Medicine Hat, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes caped off the weekend with a date against their fiercest rivals – the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Canes went into the game after a 1-0 shutout of Red Deer Saturday where they played their best game of the preseason thanks to solid goaltending, disciplined play and a relatively solid powerplay even though they only converted 1 of their 7 powerplay chances. The Tigers hadn’t played in a week and they last lost 5-0 to the Prince George Cougars.

It wasn’t the exact start the Hurricanes were looking for as they found themselves down 2-0 midway through the period after a pair of goals from Hunter Shinkaruk and Jayden Hart who scored less than 30 seconds apart to get the lead. Shots on goal favored the Tigers 16 -9 after the opening 20 minutes and Assistant Coach Chris Chisamore commented that “it wasn’t a great period with lots of turnovers, but the players got better at the end.”

The second period was a different story as the offense from both sides seemed to find another gear. The Tigers made it a 3-0 lead on a powerplay just 2 minutes into the game but Canes rookie Remi Laurencelle (unassisted) got Lethbridge on board and that wouldn’t be the last from the Winnipeg, MB native. Medicine Hat added two more goals to make it a 5-1 game and that ended the night for Christopher Tai who gave up 5 goals on 22 shots; in came Tanner Kovacs in relief. Despite being down 5-1, the Canes would score the next three starting with a shorthanded marker from Jay Merkley (unassisted) at 8:44. The Canes would continue to claw their way back with two more goals in roughly two minutes and both those goals coming off the stick of Laurencelle who gets his first hat trick of the pre-season. Before the period was done, Curtis Valk would add his second of the game and again the Tigers would lead it 6-4.

The Tigers would put the game away for good spoiling any sort of comeback with two more goals in the third to seal an 8-4 win. Medicine Hat outshot the Canes 38-25 with Lethbridge going 1/2 on the powerplay while the Tigers were 1/3. Scratched from tonight’s game were: Ty Rimmer, Ryan Pilon, Dan Johnston, Graham Hood, Harrison Harper, Joel Topping and Michael Sofillas while the starters were: Christopher Tai, Spencer Galbraith, Connor Sutton, Jaimen Yakubowski, Reid Duke and Kolten Olynek.

The Canes next “home” pre-season game is Wednesday, September 12^th when they host those same Tigers. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased through the Lethbridge Minor Hockey Association office with proceeds going to support Minor Hockey.