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nivek_wahs
03-13-2007, 02:50 AM
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/article_6209.php


Playoff hopes perish

By Trevor Kenney
Mar 12, 2007, 22:10

The playoff push for the Lethbridge Hurricanes officially ended Sunday night at the Enmax Centre but the seeds for their demise were planted weeks earlier.
The final blow came courtesy of a 6-4 Red Deer Rebels victory tainted by questionable refereeing that turned a crucial game between Central Division rivals into a second period penalty parade.
“It’s disappointing because they are going to go to the playoffs and deep down I really feel we’re a much better hockey team than they are,” Hurricanes forward Kyle Bailey said after another vintage gritty effort that produced a pair of goals. “I think the season series shows that and if we play five-on-five for 60 minutes tonight, it’s probably a lopsided score in our favour is my guess.”
The ’Canes entered the night with little hope of running down the Rebels for the final Central Division playoff spot, needing three straight wins, combined with four consecutive Red Deer regulation losses. Despite the odds though, they came out with the kind of desperation that could have been used two nights earlier and that translated into a dominant 20 minutes.
Up 1-0 on a Bailey goal and skating to a 12-1 shots advantage, it may have been as complete a period as the club had played all season. Then the second hit, the penalties began and it disintegrated into a sloppy mess.
“We knew they were going to play well and we knew they were going to start really well and they had a good first period and we were able to weather that and were probably fortunate just to be down one goal at that point in time,” Rebels head coach Brent Sutter said of the first.
In all, the Rebels then went to the power play eight times in the middle frame and scored three goals with the man advantage. They added a fourth just seconds after another penalty expired, essentially getting all their offence with an extra man.
More than anything, that’s what rankled Bailey, who wanted the players to be able to decide the outcome.
“That’s how I was trying to plead my case to the refs when I was talking to them, that’s basically all I said, it wasn’t about complaining about calls,” the 20-year-old Bailey said. “Everyone knows our backs are against the wall in this game, why not let us . . . if we’re going to lose, let them beat us, we didn’t want the refs to beat us tonight.”
The ’Canes beat themselves too though, giving away momentum and not reacting well to the referees’ influence. Yashar Farmanara scored shorthanded for a 2-0 lead shortly after killing off a 1:37 two-man Red Deer advantage but just 16 seconds after that, Red Deer managed a weak reply on the same power play as Scott Doucet notched the first of his two.
Lethbridge seized momentum back with a Tomas Kudelka power play at the 10:19 mark, staking the ‘Canes to their final 3-1 lead, but the Rebels scored the next three to close out the period. The dagger was Brett Sutter’s second, to cap the period and give Red Deer a 4-3 lead, that came with the Hurricanes two men down, thanks to a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct after an initial Lethbridge penalty.
“I’ve got to be honest with you, I thought the refereeing, to put it as politely as possible, was one-sided,” Hurricanes head coach Michael Dyck said, agreeing they did not react as well as they could have to the situation.
Forward Zach Boychuk agreed.
“All of us have got to be held responsible for our actions and a lot of guys were hollering at the refs, including the coaching staff, so obviously we should have calmed down a little more than we did,” he said.
The third period turned academic when the Rebels got Doucet’s second of the night just 2:01 in for a 5-3 lead. Lethbridge needed to win outright and made it interesting with Bailey’s second at the 15:38 mark but Kirill Starkov’s empty-net tally closed out the Rebel win. Jordan Henry also scored for Red Deer.
Boychuk said the desperate situation was something the club had been fighting all year, since a brutal October record that put them behind the eight ball.
“It came from the beginning of the season when we went on that long losing streak,” he said. “Then games we should have won we lost, like when we were in Prince Albert, we let that one go and then against Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, so it’s all been just a little overwhelming for us.”
ICE CHIPS — Lethbridge held a 30-26 shots advantage . . . Hurricanes FW Kyle Lamb went into the end boards midway through the second period and was taken off the ice on stretcher and then to hospital. Bailey referred to the injury as a broken left ankle but that could not be confirmed . . . The Enmax Centre was uncomfortably hot for both players and fans . . . Lethbridge still has two games to play to close the regular season, beginning with Friday’s final home game against Medicine Hat.
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