Hurricanes, Rebels light it up

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Taber Times

By Dale Woodard
Southern Alberta Newspapers

In a game reminiscent of pond hockey, the Lethbridge Hurricanes have secured a weekend sweep.

The Hurricanes prevailed 8-5 over the Red Deer Rebels in Western Hockey League play Monday night at the Enmax Centre, completing a weekend sweep following a 5-2 win Saturday night at the Enmax Centre and a 6-3 win Friday in Red Deer that improves the Canes to 6-6-2-0.

On a night where the only thing missing was someone yelling “Car!” or someone’s mother calling everyone in, it was a stats night on both sides in the high scoring and feisty tilt.

Leading the way on the scoresheet was Canes top point-getter Justin Hall, who added to his season totals with two goals and three assists for a five point outing, while defenceman Trevor Thurston provided a little zip from the blue-line with a pair of goals.

Liam Kindree and Alex Thacker each chipped in with three assists, while Logan Barlage added two helpers and Jett Jones scored once and added an assist.

On the visitor’s side, Ben King led the Rebels with two goals and two assists, while Arshdeep Bains added one goal and three assists and Dallon Mellin had two helpers.

Kalan Lind had one goal and an assist for Red Deer.

In a game that looked like two teams facing each other for the third time in one weekend and getting a dislike for one another, the Hurricanes jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals from Zack Stringer and Hall — on the power play — in the opening 10:47.

The Rebels cut that lead in half when Lind had plenty of time to stuff a rebound past Hurricanes goaltender Bryan Thomson to make it 2-1 with 8:08 left in the first.

Alex Cotton scored onto power play to put the Hurricanes up 3-1, but King cut the lead to 3-2 in the last minute of the first on the man advantage.

Ethan Rowland pulled Red Deer even 3:48 into the second period before Thurston scored his first of the game a little over one minute later.

Bains tied it at 4-4 after two periods.

The Hurricanes went up by a pair in the first half of the third on goals by Hall and Jones.

The Rebels set the table for a potentially exciting finish when King buried his second of the game with 4:14 remaining to make it 6-5. But the Hurricanes two-goal lead was quickly restored when Thurston joined the rush and tapped home a feed from Thacker for his second of the game and a 7-5 lead and Ty Nash added an empty netter with 30 seconds to go.

The Rebels outshot the Hurricanes 34-31.

Lethbridge’s power play was 2-for-4, while Red Deer was 2-for-9 with the man advantage.

Thomson stopped 29 of 34 shots, while Fancy — a product of Claresholm — made 23 saves.

The Hurricanes were originally scheduled to play the Medicine Hat Tigers last weekend, but the games were postponed when a member of the Calgary Hitmen’s cohort tested positive for COVID. The Tigers and Hitmen had played the previous weekend, suspending both team’s operations.

The Hurricanes next opponent is unconfirmed.