Heart of the Hurricanes

Lethbridge stuns Pats in Eastern Conference finals opener

Jordy Bellerive, left, celebrates his goal with his Hurricanes teammates.

    REGINA – These Lethbridge Hurricanes will never say die.

    If there is any team out of the four remaining in the WHL playoffs that could fold tent with every excuse in the book, it is the Hurricanes. During the post-season, Lethbridge has been riddled with injuries causing star players like captain Tyler Wong and Giorgio Estephan to log a huge amount of minutes per game. There are times it seems like netminder Stuart Skinner is seeing more rubber than a dead skunk on the Trans-Canada Highway.

    In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Hurricanes won back-to-back seven game series over the Red Deer Rebels and Medicine Hat Tigers respectively overcoming four elimination games. When the Hurricanes hit the ice for Game 1 of the WHL Eastern Conference championship series on Friday night in Regina, they were playing their 15^th game in 28 days.

Pats W Dawson Leedahl knocks Canes captain Tyler Wong off the puck.

    To make things more challenging, the host Regina Pats finished first overall in the WHL with a 52-12-7-1 record, and they topped the final Canadian Hockey League top ten rankings released back on March 22.

    When the dust settled on Friday, the Hurricanes players left the Brandt Centre ice surface happily saluting their small contingent of fans in the northeast corner of the building that were able to get tickets in the sellout crowd of 6,484. The visitors came away with a 3-1 victory to lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.

    Forget the pre-series barbs that were traded between Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock and Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt. Paddock claimed Wong jumped a foot in the air when he hit people. Anholt countered the Pats players took run at their opponents.

Goalie Stuart Skinner dives to cover a loose puck for the Hurricanes.

    All that talk is traditional playoff smoke, where each side tries to plant a seed in the heads of the officials and media to gain an advantage. When the puck drops, you still have to play the game.

    In Friday’s win, the Hurricanes did use smart tactics to defend against the Pats keeping them to the outside and clogging up lanes through the centre ice zone, but they won mainly because of heart. Anholt loves his teams that have heart, and he has to have that trademark proud grin going, when his club hits the ice.

    Regina’s biggest downfall was the fact they didn’t score a lot more early, when they blasted out of the gates to start the contest. Just 70 seconds in, speedy winger Austin Wagner scored on a breakaway to give the hosts a 1-0 edge.

    From there, the Pats controlled the first period outshooting the Hurricanes 14-8. However, that is also the problem when you play the Hurricanes. You might have them down, but they will take advantage of the slightest breaks to turn things around.

Hurricanes D Igor Merezhko checks Pats C Wyatt Sloboshan.

    Signs of that started to happen late in the first, when the visitors fired three shots in close during a short time span, but the Pats stayed ahead thanks to netminder Tyler Brown making a stop each time.

    At the start of the second period, the Pats still appeared to have control but things changed at the 13:23 mark of the frame that sent a shock through the 21^st sellout crowd between the regular season and playoffs at the Brandt Centre. A Pats defensive zone turnover resulted in Estephan wiring home a shot from the slot to tie things up at 1-1.

    Early in the third, the Hurricanes gained only their second power-play chance of the contest. During the man advantage, a net scramble ensued in front of the Pats net, and Hurricanes forward Jordy Bellerive knocked home a loose puck to put the visitors up 2-1.

Pats captain Adam Brooks darts up ice on a third period rush.

    Shortly before the midway point of the frame, Wagner appeared to have netted the equalizer for the Pats when he went into the Hurricanes zone battling Hurricanes defenceman Brennan Riddle on a rush. The pair went crashing into the goal along with the puck.
    On replays, Wagner gave Skinner a bump going into the goal before the puck crossed the line, which would negate the tally due to contact with the netminder. The goal was officially waved off due to the net being dislodged before the puck crossed the goal-line.

    Still, the Hurricanes did whatever they needed to do to protect their slim lead. Wong would take a shot deep in the offensive zone and race back to deflect a Pats chance away in the defensive zone.

Hurricanes D Brennan Riddle takes Pats W Nick Henry into the boards.

    Pats captain Adam Brooks played for the first time after missing five games with a knee injury, which included dressing and not playing in the last three contests in that stint. He saw limited ice time through the first two periods. With the Pats down in the third, he saw increased ice time with regular linemates Wagner and Filip Ahl.

    Late in the third, Brooks had a beauty chance to score from in front of the Lethbridge goal, but he was turned away by Skinner.

    Skinner used all of his 6-foot-4 frame to play big in the Hurricanes goal, and he made the acrobatic diving stop when he needed to. In total, he made 36 saves on the night.

    The Hurricanes iced the win with an effort play. With 1:22 to play in the third and Brown pulled for an extra attacker for the Pats, Estephan stole the puck from Pats forward Nick Henry deep in the left corner of the Regina zone and popped in an empty-net goal to round out the 3-1 final.

The Hurricanes celebrate their Game 1 win over the Pats.

    Brown stopped 22-of-24 shots fired his way taking the loss in goal for the Pats.

    The Hurricanes came out with the win on Friday, because they made more effort plays than the Pats did. You keep wondering when the Lethbridge players will run out of gas, but they just don’t. Even with returning forwards Zak Zborosky and Zane Franklin from injury, the Hurricanes still dressed associate players Dylan Cozens and Shawn Harke.

    The line of Wong, Estephan and Egor Babenko still played a lot, but their efforts never diminished as the game went on.

    When the Hurricanes and Pats meet in Game 2 on Saturday in Regina (7 p.m. local time, Brandt Centre), it will be the Hurricanes 16^th game in 29 days.

    Will this be the game they hit the wall, or will they just keep going like the Energizer Bunny?

