Another busy week has come and gone in the WHL. The Lethbridge Hurricanes are coming off of three games in four nights at home. The team managed to earn four of the possible six points from those three games.
Looking back
Last Wednesday, the Hurricanes welcomed the rebuilding Swift Current Broncos to town. The new division foe looked outmatched for most of the night as the Hurricanes cruised to a 4-1 win. Carl Tetachuk had a solid night, making 20 saves for the win. His counterpart — former Hurricanes goalie Reece Klassen — did his best, making 38 saves in the loss. D-Jay Jerome led the way offensively with two goals and a helper for three points. Oliver Okulair continued his impressive output, adding two assists on the night.
Friday night saw a showdown that, at the time, was a battle for the top spot in the division, if only for one night. The Hurricanes fell behind early in this one and ended up down 3-0 after forty minutes as the Edmonton Oil Kings looked to control things. Lethbridge then put together a rather impressive third period, getting goals from Okuliar, Dylan Cozens, and Alex Cotton, as well as a stopped penalty shot by netminder Carl Tetachuk to force overtime. This game needed a shootout. Tetachuk once again came up big, stopping all four Oil Kings shooters. That set the table for Jerome to play the hero with a forehand-backhand goal to win it for the Hurricanes.
On Saturday night, Tri-City came to Lethbridge for their only visit of the season. For those who don’t know, the U.S. Division in the WHL only visits every other season, and on the flip side, the Hurricanes visit the U.S. Division teams during the opposite season. So this was a rare chance to see the Americans.
Lethbridge played a pretty dominant game, but the puck was not kind to the home team. The Hurricanes fell behind early and were unable to beat goaltender Taylan Boyko who was terrific, making 47 saves on the night. A valiant attempt at a third-period comeback fell short in the end. Sasha Mutala scored nine minutes into the third to cap his three-point night that helped pace Tri-City to the win. The loss ended the Hurricanes’ impressive 12-game point streak.
The road ahead
The Hurricanes now get set for a three-game road trip that includes ample travel. The trip starts Friday in Victoria for a battle with the Royals in Dino Kambietz’s return to the island for the first time since being traded in the offseason to the Windy City.
Lethbridge will then make a stop in Vancouver to battle the Western Conference champions from last year. The Giants are again off and running this season. The three-game road trip will finish in Swift Current — yes, a weird place to end the trip — next Wednesday.
The Hurricanes will return to Lethbridge for their only game at home in a 17-day span on November 22nd vs. the WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders.
Oliver Okuliar
The hot streak is red hot for the import forward. The two points he registered on Saturday bring his season total to a team-leading 29 points in 21 games played. Cozens sits right behind him at 28 points in 19 games played. Okuliar also leads the team in goals with 16. Those points vs. Tri-City extended his point streak to 11 straight games, including 12 goals and 8 assists in that time. He has also scored in eight of the last ten games overall.
Alex Cotton
The defender has found a clutch gene. Scoring the tying goal vs. Edmonton with under a minute to go, along with two posts in that game, Cotton also temporarily tied the game Saturday vs. the Americans early in the third period. Overall, Cotton is on a five-game point streak, the hottest of his WHL career. He also has points in seven of his last ten games and sits third in team scoring with 22 points in 21 games. The Langley, BC, native has already doubled his point total from last season (11 points) in 33 fewer games. It’s not hard to see why coach Kisio trusts the young man on his top power-play unit.
CIBC Canada/Russia series
Two Lethbridge players will be playing this week for Canada in the annual showdown on Wednesday and Thursday nights in Saskatchewan. Forward Dylan Cozens, who will be an alternate captain for the event, and defencemen Calen Addison will suit up.
Shooting the Breeze:
A few players are set to hit games-played milestones over the next few games.
– Oliver Okuliar is 16 away from 100 career CHL games
– D-Jay Jerome is 13 away from 200 career games
– Dylan Cozens is 4 away from 150 career games – Koletrane Wilson is 3 away from 150 career games
Saturday marked the 50th career start for Carl Tetachuk who sits at 31-12-1-4 with a goals against average of 2.66 and save percentage of .914.
