Photo of the Lethbridge Hurricanes battling the Medicine Hat Tigers in their last home game of the 2023-24 regular season, March 22, 2024. Lethbridge will face Swift Current in the first round of the 2024 WHL Playoffs. (Photo: LNN)

By Justin Goulet

Hurricanes conclude regular season, will face Broncos in first round of playoffs

Mar 24, 2024 | 4:55 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Now that their regular season has ended, the Lethbridge Hurricanes shift their focus to the Western Hockey League (WHL) playoffs.

The Hurricanes will battle the Central Division champion Swift Current Broncos in a best-of-seven first-round series starting on Friday, March 29, 2024.

This will mark the first time since 2018 that Lethbridge has battled Swift Current in the post-season and just the second time ever that the two teams will meet in the playoffs.

The first-round series schedule for the Hurricanes is as follows:

• Game one: March 29 at Swift Current’s InnovationPlex – 7:00 p.m.
• Game two: March 30 at Swift Current’s InnovationPlex – 7:00 p.m.
• Game three: April 2 at Lethbridge’s ENMAX Centre – 7:00 p.m.
• Game four: April 3 at Lethbridge’s ENMAX Centre – 7:00 p.m.
• Game five (if necessary): April 5 at Swift Current’s InnovationPlex – 7:00 p.m.
• Game six (if necessary): April 7 at Lethbridge’s ENMAX Centre – 7:00 p.m.
• Game seven (if necessary): April 9 at Swift Current’s InnovationPlex – 7:00 p.m.

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The 2024 WHL Playoffs presented by Stringam Law signify the eighth straight year Lethbridge has qualified for the post-season, which is the longest streak in team history.

The Hurricanes finished the regular season with a record of 33-28-7-0 and 73 points, placing them in seventh in the Eastern Conference and fourth in the Central Division.

Swift Current wrapped up the season with a 40-22-4-2 record along with 86 points, placing second in the East and first in the Central Division.

WEEKEND RECAP

Lethbridge finished the regular season with a home and away set against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

On Friday, March 22, the ‘Canes hosted the Tigers in front of a reported crowd of 5,378 at the ENMAX Centre.

In the first period, Bogdans Hodass put the visiting Tigers up 1-0 at the 13:02 mark. The goal marked Hodass’ seventh of the season.

It would not be until 21 seconds into the second frame that the Hurricanes would score, as Logan Wormald netted his 19^th of the season to tie the game. Before the buzzer sounded, Gavin McKenna scored his 32^nd goal of the year at 6:42 to give Medicine Hat the 2-1 lead.

The fans in the arena thought the Tigers would be walking away with the win as time ticked away during the third period. However, Brayden Edwards got the crowd rocking, scoring his 31^st of the year at the 17:59 mark to tie the game at two goals a piece.

The final seconds of regulation proved to be intense, but when the buzzer went off, no other goals were scored, and fans were set to witness an extra period.

A high-action overtime period almost ended with zero goals, but with just 42 seconds left in the game, Oasiz Wiesblatt scored his 25^th of the season to give Medicine Hat the 3-2 victory.

Lethbridge goaltender Harrison Meneghin, who earlier in the night was named the team’s Most Valuable Player for the season, impressed with 53 saves on 56 shot attempts from the Tigers.

Hurricanes’ captain Joe Arntsen was named the first star of the game, with teammates Sean Tschigerl and Dylan Sydor named the second and third stars, respectively.

SATURDAY NIGHT FINALE

Saturday, March 23 saw a similar finish, but a different result for Lethbridge. In Medicine Hat, the ‘Canes defeated the Tigers 4-3 in overtime to end their regular season.

The first period saw two goals from both teams. Gavin McKenna put Medicine Hat up 1-0 with his 33^rd goal of the season 1:45 into the game. At the 10:54 mark, Carter Dereniwsky netted a short-handed goal, his sixth of the season. Minutes later, at 16:07, Oasiz Wiesblatt, who scored Friday night’s OT winner for the Tigers, put the home team up 2-1. Dylan Sydor scored his 28^th of the year at 19:11 to tie the game at two going into the second period.

McKenna was feeling it at Co-op Place. He scored his second of the night 6:09 into the period. Just over two minutes later, at 8:28, Dylan Sydor replicated McKenna’s success and scored his own second goal of the game to tie the match-up at three. With his two goals on the night, Sydor reached a significant milestone: 100 career points.

The third and final period of regulation resulted in no goals, so for the second night in a row, the Hurricanes and Tigers were headed to overtime.

The extra period did not last as long as Friday night. Noah Chadwick scored his 13^th of the season at the 1:54 mark, securing the big season finale win for Lethbridge.

Medicine Hat’s Rhett Parsons, Dru Krebs and Bogdans Hodass were named the first, second and third stars of the game. The Tigers are scheduled to face Red Deer in round one of the playoffs.

Read more local sports at Lethbridge News Now.

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