Lethbridge Hurricanes gear up for second half of the WHL season

Lethbridge Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters speaks to the team at practice.

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. — The Lethbridge Hurricanes are back in action after a short holiday break.

The WHL’s Christmas break is the unofficial half way point of the season. After a hard fought first half, the 'Canes are gearing up for their playoff push.

“When we're on our game, we're fore-checking hard, we're not over complicating things, we're a good team and we've really showed it. So I think if we stay simple for the rest of the year we should be good,” said Hurricanes forward Kooper Gizowski.

It's been a season of highs and lows for the team.

After 14 games, Lethbridge sat atop the Eastern Conference, but since then, the club has fallen all the way down to eighth place.

“I think we got to just build off our game. We have a good foundation so I think we just have to work on everything, figure out some details and we should be good,” said defenceman Logan McCutcheon.

The players and coaches aren't hitting the panic button just yet, but they know the team needs to be better.

“I think it's just playing our game you know. Sometimes we'll get away from our game and that's when things kind of go south for us so I think it's just making sure we keep things simple and play our game,” McCutcheon said.

Head coach Bill Peters knows his team is capable of more. Right now, he's focused on getting them through this rough patch.

“We got to fix our game. We have to focus on ourselves here today, do some work in the defensive zone, and we've got some guys in the sick bay right now so we'll piece together a line up and we'll go from there. But it's all about us this time of year,” Peters said.

The Hurricanes will have plenty of chances to use home ice to their advantage and get things back on track in the near future.

Five of their next six games are in the friendly confines of the ENMAX Centre.