By Trevor Kenney /
After a half-dozen games, Lethbridge fans are still trying to figure out just what they have with the 2007/08 collection of Hurricanes.
Dead even at three wins and three losses, the ‘Canes have offered a glimpse of pretty much everything.
They’ve looked like the dominant forechecking, puck-pressure team they propose to be on some nights, they look like a defensive shutdown team on others.
They look like an occasional offensive powerhouse, but they also look like a club that struggles to find secondary scoring, and they look like a team that gets rattled in the face of adversity.
So just who are the Lethbridge Hurricanes?
“I don’t think we have a feel for that yet,” captain Ben Wright said. “We’re still learning and a lot of guys seem to think we’re speed and skill. Although we do have those tendencies, we have to start working on our systems and that’s what’s going to win us games.”
General manager Roy Stasiuk bristles at the suggestion his team is a high-flying offensive juggernaut. True, they have the snipers in Zach Boychuk and Mitch Fadden to excel in a run-and-gun game but the instant they start thinking that way, things go awry. Case in point, a 4-0 lead they held over the Kootenay Ice that turned into a 5-4 loss.
“We have to realize that even though we have some speed and some skill, we have to match the other team’s work ethic,” Stasiuk said shortly after finalizing his first trade of the new season, bringing in 20-year-old right wing Luke Wiens.
“You know, it’s early and we’re not pushing any panic buttons but at the same time, I don’t think we’re going to let things slide this year.”
The reference to sliding was the avalanche of losses the team suffered through in October 2006.
After a decent start during which the Hurricanes played with just two overage players, Stasiuk and company felt they could wait to add another veteran.
Whether the lack of a third 20-year-old played a major role in an eight-game losing skid that essentially knocked the team out of the playoffs, is debatable but with Stasiuk’s comments this time around, it would seem that argument has merit.
So in comes Wiens, a far cry from Kyle Bailey, whom the Hurricanes eventually acquired from Portland, but a presence nonetheless that the Hurricanes felt they needed.
“I wasn’t really happy with the way some of (Medicine Hat’s) guys were taking liberties with some of our guys,” Stasiuk said of the season-opening home-and-home set with the rival Tigers.
“We’ve got some skill, we’ve got some smaller speed so at the same time, I think it’s good for them to have a little bit more room on the ice.”
Wiens, at 6-3 and 205 pounds, is there to provide that room and that confidence should things get physical.
The Hurricanes have also found early on they have two competent goaltenders. In the three losses, goaltending has hardly been an issue and the three wins have seen veteran Michael Maniago win twice, while Finnish rookie Juha Metsola also secured his first WHL victory.
“Really solid, he played very well for us in Medicine Hat (a 4-2 loss on a night the Tigers raised their WHL championship banner) and he probably deserved a better fate there, he didn’t get much help from the guys in front of him but tonight he was there when we needed him,” Hurricanes head coach Michael Dyck said after Metsola’s first win, a 3-1 triumph over Saskatoon.
“He was really poised and he’s quick. He’s a smart goalie, he’s well prepared and he plays the puck pretty well and everybody’s confident playing in front of him.”
What the ‘Canes are waiting for now is the return of some key bodies.
Defenceman Mitch Versteeg, the most physical of the blueliners, has missed all of training camp and the early season with a broken wrist, while energy forward Josh Gionfriddo hasn’t played since the pre-season as he deals with a shoulder issue. Of course everyone in town can’t wait until 16-year-old prospect Carter Ashton returns.
The son of National Hockey Leaguer Brent Ashton was the seventh overall pick in the 2006 bantam draft and he looked excellent in camp before a broken collarbone put him on the shelf.
They’ll all be added to the mix soon, further helping to define just what the 2007-08 Hurricanes are capable of achieving. |