It’s been 11 months since the Lethbridge Hurricanes were last on the ice at the Enmax Centre, and on Friday afternoon the team made its long-awaited return.
The team will play exclusively within Alberta’s Central Division, and as the players were on the ice on Friday, the league announced the first two weeks of the schedule.
The ‘Canes will play their first home-and-home set against the Oil Kings in Edmonton on Feb. 26 and 27.
With an uneven amount of teams in the division, each weekend one of the Alberta teams will have a break. The first two weeks include eight games:
Friday, Feb. 26
Medicine Hat Tigers at Red Deer Rebels – 6 p.m. MT
Lethbridge Hurricanes at Edmonton Oil Kings – 7 p.m. MT
Saturday, Feb. 27
Edmonton Oil Kings at Lethbridge Hurricanes – 6 p.m. MT
Red Deer Rebels at Medicine Hat Tigers – 7:30 p.m MT
Friday, March 5
Medicine Hat Tigers at Edmonton Oil Kings – 7 p.m. MT
Red Deer Rebels at Calgary Hitmen – 7:30 p.m. MT
Saturday, March 6
Calgary Hitmen at Red Deer Rebels – 6 p.m. MT
Edmonton Oil Kings at Medicine Hat Tigers – 7 p.m. MT
The Hurricanes are one of a few teams choosing to alter the living arrangements for players this season. The Red Deer Rebels will have players living in suites in their home rink, while the Calgary Hitmen will be bunking at the Grey Eagle Resort to reduce contact with the outside world.
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Players in Lethbridge are living in a building just a short walk from the Enmax Centre, just off the Lethbridge College campus.
The ‘Canes have been buddied-up into pairs to share apartments for the season, with Friday being the first day that players could leave their units.
Forwards Chase Wheatcroft and Ty Nash were quarantine partners, and will bunk together for the rest of the season. On Thursday night, Wheatcroft told Global News he was ready to see some different faces.
“I can only see Ty right now,” he laughed. “Ty also got to my house about a week before we came to Lethbridge — from Arizona — and he was staying with me, so I’ve been locked in a room with Ty for two weeks now.”
Nash and teammate Dino Kambeitz are two of the only Americans who will be able to play for Canadian WHL teams this season, with both players holding dual citizenship.
Nash said he’s embracing the unique circumstances, and he believes it will allow the Hurricanes to be a tighter-knit group.
“You know it’s a good experience, like, just to be around the guys all the time,” said Nash. “It’s nice to get to know our new guys, we’ll be closer together, so it’s exciting. It’s a weird experience, but as long as we can play hockey I don’t really care.”
In the week leading up to Friday’s ice time, the Hurricanes were completing daily Zoom workouts as a team, with three meals a day delivered to their doors.
Wheatcroft and Nash said they are grateful to have not been relied on to cook for themselves.
“It’s really nice, I mean I don’t think me or Ty would be very good chefs here. I don’t think we’d eat great meals, maybe some Kraft Dinner and some crackers,” Wheatcroft said with a laugh.
The WHL will implement weekly private PCR testing throughout the season. If a WHL club has one or more players or staff test positive for COVID-19, the team will be required to suspend activities for at least 14 days.
No spectators will be allowed inside WHL facilities.