    The Pats learned one thing on Friday that the slightest little letdown against Lethbridge can be costly.

Regina sports media a good group

    During my travels through various WHL centres, I have often renewed ties with old friends and acquaintances that work for mainstream media outlets, which has been fun.

    At all my stops, everyone has been good. Due to the Pats doing so well this season, I have made a number of trips to Regina, and I am impressed with how well everyone from the Regina sports media scene seems to get along. You could tell there is a good vibe between all the reporters.

    It is also cool to see a large number of them out at Pats games. Due to cuts in mainstream media outlets throughout Canada, you don’t normally see this. Regina is an exception mainly due to the fact the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders call that centre home, but regardless, it is still nice to see larger numbers of media members from mainstream outlets out at Pats games.

    Anyways on trips to Regina, it has been cool to interact with Rob Vanstone and Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post, Bianca Millions from CTV and Arielle Zerr from CJME, who are all the mainstays. I also get to see Rod Pedersen of CKRM and Warren Woods of CJME on a somewhat regular basis too.

    I hope the upbeat vibe that is there can continue well into the future.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Estephan’s hat trick pulls Hurricanes even with Tigers

The Hurricanes celebrate Giorgio Estephan’s first goal.

    MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – Giorgio Estephan was the feature attraction of an impromptu 80s night at the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat.

    The standout centre fired home a hat trick and collected an assist to help his visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes outgun the host Medicine Hat Tigers 7-4 before 4,513 spectators on Saturday night in Game 2 of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. 

    With the win in a high-scoring 1980s style clash, the Hurricanes even the series at 1-1. Game 3 is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. Alberta time at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge.

    The setback was also a first in the 2017 post-season for the Tigers, who swept away the Brandon Wheat Kings in four games in the opening round of the playoffs. The Tigers took Game 1 of the series with the Hurricanes 4-0 on Friday night at the Canalta Centre.

    Estephan was pleased his Hurricanes were able to wrestle away home ice advantage from the Tigers. The Hurricanes have defeated the Tigers in six of the last seven encounters at the Enmax Centre over the past two seasons.

Giorgio Estephan had a hat trick and an assist for the Hurricanes.

    “It (the Canalta Centre) is a tough barn to win in too,” said Estephan. “Anytime that you can split a series (of two games on the road) in the playoffs, especially not having home ice advantage, it is a big thing for us.

    “Coming back into our barn with a lot of fans, I think is definitely exciting for us.”

    For a while on Saturday, it appeared the Tigers and Hurricanes were doing their best to burn out the scoreboard at the Canalta Centre.
    The Tigers stormed out to 2-0 lead, when right-winger Zach Fischer scored 20 seconds into the contest and added a second tally at the 2:23 mark of the opening frame. Overage left-winger Steven Owre picked up assists on both of Fischer’s goals.

    Before the nine-minute mark of the opening frame could roll around, Estephan netted his first goal of the game and right-winger Alec Baer scored 27 seconds after that tally to force a 2-2 tie.

    At the 11:10 mark of the first, Tigers right-winger Ryan Jevne scored on a backdoor setup on a power play to put the hosts up 3-2. Before the opening frame ended, Hurricanes overage captain Tyler Wong capitalized on a Tigers own-zone giveaway to tie things up at 3-3.

Tigers right-winger Zach Fischer takes a high shot from a Hurricanes player.

    “We struggled the first game, so we kind of knew that we had to come back stronger,” said Estephan. “We definitely did that today.

    “We didn’t really start the greatest we wanted to, but to kind of show the resiliency like we did to pull out this win, it is definitely something huge.”

    The Tigers jumped back in front 4-3 at the 6:03 mark of the second, when centre James Hamblin tipped home a shot from linemate Max Gerlach. Just over two-and-a-half minutes later, centre Dylan Cozens, who was selected by the Hurricanes in the first round and 19^th overall in last year’s WHL Bantam Draft, potted his first career WHL playoff goal to force a 4-4 tie.

Captain Tyler Wong had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes.

    With 7:09 to play in the third, the Hurricanes took their first lead of the game, when Estephan scored on a power play to give the visitors a 5-4 lead. The Edmonton product said the key to that goal was staying focused when the play got in close on Tigers netminder Michael Bullion.

    “It was a great play from Tyler Wong in the middle to kind of get it out to me wide,” said Estephan. “I tried to get it upstairs.

    “I didn’t get it high enough, but there was a rebound. It kind of just poked through (Bullion’s) legs, and it was sitting behind him. I just tapped it in.”

    Estephan completed his hat trick scoring into an empty net with 1:25 to play in the third shortly after a Tigers power play expired. Tanner Nagel scored an empty-net short-handed goal with 48.6 seconds to play to round out the scoring for the visitors.

    Bullion turned away 19 of 24 shots to take the loss in goal for the Tigers. Stuart Skinner turned away 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Hurricanes.

Steven Owre picked up two assists for the Tigers.

    Saturday’s game also contained a number of elements that showed the Highway 3 rivalry is alive and well between these two clubs, which operate in cities that are about 170 kilometres apart from each other. Hurricanes defenceman Brennan Menell took a double minor penalty in the first period for spearing Tigers left-winger Matt Bradley, and that infraction will trigger an automatic review by the league for a possible suspension.

    Fischer engaged with Hurricanes right-winger Zane Franklin in a spirited fight late in the second period, and both sides threw a number of hard hits.

    “It is a rivalry,” said Estephan. “We’re only an hour and a half away.

    “There are a lot of fans coming back and forth, and it is definitely exciting to play in front of them. It definitely gets you fired up to play in the next game.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.