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(Photo courtesy the Lethbridge Hurricanes via www.lethbridgehurricanes.com)

Hurricanes win WHL Business of the Year award

May 6, 2020 | 10:36 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes have received recognition from the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the organization’s business acumen.

The ‘Canes have been named the league’s Business of the Year. Last month, the team received the WHL Eastern Conference Business of the Year award, which in turn made them a nominee to receive the award league-wide, going up against the Western Conference recipient Seattle Thunderbirds.

READ MORE: Hurricanes receive WHL Eastern Conference Business Award

For the 2018-2019 season, the Lethbridge club finished as runners-up to the Everett Silvertips.

“There has been a lot of hard work by our team over the last few seasons to get to where we are, and we are super proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish off the ice,” said Hurricanes General Manager of Business Operations Terry Huisman, in a release from the club.

Throughout the shortened 2019-2020 WHL season, the Hurricanes had a total of 123,069 fans enter the ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge, good for an average attendance of 3,970 people per game.

This was on pace to be the second-best attended season in franchise history. The 3,970 average attendance per game matched the average attendance for the 2018-2019 season.

“Our fan base has been great,” Huisman stated.

“They seem to be getting younger and more excited and engaged at every game and we finished pretty good [for attendance] which is really exciting and you can tell the pride our fans have in the community.”

The team took part in many local initiatives in Lethbridge and surrounding communities such as Magrath, Raymond and Coaldale.

In addition to hosting presentations on topics such as leadership, anti-bullying, financial literacy and concussion awareness, the team helped contribute over $163,000 to local communities and organizations.