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02-23-2006, 12:31 PM
From: http://www.lethbridgehurricanes.com/

February 23, 2006

Bittersweet Comeback

Trevor Kenney

Lethbridge Herald

Lethbridge Hurricanes, against all odds, climbed the mountain then fell off a cliff on the other side.

A two-goal rally in the final 1:16 of the third period turned out to be all for naught Wednesday as the Brandon Wheat Kings got a Tyler Dittmer goal 3:10 into overtime to clinch a wild 5-4 Western Hockey League victory at the Enmax Centre.

"We showed a lot of fortitude coming back and found a way to get a big point," Hurricanes head coach Michael Dyck said. ?I thought we out played them for two periods but we need 60 minutes to be successful against a good hockey club."
The 60 minutes of hockey were there physically for the 'Canes but they couldn't match that effort mentally, throwing the puck away on far too many occasions and handing scoring opportunities to the Wheat Kings.
'Absolutely, they were goals that definitely shouldn't have gone in, a little soft on our part," Hurricanes right wing Yashar Farmanara said.
"Just a soft play here and there and that's all it takes in this league. It's so tight and the players are so good that they're going to capitalize on your mistakes."

Brandon (24-28-5-4) jumped to a 2-0 first period lead on a pair of power play markers, Jeff Topilko and Mark Derlago counting, before the team traded specialty-team tallies in the second, Dwight King counting for Lethbridge (24-28-3-5) on the power play and Cole Hunter responding on a shorthanded breakaway.

That was a central theme of the night where every time the 'Canes got close, they turned the puck over and gave a goal back. Similarly they'd earn a power play, turn the puck over, haul a guy down and again give it right back.

"The third and fourth (Brandon) goals were gifts, they were goals we didn't make them earn," Dyck said. The goals that we scored it seemed that we had to earn them. We battled and gritted them out and that?s the key. Defensively we have to make teams earn their opportunities and tonight I don't think we did that.

Activating Colton Yellow Horn on the forward unit in the third period helped bring Lethbridge back to 3-2 on Zach Boychuk's power play goal but when Ryan Reaves accepted yet another Hurricane turnover and beat Justin Leclerc with 1:48 to play, fans streamed to the exits.
"You would have thought the 4-2 goal by Ryan Reaves would have been enough to salt it away but credit to Lethbridge, they continued to come hard," Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon said after what was a huge win for his squad.
"It was real important for our team to get the two points and in the case of tonigh's game, it would have been demoralizing to not get them when we were in such a good position late in the game."
The 'Canes pulled out all the stops in the dying seconds, twice pulling Justin Leclerc and twice finding a way to beat Tyler Plante. The first was lucky, a bank shot from Mark Ashton off Michael Kaye?s skate with 1:16 to play. Dwight King then got the tying marker, finishing off a Mitch Fadden feed from behind the net with 24 seconds left.

|It's always good to get ice time to have (Dyck) show confidence by putting me on there late was good and nice to see that I finally got another goal that I desperately needed," King said.

What was left of the 4,899 in attendance would go home deflated though when Stephane Lenowski threw a wrist shot to the net in overtime that glanced off Dittmer and by Leclerc for the winner.

"I think it's really important that we take away at the end that we did come back and get a huge point," Farmanara concluded.

ICE CHIPS Hurricanes were 2-for-10 on the power play, Brandon 2-for-7. . .Hurricanes held a 38-25 shots edge. . .Brandon took the season series 4-1. . .Hurricanes now head to Prince Albert Friday. . .Both Hurricane goals in the final flurry came with the goaltender pulled.