The Lethbridge Hurricanes open up the second week of the 47^th WHL season with a tough test against the defending WHL Champion Edmonton Oil Kings. Lethbridge closed out opening weekend with a 5-1 setback to Medicine Hat giving them a record of 1-1 to open the season. In Saturday’s game, Lethbridge got off to a good start despite few scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes. Ty Rimmer was solid in net to start stopping 10 of the 11 shots he faced as the Tigers took a 1-0 lead after the first on a PPG from Dylan Busenius. Less than 3 minutes into the 2nd period, Kale Kessy made it a 2-0 game. The Canes started to run into penalty trouble but managed to kill off a Tigers 5 on 3 man advantage of nearly a minute and a half and through 40 minutes they trailed 2-0. Both teams would run into more penalty trouble in the 3^rd and again Lethbridge couldn’t get enough shots on net or generate much on the powerplay. Medicine Hat would add 3 more goals before Sam McKechnie broke the shutout with his 2^nd of the season.

vs. Edmonton: Tonight is the first meeting of 6 this season between the Hurricanes and Oil Kings. After tonight, their next game will be December 2^nd in Edmonton.

The teams played 6 times last season with the Canes going 1-5-0-0 against their division rivals. Edmonton won the first game 5-1 (Oct 11^th) before the Canes posted a 5-2 win (Nov 19^th.) Edmonton closed out the series with wins of 10-3 (Nov 23^rd) 5-2 (Nov 26^th) 6-3 (Jan 4^th) and 4-1 (Feb 26^th.) Despite a losing record against Edmonton last season, Brady Ramsay led the way with 6 points (4G, 2A) Captain Graham Hood had 4 points (4A) and Adam Henry and Jay Merkley had 2 points each. Rookie Reid Duke also scored against the OK’s last season (the 2^nd goal of his WHL career in his 7^th WHL game)

2012 – 2013 Stats:

Goals (2) – Sam McKechnie                                

Assists (1) – 5 players tied                   

Points (2) – Sam McKechnie

PIM’s (14) – Spencer Galbraith                           

Plus/Minus (+3) – Albin Blomqvist

Powerplay: 1/14 (7.1%)                        

Penalty Kill: 4/13 (69.2%)

Top Scorers – Lethbridge:

Sam McKechnie: 2G, 0A – 2 points

Brady Ramsay: 1G, 0A – 1 point

Jamal Watson: 1G, 0A – 1 point

Jaimen Yakubowski: 1G, 0A – 1 point

(5 others with 1 point each)

Top Scorers – Edmonton:

Michael St. Croix: 3G, 1A – 4 points

Curtis Lazar: 3G, 0A – 3 points

Cody Corbett: 0G, 3A – 3 points

Keegan Lowe: 1G, 1A – 2 points

(7 others with 2 points each)

COMMUNITY CORNER:

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)

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.

DID YOU KNOW?:

- Leading the Way: The Lethbridge Hurricanes were proud to name overage 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.

- According to the CSS:  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. 

- By the numbers: The Canes current roster is made up of 14 forwards, 10 defensemen and 2 goaltenders going into the WHL Opening Weekend. This group includes 10 WHL rookies (Ax. Blomqvist, Duke, Wong, Harper, Hackman, Sutton, Pilon, Topping, Laurencelle, and Tai)

- Family Ties – Oh brother: Axel Blomqvist (acquired 17^th overall in the Import Draft) joins his brother Albin Blomqvist on the Hurricanes roster. Axel is a towering Forward at 6’5 and close to 200 lbs. Both are the younger brother of Anton Blomqvist.

Next up: The Hurricanes travel to Cranbrook to take on the Kootenay Ice for the first time since a preseason matchup last week at the “Thunder Challenge” tournament in the Crowsnest Pass. Game time vs. the Ice is 7:00 with the pregame show 6:30pm with Pat Siedlecki on the home of the Hurricanes – 94.1 CJOC. Home or on the road follow your Lethbridge Hurricanes with news and team headlines on Twitter @WHLHurricanes, play by play analysis @CanesCast or by checking out our website at www.lethbridgehurricanes.com.  Fans can also follow us on our Official Facebook Fan Page at facebook.com/WHLHurricanes or 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.