vs. Saskatoon:  Tonight marks the first of four meetings between the Lethbridge Hurricanes and the 2013 Memorial Cup hosts from Saskatoon. Early on to start the season, both teams have had their struggles putting the puck in the net, but the Canes are coming off a 3-2 win over one of the top teams in the BC Division – the Prince George Cougars. The Canes enter the game one point out of 4^th in the Central Division with a record of 3-5-0-0 while the Blades are 2-7-0-0 after a 4-3 loss to the Kootenay Ice Friday.

The teams split their 4 games in the 2011-2012 season. Leading the way for the Hurricanes against Saskatoon are Russ Maxwell (1G, 2A), Brady Ramsay (3A) and Jamal Watson (3A) who all have 3 points each.

2011-2012 Season Matchup:

November 5^th: Hurricanes (3) Blades (7)

December 3^rd: Hurricanes (6) Blades (3)

February 10^th: Hurricanes (3) Blades (6)

February 22^nd: Hurricanes (3) Blades (2)

Powerplay: Hurricanes –  3/12  Blades 6/16

Shots on Goal: Hurricanes – 163 Blades - 148

2012 – 2013 Stats:

Points (7) – Russ Maxwell

Goals (5) – Russ Maxwell

Assists (4) – Axel Blomqvist

PIM’s (25) – Spencer Galbraith                              

Plus/Minus (+1) – Jaimen Yakubowski, Ryan Pilon, Axel Blomqvist

Overall Powerplay: 6/40 (15%)                                                     Home Powerplay: 3/20 (15%)

Overall Penalty Kill: 12/35 (65.7%)                                              Home Penalty Kill: 4/16 (75%)    

Top Scorers – Lethbridge:

Russ Maxwell: 5G, 2A – 7 points

Jaimen Yakubowski: 3G, 3A – 6 points

Sam McKechnie: 4G, 0A – 4 points

Axel Blomqvist: 0G, 4A – 4 points

Top Scorers – Saskatoon:

Josh Nicholls: 5G, 5A – 10 points

Shane McColgan: 1G, 5A – 6 points

Matej Stransky: 2G, 3A – 5 points

Brenden Walker: 1G, 3A – 4 points

(2 others with 4 points each)

Milestone Watch:

Ty Rimmer – played in his 100^th career regular season WHL game Oct 6^th vs. Spokane. Rimmer is also 1 shutout shy from 10 in his career

Brady Ramsay – 4 points shy of 50 for his career

Remi Laurencelle – recorded his first career WHL goal vs. Spokane October 6^th 2012.

Axel Blomqvist – recorded his first career WHL point with 1 assist vs. Spokane on October 6^th, 2012

Joel Topping – recorded his first career WHL point with 1 assist vs. Tri City (his brother Mitch’s team) on October 5^th, 2012

Graham Hood – hit the 100 career point milestone with 1 assist vs. Kootenay on September 29th

DID YOU KNOW?:

- Leading by Example: The Lethbridge Hurricanes named 20-year old forward Graham Hood the 22nd Captain in Hurricanes history this week. Hood follows in the footsteps of three of his former teammates – Brody Sutter, Cam Braes (2011-2012), Mike Reddington (2010-11) and Carter Bancks (2009-10) who have worn the “C” during his time in Lethbridge.

- CSS Says:  Central Scouting released its “preliminary watch list” for 2012 and two Lethbridge Hurricanes will be heavily scouted this season. Defenceman Adam Henry (who is sidelined until January with a heart condition) and rookie Forward Axel Blomqvist are in the preliminary rankings. Henry finished with 21 points (4G, 17A) in 60 games last year while Blomqvist had 46 points in 38 games with Rogle J18 last season. 

COMMUNITY CORNER:

EXCLUSIVE for Season Ticket Holders: This season we’re introducing the Perfect Attendance! We want to reward our Season Ticket Holders for their perfect attendance. If their season ticket is scanned for every home game during the Hurricanes 2012-2013 regular season, they will be entered in a draw to win a free season ticket in 2013-2014.

Every Friday home game throughout the season is also “Food Bank Fridays”.  Be sure to bring a non-perishable food item for the Lethbridge Food Bank. Also look for the Food Bank on the concourse and be sure to enter your name into draw for a weekly prize (winners announced during the game) Help us help the Food Bank on October 19^th, and 26^th.

Next up: The Hurricanes streak of 6 games straight at home continues Wednesday, October 17th when the Brandon Wheat Kings 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. You can always follow your Lethbridge Hurricanes at home or on the road with news and team headlines on Twitter @WHLHurricanes, play by play analysis @CanesCast or follow us on our Official Facebook Fan Page at facebook.com/WHLHurricanes. You can also check out the game live on WHL Web TV - log on to whl.ca for details and pricing. Fan can also drop by Pop's Pub South to watch the WHL Webcast live as they present all 36 Hurricanes road games this season.