Coleman, AB – The WHL preseason came to a close tonight for the Lethbridge Hurricanes as they played the Calgary Hitmen at the Thunder Challenge. The Canes entered the game with a 2-3 record after a 5-4 setback to the Kootenay Ice Friday night. As for Calgary, they are 4-0 and beat the Canes 6-1 just 10 days ago. The Canes sat Tanner Kovacs, Graham Hood, Ryan Pilon, Dan Johnston and Craig Leverton while their starting lineup consisted of Ty Rimmer, Albin Blomqvist, Lenny Hackman, Tyler Wong, Reid Duke and Jamal Watson.

Both sides would have their chances in the first period, but the play of overage Goalie Ty Rimmer held the Hitmen at bay through the opening 20. At the other end, Mack Shields also denied the Canes as the first period ended in a scoreless tie with Rimmer and Shields combining for 22 saves.

A different story in the second period as the Canes struck in the first minute when Rookie Remi Laurencelle buried his 4^th goal of the preseason at while Albin Blomqvist and Brady Ramsay drew the assists. The offense didn’t end there, on a powerplay not even 3 minutes later, Jamal Watson (Macoy Erkamps, Tyler Wong) gave the Canes a 2-0 lead. Lethbridge added a little more insurance with their 3^rd goal of the period when Ramsay scored his 3^rd goal of the preseason with Remi Laurencelle drawing the assist. Rimmer continued to deny the Hitmen as he made 25 saves through 2 periods.

In the third, the Hitmen would finally manage to solve Ty Rimmer. Elliott Peterson made it a 3-1 lead and Jaynen Rissling also tallied cutting the lead to 3-2. Depsite late pressure from Calgary, who outshot the Canes 36-31, Lethbridge closes out the preseason with a 3-2 win over the Hitmen giving them a record of 3-3. Rimmer was  perfect 3-0 in all the games he started (Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Calgary) in the preseason.

Lethbridge now turns its attention to 2012 – 2013 regular season. The Hurricanes will host the Medicine Hat Tigers on September 21^st in the DQ Home Opener at 7:00pm. Single Game Tickets are now on sale for all 36 regular season home games through the ENMAX Centre at (403) 329-SEAT.