Down The Stretch

We are down to the final month of the regular season and the Lethbridge Hurricanes will be a busy bunch with eleven games remaining on the schedule.

With a playoff spot sewn up for the fifth year in a row under head coach Brent Kisio, the Hurricanes have a really interesting stretch coming up.

Canes clinch playoff spot in three-game weekend https://t.co/Qtpon4hyDg #yql #WHLCanes @WHLHurricanes pic.twitter.com/fXs3iYLCCk

— Lethbridge Herald (@Leth_Herald) February 18, 2020

Of the games remaining, five are at home, including the next two. Then they head off on a four-game roadtrip before bouncing back and forth to wrap up the season.

While it might have been easy to take the foot off the gas a bit to rest up ahead of the playoffs, there won't be much time for that. Just three of the games are against sub-.500 teams while six of the games are against division rivals they are jockeying for position with in the playoff picture.

As it stands now, the Hurricanes are ten points back of first place Edmonton while they are four points up on Medicine Hat and six up on Calgary.

They will take on the Oil Kings three more times, the Tigers twice and Calgary once. If the playoffs were to start today, they would be facing Medicine Hat, who they wrap up the season against with a home-and-home.

Can you imagine these two rivals battling it out twice to wrap up the season and then going at it again in a best-of-seven opening round playoff series?


And while ten points back of Edmonton seems like a tall mountain to climb, they face each other three times and the 'Canes have a game at hand. That would make it close if the Hurricanes were able to win each of the matchups, but they would also need to depend on the rebuilding Red Deer Rebels, who the Oil Kings play three times in their final ten games.

The real interesting battle is actually in the East Division, which could have an impact on who the Hurricanes play in round one if they end up in first or if they slip to fourth in the Central.

Just eight points separate the first place Prince Albert Raiders and fourth place Saskatoon Blades, with the Winnipeg Ice and Brandon Wheat Kings stuck in the middle. While PA is the only team confirmed to be in the playoffs at this point, it's all mathematical at this point as Red Deer is 18 points back of the second wildcard spot spot with 11 games to go.

There will be no shortage of scoreboard watching over the next four weeks as teams try to set the tone heading into the playoffs.

And yes, I'm cheering for a Highway 3 Battle Royale between the Hurricanes and Tigers.