(Under) A Minute to Win it in Edmonton

5-3 Hurricanes over Edmonton Oil Kings

http://www.whl.ca/schedule/show/game/65442

This is definitely not the same Edmonton Oil Kings team that came to Lethbridge in early 2012 that made the Canes look like a girl's bantam hockey club.

They looked much slower, much less organized, and even a bit disinterested.  Despite this, they were still clearly the better hockey team for most of this hockey game.

A strong first period performance by Corbin Boes gave the Lethbridge Hurricanes a chance in this one.  Out played for the majority of the game, the Canes caught a break and capitalized first when Watson netted the first goal and despite being outshot 20 to 7 after 20 minutes, they enjoyed a 1-0 lead.

Seemingly inspired by a early third period Tyler Wong goal, Ramsay and Blomqvist would make great shots to notch their first goals of the season.  All three would count and have them at centre ice again in less than a minute, and to the surprize of the Oil Kings and themselves, they then owned a 4-2 lead.

Henrik-I'll-hit-you-everytime-from-behind-Samuelsson was up to his usual cowardess in this one.  Such a talented player, and yet an absolutely despicable and ruthless one.  No question, for me he is easily in the Top-5 of the dirtiest and most cowardly players I've ever watched in the WHL.

He accidentally on purpose threw his stick into the face of Russ Maxwell to earn the games' first sin-bin-sit almost half way through the first.  After throwing a few elbows into the faces of oncoming Hurricanes without consequence, he finally got caught again for his second two minute infraction of the game when he made his usual and customary hit from behind.  Then, for an encore, and since, for some reason unknown to me, no Hurricane would hit this pussy coward, he ran his elbow into an unsuspecting Blomqvist in the neutral zone to send him to the showers (or hospital?) 7 minutes into the third.  Its the same thing every time with this kid.  Good thing his old man has such persuasive power over the WHL discipline office.  Any other player would have been thrown out of the league for the malicious play he has gotten away with.

I was hoping that Yakubowski or Derko would show Samuelssen what a clean hit looked like after this, but apparently revenge wasn't on the list today... just the victory.

Samuelssen is only the second player I've watched play in the WHL (Former Medicine Hat Tiger Derek Dorsett being the first) that makes me want to see a player leave the ice crying with a bleeding and broken nose from an opposition teams fist.  We do meet them five more times this year; there is always next game.