It has been so far a season not many likely would’ve predicted for the young Lethbridge Hurricanes.
The Canes are riding quite the streak with points in 11 straight games and only two shoot out losses during this current stretch. That has vaulted Lethbridge into a three-way tie for first place in the WHL with Edmonton and Prince Albert (as of Nov. 7).
The Hurricanes, by age, are the second-youngest team in the Western Hockey League and have seen some shining stars in the first two months of the season following the departure of big offensive guns like Jordy Bellerive and Jake Leschyshyn just to name a few.
Recently, forward Oliver Okuliar was named WHL Player of Week for notching back-to-back hat tricks in games on the road in Winnipeg and Brandon.
On Thursday, the CHL gave the Lethbridge Hurricanes an “Honourable Mention” in its weekly rankings. The Canes sit with a record of 12-4-0-3 on the season and haven’t lost a game in regulation time in nearly a month.
It appears the losses of some of those big guns after last season didn’t impact the Hurricanes offence one bit. In fact, at 71 goals scored in 19 games, that’s tops in the WHL.
The Hurricanes will battle it out with Edmonton for first place Friday (Nov. 8) when the Oil Kings visit the ENMAX Centre. The Canes are lead offensively right now by Oilver Okuliar and Dylan Cozens, both with 26 points on the season.
The honours kept rolling in for the Slovak Thursday afternoon when Okuliar, along with defenceman Alex Cotton were named to the CHL’s Team of the Week for their performances between October 28 and November 3.
The Hurricanes will also play host the Tri-City Americans on Saturday (Nov. 9) before heading out to the west coast for two games next weekend.