(Photo: LNN)

By Christian Oldale

Giants hand Hurricanes first home loss 4-3 in overtime

Oct 12, 2024 | 10:37 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes fell 4-3 in overtime to the Vancouver Giants on Friday, October 11.

The game was the Hurricanes debut for forward Shane Smith, who the team acquired on October 5 in exchange for Harrison Meneghin.

In the first period, the Hurricanes found themselves shorthanded after a high sticking penalty to Miguel Marques. However, they did not waver on the penalty kill, and Logan Wormald scored his third goal of the year shorthanded, assisted by Brayden Edwards.

In the second, the Hurricanes killed off another penalty taken by Smith at the end of the first. 1:38 into the frame, the Giants tied the game with a goal from former Hurricane Tyson Zimmer. Just under four minutes later, they would take a 2-1 lead off a massive wrist shot from Tyler Thorpe.

There were no more goals in the second period, but a major brawl broke out at the end of the period buzzer. The fights resulted in three 10-minute misconducts, including two for Lethbridge, as well as four minor penalties.

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In the third period, after the smoke has cleared, the two teams continued in a hard fought contest. At the 10:55 mark of the third, Leo Braillard continued his hot start to the season for the Canes, scoring his fifth goal in six games on a deflection. Logan McCutcheon and Will Sharpe tallied the assists on the goal.

The Hurricanes would follow that up with a powerplay goal following a Giants Interference penalty, when Kooper Gizowski buried a rebound to take a 3-2 lead. Braillard and Sharpe each got their second points of the night on the assist.

The Giants would once again tie up the game just over three minutes later, when Aaron Obobaifo scored his sixth goal of the season, deking out Hurricanes netminder Brady Smith. His goal would be the final in regulation as the Hurricanes headed to overtime for the third time this year already.

However, the crowd of 3,092 at the VisitLethbridge.com arena would not get much free hockey, as just 12 seconds in, Cameron Schmidt flew into the Hurricanes zone, deking past defenseman Noah Chadwick and wiring a backhander past Brady Smith to ice the game at 4-3.

Brady Smith stopped 27 of 31 shots in the loss. Braillard got the game’s first star for his performance, while Giants d-man Ryan Lin got the second star. Sharpe rounded out the three.

The Hurricanes will have a short rest, as they take on the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday October 12.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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