Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes were out to play giant killers as they hosted the number 1 team in the WHL and the CHL Friday night as the 10-0-0-1 Kamloops Blazers rolled into town for the first time in two years. The Canes played their best game of the season in taking down the Brandon Wheat Kings (3^rd in the East) 6-1 on Wednesday night and were riding all sorts of momentum and confidence into tonight’s tilt.

A fast pace to the game and both the Canes and Blazers would get some quality scoring chances but neither team could put any pucks past starting goalies Ty Rimmer and Taran Kozun. The lone goal of the first period came on a late PP (the Blazers second of the game) when a shot from JC Lipon took a lucky bounce off Tim Bozon in front and past Rimmer making it 1-0 as Kamloops outshot the Canes 15-7.

Just two minutes into the second period, the Blazers would take a 2-0 lead on their third powerplay of the game as Colin Smith finished off the tic-tac-toe play. A few minutes later the Canes would be shorthanded, but Brady Ramsay would pick up the puck in the neutral zone and feed Dan Johnston who fired the shot past Kozun. That shorthanded marker was the 3^rd for the Hurricanes who sit tied with Everett for the most SHG’s this season. The Canes would get 3 good chances with 5 minutes to go in the game, but they’d be unable to beat Kozun while the Blazers made good on their opportunities.  Dylan Willick sped down the wing and put his 4^th of the year upstairs on Rimmer giving Kamloops a 4-1 lead at the 2^nd intermission after converting on another PP when Brendan Ranford scored with under a minute to go in the period.

Three goals may have seemed a tough hill to climb, but the Canes fought their way back against the top team in the league and it started just 26 seconds into the 3rd when Russ Maxwell ripped a shot that went in and out like a rocket. His team leading 7^th goal made it 4-2, but they weren’t done there. The Hurricanes again found the back of the net two minutes later when Jay Merkley buried his 3^rd making it a 4-3 game. Maxwell would add his 2^nd of the night and 8^th of the season 4 minutes later to erase that 3 goal deficit to tie the game at 4. The Canes ran into some penalty trouble, but the Canes managed to hold off the Blazers and push them to OT. In the extra frame, Brendan Ranford scored the winner at 3:20 keeping the Blazers undefeated record in tact after narrowly pulling out a 5-4 OT win over the Hurricanes. The Canes were outshot 39-27 in the game and were 0/2 on the powerplay while the Blazers finished 3/8.

Dickies Hardest Working Player: Dan Johnston

Tonight’s Three Stars: 3) JC Lipon 2) Russ Maxwell 1) Colin Smith

The Hurricanes close out their 6 game home stand tomorrow night, Saturday, October 20^th when the Moose Jaw Warriors come to town. Game time will be at 7:00pm and you can tune in to 94.1 CJOC starting at 6:30 to hear the pre-game show with Pat Siedlecki and Fred Jack.