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Hurricanes rebound on home ice with a dominant 5-1 victory over Rockets

Dec 12, 2018 | 9:46 PM

LETHBRIDGE – After a tough weekend south of the border, the Lethbridge Hurricanes returned to the cozy confines of the ENMAX Centre on Wednesday, Dec. 12, and took it to the Kelowna Rockets from the drop of puck leading to a 5-1 win. 

Assistant coach Jeff Hansen was manning the bench for the first time with Brent Kisio in Victoria for the World Junior Hockey Championships and thought his guys really dictated play for most of the night.

“We really tilted the ice most of the game, I didn’t think there was too much time where they took control and had momentum,” Hansen continued. “I thought we were pretty good at righting the ship when we had a bad shift or two, we did a good job of getting momentum back.  

The Hurricanes opened the scoring only 16 seconds past the two-minute mark of the 1st period when Zach Cox made a nice move to get a shooting lane in front and made no mistake beating Rockets goaltender Roman Basran. 

Lethbridge kept pressing, and generated tons of chances but couldn’t cash, the best chance came on one-timer in front by Dylan Cozens around the nine-minute mark.

At 13:51, Koletrane Wilson was called for cross-checking and Kelowna went on the powerplay. Except it would be the Hurricanes taking advantage, as Jake Leschyshyn ripped a wrist shot past Basran shorthanded to it 2-0 at 14:05.

Hurricanes netminder Carl Tetachuk was tested after the goal, making a pile of saves, but Lethbridge managed to kill off the penalty. 

The 1st period would come to a close with the score still 2-0 in favour of the home side. Lethbridge also led on the shot clock 13-8. 

Nearing the midway point of the 2nd period, a strange play benefitted the Hurricanes when with most skaters on both sides still in the neutral zone Basran lost his stick behind his net. Lethbridge quickly picked up the puck and attacked, and off a nice pass from Taylor Ross, it would be Jake Elmer making it 3-0 Hurricanes.

Lethbridge nearly added a fourth goal off a turnover in the last minute of the 2nd, but the puck stayed out, and the buzzer sounded to signify two periods were in the books. The Hurricanes took their 3-0 lead over the Rockets to the second intermission with a sizable lead in shots as well, at 27-16.

Just 36 seconds into the 3rd period, Igor Merezhko and Erik Gardiner dropped the mitts with each player landing some big shots before a Merezhko uppercut landed leading to a takedown. If the Rockets were looking for momentum off of the fight, they didn’t find it, because a great lead pass by Danila

Palivko sent captain Jordy Bellerive in on a breakaway from the blue line and he beat Basran to make it 4-0 at 4:05.

Things really started to unravel for the Rockets after that, a big scramble in front ended with Ross knocking home his 18th goal off the season from the seat of his pants to make it 5-0 and chasing Basran from the net. 

Tetachuk made another big save off a wraparound chance at 9:38, keeping his shutout intact, but with the Hurricanes shorthanded following a roughing penalty by Elmer, the Rockets’ Liam Kindree broke the goose egg for the Rockets.

That’s how things would finish up, with Lethbridge outshooting Kelowna 37-27 overall. The Rockets went 1-for7 on their powerplays, while the Hurricanes finished 0-for-3.

Tetachuk made 26 saves for his sixth win of the season, while Dylan Cozens had two assists to go along with a +3 in the victory.

Hansen said for a rookie goalie, Tetachuk has only had one off night all season long.

“He’s been really good when he’s been called upon. He’s the kind of guy who has ‘it’, he’s a gamer, and when the game is on the line or it’s close you want him in net. He battles and competes super hard, and he’s not going to let those go in,” Hansen added.

Jake Elmer also spoke to the media following the win and was impressed by his team up and down the lineup.

“We had some guys step up for us, it was Jeff’s first game as a head coach and I thought we played well for him. That’s all we can do, play hard for each other.”

He was also complimentary of not only Tetachuk but both Hurricane goaltenders.

“[Tetachuk’s] been great, it’s really good to have two goalies on our team that can show up every time they’re in net. I think it gives us confidence, tonight was a really good example of his abilities in net and that’s good for us,” Elmer added.

With the win, the Hurricanes record now sits at 16-9-4-2, and thanks to games played Lethbridge moves ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings for second place in the Central Division. 

Just two games remain for the Hurricanes before the holiday break. 

They’ll stay in Lethbridge for the balance of the week ahead of a matchup against the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday, Dec. 16, and then it’s off to Calgary for a showdown with the Hitmen on Sunday, Dec. 17.