Hurricanes’ Laventure finally finds luck in P.A.

Tyson Laventure celebrates scoring for the Hurricanes.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Luck finally went Tyson Laventure’s way in Prince Albert.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes veteran right-winger, who turned 20-years-old in late January, seemed to have a dark cloud hanging over him when it came to putting up points when he played with the Prince Albert Raiders. Taken by the Raiders in the second round and 31^st overall in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft, Laventure began playing with the Raiders on a full-time basis at the start of the 2019-2020 season.

Laventure brought a tonne of effort and energy creating various chances in the offensive zone, but the points followed at a trickle pace.  In 93 career regular season games with the Raiders, Laventure had 15 goals and 13 assists.

Tyson Laventure has career highs in goals (20) and points (42).

He was traded by the Raiders to the Hurricanes on December 31, 2021.

On Friday night, Laventure and his Hurricanes were in Prince Albert taking on the Raiders in a WHL regular season clash at the Art Hauser Centre. In that contest, luck finally went Laventure’s way.

With the teams locked in a scoreless tie, Laventure record his 20^th goal of the season on a positive bounce play to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 9:17 mark of the second period. Laventure had the puck at the right side of the Prince Albert net and made a backhanded pass across the front of the goal trying to find linemate Brayden Edwards backdoor.

Laventure’s pass deflected off the skate of Raiders 17-year-old centre Aiden Oiring into the Prince Albert net to give the visitors the lead. That tally held up as the winning goal as the Hurricanes came away with a 3-0 victory to disappoint most of the 2,445 spectators in attendance.

Tyson Laventure has enjoyed playing for the Hurricanes.

“Obviously, I’m playing my former team, so I really want to get the win,” said Laventure, who Hurricanes won three of their four head-to-head encounters with the Raiders this season. “Obviously, it was great to be able to help out my new team there and contribute with a goal in my old building.”

In 53 games with the Hurricanes this season, Laventure, who is from Lloydminster located on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, has 20 goals and 22 assists for 42 points to go with a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department. His goal, point and plus-minus totals are career highs.

He has also played 93 career regular season games with the Hurricanes putting up 26 goals and 39 assists for 65 points.

Brayden Edwards scored the Hurricanes second goal on Friday.

“I’m a little bit luckier like that one tonight,” said Laventure, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 190 pounds. “I think that I’ve just been playing a little bit of a harder game this year and scoring a lot more right in front of the net and staying a little bit out of the perimeter.

“I’m an older guy now, so I thought it was time to step up and start really helping the team out.”

Laventure had a huge following in attendance on Friday. His family, his Raider billet family, his girlfriend and her family were all part of his entourage. He was pumped to get a highlight with his good-luck goal.

While he enjoyed his time in Prince Albert, Laventure said the change of scenery did help kick start his game. He said he has enjoyed playing for Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt, assistant general manager and assistant coach Matt Anholt and head coach Brent Kisio.

Tyson Zimmer had the Hurricanes third goal on Friday.

Under their guidance, Laventure said he has found his way towards being a more productive player.

“It has been awesome for me,” said Laventure. “Pete (Anholt), Matty (Anholt) and Brent (Kisio) are all great guys.

“They’ve really helped me improve my game. I’m really enjoying it in Lethbridge.”

Laventure and the Hurricanes got out to a good start in Friday’s game recording the first four shots on goal. They kept the Raiders off the shot clock until the 10:44 mark of the opening frame.

The host Raiders hit high gear in the final 9:16 of the first and exited the stanza holding an 11-6 edge in shots on goal. Prince Albert came out on fire in the second forcing Hurricanes 20-year-old netminder Bryan Thomson to make a trio of big saves on Raiders forwards Harrison Lodewyk, Oiring and Carter Anderson.

Bryan Thomson made 31 saves for a shutout win on Friday.

Thomson’s glove was working in prime form with the stops on Lodewyk and Anderson.

The contest’s complexion proceeded to turn on Laventure’s tally at the 9:17 mark of the second. The Raiders were outshooting the Hurricanes 17-10 at that point in the contest.

With 1:22 remaining in the second, the Hurricanes went up 2-0 on a smart play by Edwards. After the Hurricanes lost a draw in the left faceoff circle in the offence zone, Edwards quickly stole the puck from Raiders 20-year-old defenceman Landon Kosior and slid home his eighth of the season to give the visitors a two-goal edge going into the second intermission.

Harrison Lodewyk fires a shot on goal for the Raiders.

“That was huge,” said Laventure. “Obviously, it was completely an individual effort by Eddie (Edwards) there.

“It was a really nothing play that he made into a great scoring chance and scored going into the second intermission. That was obviously a huge goal for us going into the third period and in winning the game.”

Lethbridge sealed victory at the 5:04 mark of the third, when 18-year-old right-winger Tyson Zimmer slid home a shot between the legs of Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand to round out the 3-0 final score.

Terrell Goldsmith (#10) makes a rush up ice for the Raiders.

Hildebrand turned away 27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders. Thomson stopped 31 shots to pick the shutout win for the Hurricanes. The shutout was the third of the season for Thomson.

“We didn’t compete hard enough,” said Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt. “I thought that we were light on pucks.

“I thought that we didn’t hustle to checks. We didn’t get to the front of the net enough. I thought we were pretty light out there tonight.”

The Raiders fell to 25-30-3 with the setback to sit 11^th overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 10 games remaining on their schedule. They sit four points back of the 27-27-1-2 Swift Current Broncos for eighth and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Carter Anderson (#27) tracks a shot he put on goal.

Prince Albert begins its final 10-game stretch run on Saturday traveling to Moose Jaw to take on the 35-22-0-3 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

Truitt said his players didn’t have the extra hustle that was needed on Friday as teams crank up their intensity as the post-season nears. He said his squad has to play a more playoff style game against the Warriors.

“You can’t have excuses this time of year,” said Truitt. “You can’t have a lack of urgency this time of year.

“It is disappointing especially when we know that we only have 10 games left now. It has to be desperation time. There wasn’t enough of it tonight.”

Miguel Marques set up in the offensive zone for the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes improved to 32-21-3-3 with Friday’s win to sit fifth overall in the Eastern Conference. They sit three points back of the Warriors for fourth in the conference and the right to have home ice advantage for a first round best-of-seven playoff series.

Lethbridge will continue to make a push for that home ice spot traveling to Saskatoon on Saturday to face the 40-13-4-1 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

“Obviously, there are not many games left in the season,” said Laventure, whose Hurricanes have nine games remaining on their regular season slate. “We still think we are going to be pushing for the fourth place there and hopefully get home ice in playoffs.

“These are big games for us here. We’re hoping to move forward and have a great playoff run.”

The Hurricanes celebrate their win on Friday.

NOTES – Raiders veteran athletic therapist and equipment manager Duane “Puff” Bartley worked his 1,500^th WHL game with the team on Friday, and he was honoured during a pre-game ceremony. Bartley began his career with the Raiders at the start of the 2001-02 campaign. 

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