By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Team approach key as Hurricanes near one-quarter mark of 2016-17 season

Oct 31, 2016 | 5:47 PM

LETHBRIDGE – As the Lethbridge Hurricanes approach the one quarter mark of the 2016-17 Western Hockey League season, they’re breathing a small sigh of relief.

The club snapped a six game losing skid at home Saturday night (Oct. 29), rolling over the Red Deer Rebels 6-1.

More importantly than the win though, is an adjustment to how the team is playing the game, according to General Manager Peter Anholt.

Anholt – who is also coaching the team while head coach Brent Kisio is guiding Team Canada White at the 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge – says starting with a close 2-1 loss to the league leading Prince George Cougars on Friday (Oct. 28), the entire group is playing better collectively.

“It was a team effort and we still got a ways to go yet, but at least I think the guys are sensing that it’s a team game, and individual accolades come after the team has success,” stated Anholt.

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“I thought a little less selfishness,” Anhold added of the effort. “I think the guys are kind of figuring out that it’s about the team, it’s not about a bunch of individuals, and if we can keep working on that, that sets us up for a good trip.”

When asked what led to the losing streak, which saw the Hurricanes outscored 28-9 over six games, Anholt didn’t mince words.

“Bottom line is we haven’t played very good. In some cases it was the goaltending, sometimes it was the power-play, sometimes it was just poor individual play, there was just so many factors that came into play.

“I think we’ve got to play a lot faster game, we got to use our skill to our advantage. I think our power-play has to score important goals for us. Goaltending is always a key, [Stuart Skinner] had a real good weekend, and I think that he’s on the road to where he’s got to be for us, and [Ryan Gilchrist] has been good when he’s gone in,” continued Anholt.

“Defensively, I think our defence core has to be better as a group, but our forwards have to help out our defence core, and I think that we’ve had too much gap between our defence and our forwards.”

Hurricanes captain, Tyler Wong, also talked about the club’s improvement, taking some time to focus in on their goaltender in particular.

“Stuart’s been amazing, he’s been good for us all year, I believe he’s the best goalie in the WHL right now, so I think we can rely on him to make some big saves,” Wong stated. “But I think also we’ve been playing better defensively as well, we haven’t been giving up as many odd-man rushes and we’ve been playing in the other team’s zone a lot more.”

Giorgio Estephan – tied with Wong for fourth in team scoring with 12 points – brought another take to the discussion, saying roster turnover in the offseason may have contributed to the team’s struggles.

“It’s always a new adjustment every year when you’ve got new guys, comfortability with each other, talking in the dressing room and stuff like that, it’s kind of a trust thing, it’s a bigger thing than some people think,” Estephan explained. “Having a guy’s voice in the back of your head and you don’t even have to look and throw the puck to him is something that takes a little bit of time to get used to, so there’s a little bit of an adjustment period, but I think we’re settling into it a little bit better than at the beginning of the year.”

The team – with just one road win in six tries this season – begins a three game road trip in Kamloops on Wednesday (Nov. 2).

To this point in the season, the Hurricanes are 5-3-1-0 at the Enmax Centre and 1-4-0-1 when playing elsewhere.

Despite their struggles, the team remains in a playoff spot, holding down third place in the Central Division.