STUNNING RALLY
KANSAS CITY ERASES 24-0 DEFICIT AGAINST TEXANS
Chiefs, Packers, Titans and 49ers all reach NFL conference finals
Koletrane Wilson grabbed the puck, there was nobody in front of him. Even as an over age veteran of the Western Hockey League, you could excuse the defenceman of the Lethbridge Hurricanes if there was a splitsecond of confusion.
It was early in the Hurricanes game against the Swift Current Broncos Saturday night at the Enmax Centre when Wilson found himself on a clear cut breakaway, typically foreign territory for a blue-liner and even more rare considering the Canes were on the penalty kill.
Yet, there he was and rather than go for some dipsy doodle move like the forwards might do, Wilson kept it simple on his chance and wound up sniping his fifth of the season past Broncos goaltender Isaac Poulter for a quick 1-0 lead.
Many more goals followed on the night, but that got it started as the Hurricanes posted a 7-2 win to improve to 25-10-2-5.
“I just looked up and saw absolutely no Swift Current guys,” said Wilson, who also added an assist Saturday. “I just started skating and the next thing you know I’m on a breakaway. I was thinking back to my peewee days, that was probably the last (breakaway) I had. I just didn’t want to embarrass myself so I just thought five-hole and it worked out.”
Another defenceman, affiliated player Chase Pauls, netted his first career WHL goal in the second period.
“It’s exciting,” said Wilson of watching his fellow blue-liner get his first WHL snipe. “I remember my first goal and it’s obviously an amazing time. I think it’s exciting for the future. They got a really good defenceman in Paulsy.”
Brett Davis — re-acquired by the Hurricanes from the Red Deer Rebels Monday — Zack Stringer, Chase Wheatcroft and Logan Barlage added the other Hurricanes goals.
Jaxan Kaluski and Justin Svenson replied in the second period for the Broncos to briefly make it 4-2.
“We had a really solid game,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio. “I thought we had a little lapse in the second period and that’s going to happen, but they responded the right way and finished off the right way.
“I thought we played a solid third period, much better than the second. We came out and played the right way and didn’t give them a lot.”
Stringer added two assists for a three-point night, while Alex Thacker, Justin Hall and Danila Palivko each had two helpers.
Canes goaltender Bryan Thomson stopped 19 of 21 shots for the win. Poulter kicked out 27 of 34 shots he faced.
Lethbridge product D-Jay
Jerome made his debut with the Broncos Saturday night after being waived by the Hurricanes earlier in the week to make room for Davis. He had two shots and was minustwo.
Other than re-acquiring Davis, the Canes were quiet as the trade deadline passed Friday afternoon.
“We had such a good group this year and I think everybody wanted to keep it the same way,” said Kisio.
“We brought Davis in and obviously he played a great game tonight. We have a couple guys from the World Juniors still to return. With (Oliver) Okuliar, (Dylan) Cozens and (Calen) Addison away for so long just getting those three guys back is a big addition for us. So we’re happy about that.”
The Hurricanes roster took a hit in Friday night’s 4-2 win over the Calgary Hitmen in Calgary when forward Dino Kambeitz went down with a lower body injury after falling in a scrum.
“We’re hoping he’ll be back soon,” said Kisio. “We have a week of practice so we’ll see how it goes and hopefully next weekend he’s playing.”
The Hurricanes have two games on the slate this weekend. They play the Red Deer Rebels Friday night at the Enmax Centre at 7 p.m. and head to Medicine Hat Saturday to take on the Tigers at 7:30 p.m.
The Tigers beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 7-5 Saturday night in Moose Jaw to sit one point ahead of the Hurricanes for second in the Central Division at 28-12-1-1.