HURRICANES ROCK REBELS
The Lethbridge Hurricanes beat the Red Deer Rebels 61 in Western Hockey League action at the Enmax Centre on Friday, but all anyone wanted to talk about afterward was the lategame shot-blocking of workhorse forward Carter Folk.
Lethbridge got two goals from captain Tyler Wong — he has 40 this season — and one apiece from Cory Millette, Ben Duperreault, Kord Pankewicz and Arvin Atwal. Only Luke Philp replied for Red Deer, who were down 4-1 after the first period.
“I liked our 60-minute effort, I thought we played a full game,” said Hurricanes coach Brent Kisio. “I think even at the end with Carter Folk blocking shots in a 6-1 game, it shows you where Folkie is at and his heart and how much he means to our team and his character by blocking shots late.”
Even Wong, whose two goals have him tied for third in the WHL with 40, credited Folk for his so-farunsung efforts.
“That’s the kind of guy Carter is, he’s a born leader and everyone looks up to him as role model,” said Wong. “He sacrifices for the team and is always willing to jump into the shot lane. He plays the game the right way.”
The Rebels will try to win for the first time in seven attempts against Lethbridge dating back to last season, and salvage a weekend split as the teams face off in the rematch tonight in Red Deer. A win clinches first in the Central Division for Lethbridge.
The Rebels are 42-23-1-2 and in third place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. Lethbridge is in second, two points behind the Brandon Wheat Kings. The hosts sent a loud crowd of 5,192 home happy as the team improves to 4521-1-1.
“We haven’t had good starts as of late and we talked about it,” said Kisio. “It wasn’t due to lack of focus. I loved our energy from the start. I thought we were moving our feet and in part of it was the crowd. The crowd was here and it was exciting. You could feel the building was a playoff atmosphere and I really thought our guys built off that.”
The Hurricanes got first-period power-play goals from Millette and Wong. Hurricanes goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 33 shots while Trevor Martin stopped 27 for the Rebels. He was pulled near the end of the second period for affiliated rookie Dawson Weatherill, who stopped two shots, allowing Atwal’s goal.
“It was huge,” said Wong of the quick start. “Especially coming from guys like Ben and Cory. They really stepped up at the start of the game got that quick power-play goal and Dupes had a great shot as well. That’s huge for us to be able to have that secondary scoring.”
“I thought we out-worked them all over the ice and just played a hard game,” added Pankewicz, who also had a spirited fight with Rebels forward Jake DeBrusk late in the third.
The Hurricanes now head to Red Deer for the rematch.
“They’re going to push back in their barn,” said Pankewicz. “They’re a good team, but I think if we play the way we did tonight it’ll be no problem.”
“We talked about this weekend being like a playoff weekend,” added Kisio. “Whenever you win the playoffs, the next one is harder to win because the team wants it more. So we’re going to go in and want to win that game. We’ll enjoy this for the next hour and then we’ll reset.”
After tonight’s game in Red Deer, the Hurricanes are back home Sunday when the Edmonton Oil Kings pay a visit to the Enmax Centre at 6 p.m.