Highway three rivals and central divisional foes square off this weekend for a home and home series. The Lethbridge Hurricanes and Medicine Hat Tigers are set to square off Friday, February 22 in Lethbridge and Saturday the 23rd in Medicine Hat. This will be the seventh and eighth matchups this season. Hurricanes hold the edge in the season series so far with a 3-1-1-1 record for eight points, Tigers are 3-3-0-0 giving them six points.
Most teams have around ten games to play this season making points very valuable in playoff races. It’s no different for these two teams as this home and home looms large with four points to be had. The Hurricanes come in with a 30-17-5-5 record while the Tigers sit at 31-22-3-2, having played one more game, they sit three points back of Lethbridge in the division.
These two teams sit in the second and third seed spots in the Central Division and could be on a collision course for a first round playoff matchup. Of course, that also depends on the other teams in the playoff race, Lethbridge sits just two points back of the division lead held by the Edmonton Oil Kings with a game in hand. While Medicine Hat tries to hold off the Calgary Hitmen who are two points back of them with a game in hand and the Red Deer Rebels who are four points back with two games in hand. Taking these two games (four points) very important.
The puck drops Friday night at the Enmax Center for the first of the two games. The Hurricanes come in having a 1-1-0-1 record in the three matches they have hosted. That gives the Tigers two victories in those three games. The Tigers are led by James Hamblin with his 32 goals and 68 points. Medicine Hat has struggled over the last ten games going 4-5-1-0. They are currently on a four-game losing streak including back to back losses vs the Hitmen and Oil Kings. After Hamblin, Ryan Jevine is the only other Tiger player over the 50 point mark. He sits at 55 points. The gas city has four players Brett Kemp, Tyler Preziuso, Linus Nassen and Ryan Chyzowski who have all hit the 40 point mark. Behind these players and a balanced attack, Medicine Hat has recorded 184 goal this season which makes them the 11th highest in the WHL.
The Hurricanes have fared a little better in their last ten games, posting a 5-3-1-1 record. The team from the windy city is coming off a 5-2 win over the Ice in their final trip to Cranbrook. Nick Henry continues to lead the team in scoring with 76 points that include 54 assists. The Hurricanes offensive attack has been led by five player including Henry, Dylan Cozens, Jordy Bellerive, Jake Leschyshyn and Jake Elmer who have all hit or surpasses the 60 point mark. Taylor Ross sits one point shy with 59 points on the season. The result is an offence that sits fourth in the league with 215 goals. That’s 31 goals better than the Tigers.
The script flips when looking at the team defensively. While the Tigers do not score a ton they don’t give up much either. Sitting with 183 against is the tenth best across the WHL. That’s a large advantage over the Hurricanes who have allowed 20 more goals at 203. That mark is 18th out of the 22 WHL teams. This will make goaltending front and centre for these two games this weekend.
Medicine Hat has used both goalies vs the Hurricanes this season. Jordan Hollett has four of the six games posting a 2-2-0-0 record. Mads Sogaard is 1-1-0-0 in his two starts. Worth noting – both of Sogaard’s starts were home starts. There’s a weird stat for Lethbridge when it comes to goaltenders used vs the Tiger this season. Former starter Reece Klassen, now with the Spokane Chiefs, is the goalie of record in all six games this season. Klassen holds the 3-1-1-1 mark. That means Carl Tetachuk is most likely to see his first action against the rivals. Whether he sees both starts is up in the air. Current backup Bryan Thomson has only seen four games, all of which have been on the road. Could we see him get the call on Saturday?
Special teams are always a big focus, for both teams their power plays post some really good numbers. The Hurricanes hold the leagues fourth best power play at 24.2 percent but have been leaky giving up a league high 15 short handed goals. The Tigers are not far behind with the man advantage at 22.8 percent. With numbers like that, both teams may want to stay out the box. On the flip side, the penalty killing hasn’t been as sharp. The Tigers sit 13th with a success rate of 78.1 percent and the Hurricanes down in 18th spot at 76.4 percent. Definitely, something to keep an eye on.
As the scene for Saturday shifts to the Canalta Center in Medicine Hat the story shifts as well. The Hurricanes have found great success this season when they visit the Tigers. As the visitors, they have earned five of a possible six points, two wins and an overtime loss. Lethbridge has been successful on the road this season going 14-8-4-1. The Tigers look to end the Hurricanes point streak in their building where they have been good with a record of 16-9-2-1.
Neither team has managed back to back wins in the season series. Close and hard fought games seem to follow this rivalry and with four huge points on the table this weekend, look for that to continue. Who wants it more? We are about to find out. Buckle up and get ready cause these two teams will meet twice more after this weekend. March 8th in Lethbridge and again for the season finale in Medicine Hat March 16th.
