Canes setting the bar higher
Last season, the Lethbrige Hurricanes set the bar high. This season, they look to not only maintain that, but surpass it.
Step one toward that process began Thursday morning at the Enmax Centre as the Hurricanes kicked off their rookie camp prior to opening their main camp Saturday.
As the new faces and returnees alike trickled down the hall in the basement of the Enmax Centre toward the team’s dressing room, the overall consensus was it was good to be back after a summer break that was a bit shorter than usual due to the Canes playing right up to the end of April last season, advancing to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final before bowing out to the Regina Pats.
“We’re excited that everybody is coming back. We’ve seen some guys roll in — some of our veterans — so it’s nice to see,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio. “We’ll see how hard they worked in the summer. But it’s a good chance for some young guys to come in now and show us what they have.”
The Canes slightlyabbreviated summer was a product of a wild post-season run that included seven-game series wins over the Red Deer Rebels and the Medicine Hat Tigers before battling the Pats to the sixth game of the Eastern Conference final, bowing out just days before the calendar flipped to May.
With the 2017-18 season right around the corner, the goal is simple: keep it up.
“You always want to maintain, you always want to take a step up,” said Kisio. “That’s our goal, to raise it from last year. But it’s a different team, it’s always a feel-out process to see where guys fit. Obviously we lost some scoring up front, but we do return a whole back end and a good goaltender. We like where we’re at, but it is a feeling-out process to see where where everyone fits in and where we’re at.
“My first year here we took a big step, we made the playoffs and obviously had an early exit. But last year we had a good year, but we had a great playoffs and made a good push. We had a chance to win and that’s what you want. I think this year we can build a lot off of last year, see how things went for us and understand how hard it is in the playoffs to get through a round. This year we want to make playoffs and we want to make another push.”
Two of those players who were a part of that spring run were among the returnees trickling in Thursday morning.
“It was a quick summer, I think everyone had a tough one and they were all working hard and thinking about what happened last year in the back of our heads,” said Jordy Bellerive, who put up 56 points in 70 games in his second full season with the Canes and added another seven goals and 14 points in 20 post-season games. “We’re excited to come back, get a fresh start and do it all over again.”
As he gets ready to skate into his second year in Lethbridge, Zane Franklin shared that enthusiasm.
“It was a good summer, but it’s definitely hockey season and I’m sure everybody else is ready to get back at it,” said the product of Marwayne — just outside of Lloydminster — who netted five goals and 14 points in 64 games last season and added two more goals in 15 playoff games. “Every time you come back your goal is to win, that doesn’t change year-toyear. So you want to come back and try to do it again.
“It just showed us it’s a lot of fun to win and go deep into playoffs. I think that gave us a bit of a taste and it makes us want to do it again this year.”
In preparation for season three with the Canes, Bellerive has literally tipped the scales in his favour.
“For me, I’ve been doing a lot of speed work, training a lot,” said Bellerive, who second overall pick of the Hurricanes in the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft. “I lost 10 pounds this summer trying to get leaner and faster.”
After being bypassed in this year’s NHL Entry Draft, Bellerive nonetheless has a second camp to prepare for as the native of Vancouver gets ready for the Pittsburgh Penguins camp next month.
“I’m really excited for it,” said Bellerive. “It’s a great organization and I’m lucky enough to be going there. I’m excited to see what I can do. I wasn’t drafted this year, so I’m going in as a free agent. There’s no pressure on me, so I’ll try to do what I can and try to turn some heads.”
The Hurricanes announced Thursday that 2017 Enmax preseason tickets are now available for purchase at Gas King.
The Hurricanes will play a total of five exhibition games, including one at Nicholas Sheran Arena (Sept. 1) and one at the Enmax Centre (Sept. 8) as well games in Taber, Swift Current and the Crowsnest Pass.
Tickets for the Sept. 1 game at Nicholas Sheran Arena can be purchased at Gas King or at the door prior to the game, while tickets for the Sept. 8 game at the Enmax Centre can be prepurchased at Gas King, the Lethbridge Minor Hockey Association or at the Coaldale Food Market as well as at the door.
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