‘Canes blow into town
If someone would have told Lethbridge coach Michael Dyck last August when training camps around the Western Hockey League opened up that his Hurricanes would be taking on the Spokane Chiefs for a bid to the 2008 Memorial Cup, he would have taken it.
“Right then and there,” said Dyck on Thursday evening from his hotel in Spokane.
The Eastern Conference champion Hurricanes and Western Conference champion Chiefs open the league final tonight at the Arena, with a trip to Kitchener, Ontario, and the Ed Chynoweth Cup on the line. The teams met on Dec. 5 during the regular season in Lethbridge, where the Hurricanes came up with a 2-1 victory.
It’s the Hurricanes’ first appearance in the WHL final since they won the title in 1997 and the Chiefs’ first time in the league final since losing to the Kootenay Ice in 2000.
“We’re looking forward to it,” said Dyck, whose Hurricanes swept the top-seeded Calgary Hitmen in four games in the East final. “We’ve been waiting a long time and I think the guys are chomping at the bit and anxious to get going and get back into game situations.”
More specifically, the Hurricanes have been waiting since their series-clinching 4-2 victory over the Hitmen on April 23, watching the Chiefs and Tri-City Americans go at it in their wild seven-game West final that ended when the Chiefs beat the Ams 4-1 on Tuesday.
Dyck is not only glad to see his team get back into game action, he’s looking forward to matchup between two teams he feels are similar. Lethbridge and Spokane finished second in the Central and U.S. divisions, respectively, behind Calgary and Tri-City, and were seeded third heading into the playoffs.
“We have a lot of speed up front, a big part of our team’s identity is our speed,” said Dyck. “We’re also a team that is real committed to playing solid defense, and that’s very similar to Spokane, along with the fact that we can back up our solid defensive core with real good goaltending.”
Lethbridge’s offense is not only fast, it’s deep – also similar to Spokane’s style of play.
Mitch Fadden leads the Hurricanes with five goals and 15 assists and Zach Boychuk, who won a gold medal at the world junior hockey championship with Canada, has collected 19 points (11 goals, eight assists). Fadden and Boychuk are third and fourth in the league in playoff scoring, respectively.
Mike Manigao spent the bulk of the regular season in net for the Hurricanes, but import Juha Metsola earned the starting job in playoffs and in 14 games played has posted a 2.01 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.
“These are two very good teams going at it and – if they play the way they have been – will not be giving each other much,” said Dyck. “We knew whoever we were going to face (between Tri-City and Spokane) that it was going to be tough. We are just going to focus on what we do and how we play and less about making any kind of adjustment against other teams.
“It should be a tough series.”