'Not pleased with the result': Lethbridge Hurricanes looking ahead to next season after first-round exit
The Lethbridge Hurricanes were bounced out of the playoffs earlier this week by the Swift Current Broncos after a double-overtime thriller.
It marks the third straight year the Hurricanes have been swept in the first round. Another year of playoff struggles will stick with the players into the offseason.
“Not pleased with the result for sure. I think everyone's disappointed, the last few years have been the same outcome. So I’m going home disappointed,” said defenceman Noah Chadwick.
This also marks the end of Bill Peters’ first season coaching the Hurricanes.
After spending parts of nine seasons as a coach in the NHL he was impressed with the skill he's seen in the WHL.
Peters’ said he’s excited to see what next year's group can do.
“I think it'll be a little easier next year, we have the same staff coming back. There's some things in place for building blocks so it should be a little bit smoother,” he said.
“And we're familiar with our guys, for me for sure. I know who guys are and what they're capable of and there's a lot of guys in that room who are capable of more.”
Not everyone will be back next year – Joe Arntsen, Dylan Sydor and Sean Tschigerl have aged out of junior hockey.
Arntsen spent five years with the Canes and served as captain for three seasons.
“To wear the C was a huge honour. It's something you dream of as a kid being able to do that and it was a huge honour. I loved wearing it, I loved battling with these guys every night. And to be a Lethbridge Hurricane is awesome, the fans here are unbelievable,” said Arntsen.
With big shoes to fill, the Hurricanes are already hard at work putting together a team they hope can make a playoff run next season.
“I think there's some things in our group where we need to be better. I think we need to be more competitive. I think we need to be more prepared for home games and make our rink a lot harder place to play,” said Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt.
The most important dates on the Hurricanes’ calendar are now the upcoming drafts.
The U.S. Priority Draft is May 8 followed by the Bantam Draft on May 9.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.