong PK: Entering tonight, the Hurricanes have allowed just 20 power play goals against in their last 35 games having killed 114-of-134 penalties taken in that span for a kill rate of 85.1%. The ‘Canes have not allowed a power play goal against in 21 of their last 35 outings. Lethbridge sits seventh overall in the WHL in penalty kill percentage this season while holding the best home PK in the league.
Home Cookin’: Lethbridge finished the 21-10-1-2 record at the ENMAX Centre this season. The 21-wins at home is the fifth most among Eastern Conference teams and second-most among Central Division teams. It is the 16th time in team history the ‘Canes have won 20-or-more games in a season at home – the Hurricanes all-time record is 32 victories recorded in 1989-1990.
Canada’s Guy: Hockey Canada announced on March 22nd that Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt will serve as the Management Lead for the Canadian Men’s National Junior Team at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Gothenberg, Sweden in December. Anholt helped lead Canada’s U18 team to a gold medal at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Red Deer.
