By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Hurricanes GM discusses growing pains in mid-season review

Dec 30, 2016 | 2:20 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A home-and-home set with the Kootenay Ice this week – which also marked the official mid-point for the 2016-17 season – provided what could almost be a summary of the Lethbridge Hurricanes campaign so far.

Playing in Cranbrook on Tuesday (Dec. 28), the Ice jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and never looked back, beating the Hurricanes 6-4. One day later and on home ice, the Hurricanes would score first and go on to win 4-1.

When the Canes are hot they look nearly unstoppable and when they go cold nothing seems to go right for them.

That’s part of rebuilding an organization though, according to Hurricanes General Manager Peter Anholt, who took some time to discuss the first half of the season with Lethbridge News Now.

“I think first of all, people gotta understand that we’re trying to build an organization and it doesn’t happen quickly, we’re only into our second year basically. Last year things went very, very well, maybe didn’t finish quite as well as we would want, but I think we’re trying to establish a lot of things that we want to make sure our culture is right,” stated Anholt.

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“We’re trying to continue to put those things in place, so that’s not something that happens quickly, that takes time,” Anholt continued. “Really, I think we’re in a good spot to be very honest with you. I think that we’ve got a group of guys that know, really know, the difference between right and wrong now after how we started.”

The club opened the season with a record just over .500 through the first eight games, then dropped six in a row, won back-to-back and proceeded to lose another five straight. With a quarter of the season played at that point, things looked bleak as the team embarked on a U.S. road trip that would see them play some stiff competition, including an Everett squad that only had one loss at home. Then they got hot.

“I think the trip was really good for us,” explained Anholt. “We went into Seattle first, played really, really good, lost the game but we played good against a real good team. Then to win in both Everett and Portland, I thought really, really set the tone for our team and how we played.”

From there, Lethbridge would win six in a row and put together an impressive 13-game point streak that vaulted them back into the playoff picture. They now sit second in the Western Hockey League’s Central Division with a record of 19-13-3-2.

The game winning goal against Everett that started the run, came off the stick of Hurricanes captain, Tyler Wong, a player that Anholt was quick to praise while assessing the season.

“Wonger’s a special kid,” Anholt said with a smile. “He’s a leader, he leads by example, he’s such a great ambassador for the Hurricanes off the ice too. He cares so much, sometimes he can almost care too much, but he cares so much and he wants this team to do well and he’s such an integral part of this team and the fabric of this team.”

In addition to Wong, Anholt also discussed the influence of head coach, Brent Kisio, who is now in his second season with the team.

“There’s been a lot of different challenges this year in so many different ways and you grow as a coach with that too, so to go through that experience and understand it, he’s gone through it as an assistant at times in Calgary, but it’s different when you’re the head guy,” said Anholt. “I think he’s continuing to learn with that and grow as a head coach and understand that things are going to happen and sometimes it’s out of your control, but you’ve got to just keep working with the players you’ve got and keep working to get them better. That’s what I like about Brent, he works with the players that he has and he works for them to get better.”

When asked if the Hurricanes are playoff bound this season – after being dispatched in five games by Regina in the first-round last season – Anholt was non-committal.

“Who knows. We’re still kind of almost in our infancy stage with our team. I think we’ve got some playoff experience that’s going to help us down the road. You’ve got to stay healthy, you got to get great goaltending and you got to be a little bit lucky. I think that we’ve got a lot of room for growth yet, and maybe we can add a little bit here between now and the [trade] deadline to see if we can do something to add to this group.”

While he wasn’t willing to make assurances about the immediate future, Anholt was very optimistic when the conversation shifted to the organization’s prospect pool. He focused on four players in particular that have been drafted in the last two years, saying centre Dylan Cozens, defencemen Nolan Jones and Tyler Strath, and goaltender Adam Swan are all expected to be solid contributors for the club in coming years.

“We really feel that we’ve got some good young guys,” he stated. “You’ve got to keep filling that pipeline. That’s the key.”