Hurricanes advance to provincial playoff semifinals
The Swift Current K Motel Hurricanes took care of business last week as they completed their league regular season on a winning note and then knocked the rival Notre Dame Hounds out of the provincial playoffs.
Tuesday, the Hurricanes concluded the South Saskatchewan Midget AA Hockey League regular season with a 6-4 win over the visiting Regina Rangers.
The Rangers fought back to tie the game three times but the Hurricanes scored the final two goals over the last 4:05 to clinch the win on a goal from Carter Tangen to lead 5-4 and then an unassisted goal from Ryan Evans to seal the win in the dying seconds.
Evans led the team with a hat trick, while Tangen finished with two goals and one assist and Rhett Carlson added a single marker.
Drieden Gauthier and Braden Wittmier each had two assists, while Taylor Cowie, Tanner Fritzke, and Dylan Rossiter added singles. Blade Roh picked up the win in goal.
The Hurricanes finished the regular season in third spot with a 21-11-6 record and are facing the sixthseeded Moose Jaw Warriors in the opening round of the playoffs.
The series opened Wednesday in Swift Current and game two is set for Friday in Moose Jaw. Game three, if necessary, will be played Sunday at 5 p.m. at Fairview West Arena.
"Moose Jaw has been a team that has given us a run for our money all year," explained coach Scott Cassidy. "They are a team that is just like us. They are solid all the way through. They have some top end skill guys and they can put the puck in the net. It is going to be a hard series again. It is going to come down to stellar goaltending and defense and that is what we are going to have to rely on."
Friday, the Hurricanes advanced to the Midget AA provincial semi-finals with a 6-4 win over the Notre Dame Hounds. Marcus Kouri scored a hat trick to help the Hurricanes clinch a 10-6 win in the series after winning game one 4-2 in Wilcox.
"We had the two-goal lead, so we wanted just to play aggressive for 60 minutes. I think the guys did that tonight," said Cassidy. "We stayed out of the box, for us it felt like we were in the penalty box a lot, but we stayed pretty disciplined."
Cassidy said everyone contributed in the victory. "We are happy with our team effort tonight. We won with everybody in the line-up, all 19 guys played tonight. It was fantastic to have everyone together. We really showed what we can do when we can roll every line and play every D-man. It is going to work going forward."
He agreed that it is always nice to knock out a Notre Dame team.
"Absolutely. Anybody who has played in Swift Current, even these guys, they have three teams in the league. We play them so much, it is nice to knock them out.
That team has made it to the north round the past two years. There is definitely something to prove every time we play those guys and we came out successful tonight."