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Lethbridge Hurricanes explode for seven goals in victory over Kootenay Ice

Jan 2, 2018 | 9:23 PM

LETHBRIDGE – There was a hockey game on the ice of the ENMAX Centre on Tuesday night (Jan. 2), but looking at the scoreboard someone might’ve thought it was a football game.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes put up seven goals in a 7-0 win over the Kootenay Ice, moving their record to 17-17-3 on the season.

The game actually started off slow, with neither team getting on the board until the final minute of play in the first period when Hurricanes forward Jordy Bellerive buried his 21st goal of the season on the powerplay to give Lethbridge a 1-0 lead. Shots were 7-7 after the opening frame.

Midway through the second period, on the powerplay again, the Hurricanes would add to their lead courtesy of captain Giorgio Estephan.

The Hurricanes then struck once more in the final minute of the second period, when Jadon Joseph buried a tape to tape feed at the lip of the crease from Egor Zudilov to make it 3-0 Hurricanes after two periods of play.

Lethbridge dialed it up a notch in the second, outshooting the Ice 15-7 in the middle frame.

From there, a scoring bonanza erupted for the home side in the third period.

First it was Bellerive again, with his second goal of the night to make it 4-0 Lethbridge at 3:43. Then not a minute later Taylor Ross would score to increase the lead to 5-0, ensuring that fans were going home with a ticket good for free tacos on Wednesday.

At 5:42 Zach Cox would score his first WHL goal to make it 6-0, before Lane Zablocki scored the final goal of the game a short time later for the 7-0 final.

The Hurricanes outshot the Ice 41-20 overall, and goaltender Stuart Skinner set the record for most shutouts by a goalie in franchise history by stopping all 20 shots that came his way.

Head Coach Brent Kisio says he liked that his team played a hard 60 minutes.

“Since the break, we’ve had 20 minutes good in some games, and 40 minutes good in others,” he continued. “Tonight, we competed from the drop of the puck to the final buzzer.”

Lethbridge was shorthanded on the back end on Tuesday, as both Tate Olsen and Koletrane Wilson were missing. That gave an opportunity to Nolan Jones and Alex Cotton, who impressed their coach in the victory.

“For the first game in our league they didn’t seem out of place. They moved the puck well, Cotton was being aggressive and offensive like we expect him to be in the future and Jones first pass was great all night. Really happy with both guys tonight,” Kisio said.

Kisio also had high praise for his starting goaltender.

“Skinner is so steady for us in net. Just the way he gets out and plays pucks, traps rebounds and doesn’t give up second chances,” Kiso added. “When Klassen has been in he’s been good too, but very glad to have Skinner back there.”

The victory over Kootenay was the first of four straight games on home ice for the Hurricanes, who won’t be back in action until Friday, Jan. 5 against the Vancouver Giants.

The following night Lethbridge welcomes the Calgary Hitmen to town, before facing off against the Red Deer Rebels a week from tonight (Jan. 9).