When the puck drops at Rogers Place Thursday night, it will end a stretch of 1,115 days since the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ last playoff appearance.
“I got to watch a few (playoff games) when I was 15 and it was pretty electric,” Hurricanes defenceman Joe Arntsen said.
This will be the first playoff action for Arnsten, who has spent three full seasons on the Hurricanes blueline.
“I’m real excited to be on the ice and hear the fans and get into the game,” he said.
No WHL playoffs were held the last two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first time, the Hurricanes will meet their central division foes — the Edmonton Oil Kings — in the playoffs. Sitting seventh in the eastern conference, Lethbridge is looking to turn the tables on the second-place Oil Kings.
“There’s no pressure on us,” Arntsen said. “We’ve been hot lately so just stick with what we’ve been doing and we’ll be fine.”
One of only two teams in the WHL to hit the 50-win mark this season, Edmonton took six of the eight regular season games between the two clubs. A favourite to win the league championship, Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer wants his team to take things one game at a time.
“(The Hurricanes) are coming in here probably looking to get a split,” Lauer said. “We want to try and get two wins, but we can’t get two unless we win the first game.”
33 points separate the Oil Kings and the Hurricanes in the standings, but the Hurricanes do come into Game 1 on an upswing.
“We have a tough battle in front of us with Edmonton now, but we’re in the dance and we have an opportunity,” Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio said.
Finishing the season with points in each of their final seven games, Kisio believes the Hurricanes are peaking at the right time.
“We feel if we play the right way and we stick with our structure — and we’ve seen it as of late — it doesn’t matter who we play, it gives us a good chance to win.”
The Hurricanes won their final meeting against the Oil Kings in Edmonton, something they’ll need to do again at least once if they want to advance.
“It’s a tough barn to go into for sure,” Hurricanes leading scorer Justin Hall said. “I think everybody would say the same thing, that it’s really hard to win there.
“Knowing we can win there, it’s a lot of pressure taken off.”
Game 1 begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
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