Lethbridge Hurricanes ready for season's second half

LETHBRIDGE — Freshly returned from holiday break, the Lethbridge Hurricanes feel ready to take on the second half of the campaign.

The Hurricanes own a 21-15-01 record which is good for sixth in the WHL's eastern conference.

It may be on par with the expectations for the team this season, but the players are gearing up for a second-half push.

"I think we're in a pretty good spot," said goalie Harrison Meneghin.

"I think we can still push a little bit more for fourth place, as we're really close with Moose Jaw. But yeah, I like where we are, but I think there's a few more gears we can hit."

Meneghin has had a breakout season.

The 18-year-old has cemented himself as the team's starting goalie and owns a 0.912 save percentage, good for third among rookies this season.

He was recognized as the WHL's goalie of the month for November.

Despite his success so far this season, Meneghin feels he's gotten away from his game as of late and is working to get back to the level he wants to be at.

"I think I've been kind of getting away from it. Hopefully, I can get back to it. But yeah, I think just keeping the same routine, working hard and just being consistent," he said.

The Hurricanes match up against Central Division rivals 17 times across the final 31 games of the regular season.

Co-captain Jett Jones knows how important those divisional games are.

"Those are big games … (We can't) take any of those games off and (we have to) be the best team we can be, every night," Jones said.

Head coach Brent Kisio has been away from the team the past few weeks as he helps to coach Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships.

Matt Anholt has stepped up to fill the void temporarily.

Anholt believe his team is very tight defensively, but needs to produce more offensively.

"We play a really tight checking game and that's a really tough team to play against. Things to improve on, there's always things to improve on. We need to score some more goals," said Anholt.

The Hurricanes are coming off a 5-3 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors last night and are back in action on Saturday as hosts to the Edmonton Oil Kings.