PDA

View Full Version : Calgary Hitmen @ Lethbridge Hurricanes



Bertrox44
10-25-2006, 05:39 PM
7:00 pm, October 25, 2006
Enmax Centre


http://www.lethbridgehurricanes.com/files/teams/gameday-calgary-hitmen.gif @ http://www.lethbridgehurricanes.com/files/teams/gameday-lethbridge-hurricanes.gif


Top 3 Scorers:

Calgary Hitmen:
9 Brodie Dupont- 7 goals, 8 assists, 15 pts
25 Ryan White- 5 goals, 8 assists, 13 pts
7 Keegan Dansereau- 4 goals, 6 assists, 10 pts

Lethbridge Hurricanes:
11 Zach Boychuk- 9 goals, 13 assist, 22 pts
14 Kris Hogg- 13 goasls, 4 assists, 17 pts
22 Ben Wright- 2 goals, 14 assists, 16 pts


Hurricanes hope to steady the ship

The good ship Hurricane has been listing dangerously of late but rather than run for the lifeboats, an all-hands-on-deck approach has been adopted as the club looks to steady the course.

With general manager Roy Stasiuk and head coach Michael Dyck at the helm, the Western Hockey League club is not about to panic, despite a stretch that has seen the Hurricanes (5-9-1-1) lose eight of nine and get blown out in its last two road contests.



“I believe in what we’re doing and I believe in the people we have here, in particular our coaching staff,” Stasiuk said while watching the team practice at the Enmax Centre. “Our kids have been great so it’s not hard to stay the course. I think it really shows the mettle of not only our team but personally my abilities as a manager to stay that course and believe in what we are doing.”

The Hurricanes did make one move Tuesday, acquiring 18-year-old goaltender Michael Maniago and a seventh-round bantam draft pick in 2008 for a third-round selection from the Kamloops Blazers. With a 20-year-old spot still open and former Hurricane Kyle Pess on the market, it begs to question if another move might be in the works.

“It has to be a consideration. We don’t want to hang the young guys out to dry and if it’s a guy who can come in and give some confidence at any position, whether it be at goaltending, defence or forward it’s something we have to consider,” Stasiuk said, adding none of the overage names on the waiver wire fit that bill.

“I’ve spoken with Seattle (regarding Pess) and our understanding is he wants to be in Alberta, closer to his family, so we certainly appreciate that and we think it’d be a good fit with us having played here before. He’s a great kid on and off the ice but at the same time, they want a 20-year-old back and that would kind of limit our situation.”

That moves the focus back to the ice where the Hurricanes were happy to finally have some practice time. It’s the first opportunity they’ve had since the opening weekend of the season to utilize three days off between games.

“I think it’s a lots of things, mostly just habits, things we have to change and things we can change in practice,” Hurricanes captain Kris Hogg said of the team’s troubles.

“Practices have been slipping because you don’t quite have the time out there to work on the things you want to and right now it’s kind of a good time because we’re at home a lot now and we can have those longer practices and work on the things we need to.”

The numbers, especially in the 9-5 and 11-3 losses to Brandon and Regina respectively that wrapped up their 0-4 road trip, indicate a total collapse is at work. Dyck doesn’t see it that way.

“We look at both those games, not only were we in both games but we had an opportunity to control those games and when we lost that opportunity, it just snowballed on us,” he said.

“I’ll take responsibility for that because with a young team like this you have to get them back in control quicker and it just snowballed out of control.”

That’s where some real work in a practice scenario can benefit a young club.

“We’re playing every second day this month and we don’t have an opportunity to regroup and I think that’s mainly what happened in those two games,” Dyck added. “To come home and have an opportunity to regroup gets us refocused for (tonight).”
Much was made of the closeness of this Hurricane team, how the dressing room was such a positive force. Is it still tight after losing eight of nine?

“Really good shape, we have a really tight-knit group in there,” goaltender Justin Leclerc said. “We had that before and we still have that. I don’t see any finger-pointing going on, it still seems to be a positive attitude and I think we’ll get out of this no problem.”

ICE CHIPS : Maniago, a Calgary native, is the cousin of former NHLer Cesare Maniago. In 23 games last season with Kamloops he had a 7-7-2-2 record with a 2.84 goals against average. In four games this season he’s 2-2-0 with a 4.23 GAA. . .Hurricanes are relatively healthy with F Adam Matlock (back) expected out of the lineup. . .G Sam Huston will stay on the roster, as the team will elect to keep three goalies on the roster. He had a 1-3-0 record with a 3.77 GAA in five appearances.



My prediction: 3-2 Canes OT :)

:clap: GO CANES GO! :clap:

Porkchop
10-25-2006, 09:36 PM
Goaltending was a major issue for Leth. in this one. They need to upgrade asap or bring a goalie coach in.

shushu
10-25-2006, 10:03 PM
Goaltending was a major issue for Leth. in this one. They need to upgrade asap or bring a goalie coach in.
and in my opinion it should have been a veteran goalie . its one thing to have a young team with a proven goalie ( like speedy creek) but a young team with a young goalie ,well you are seeing the results. and its starting to show on leclarc he is losing his confidence big time......

Bertrox44
10-25-2006, 10:15 PM
Final score: 5-3 Calgary.

Shots on goal: 41-22 Lethbridge.

Lethbridge outplayed Calgary this game by quite a bit. If it wasn't for those couple of weak goals Justin let in, this game probably would have been Lethbridge's. Better luck against Swift Current on friday. :thumb: