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Maxwell fitting right in |
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Written by Dale Woodard
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Tuesday, 13 October 2009 |
This (sort of) hometown boy is continuing to make good. And if Lethbridge Hurricanes first-year-forward Mitch Maxwell has his way, the impressive numbers he’s put up thus far in the early-going of the season will continue as the ‘Canes host the Chilliwack Bruins at 7 p.m. tonight during Western Hockey League action at the Enmax Centre.
While Maxwell used to watch his uncle, Bryan, on the Hurricanes bench as the coach and general manager, the younger Maxwell is now getting that same vantage point.
But it’s what the 19-year-old forward from Magrath is doing when he leaves the bench that has the ‘Canes nodding in approval.
“It’s been great,” said Maxwell, who notched three goals last weekend skating on the top line with Carter Ashton and Carter Bancks as Lethbridge downed the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-2 Friday before falling 3-2 in overtime to the Saskatoon Blades Saturday. “I like it here and it’s easy to fit in. Playing with both Bancks and Ashton, they’re easy to play with. They’re both great players and it makes it easy to play the game.”
Judging by his performance last weekend Maxwell is making life equally as easy for his linemates.
He scored on a four-on-three in the third period Friday against Edmonton to hand the ‘Canes a 2-0 lead and added a second marker later in the period to stake Lethbridge to a 4-1 lead.
On Saturday Maxwell’s first period tally drew first blood against the Blades, heading to the net and taking a feed from Bancks on the man advantage.
Those totals give Maxwell three goals and six points in eight games along with a plus-one rating.
Getting the chance to skate alongside Bancks and Ashton sure doesn’t hurt, either.
“All three of us see the ice fairly well,” said Maxwell, who suited up with the Olds Grizzlys of the Alberta Junior Hockey League last season before signing with the ‘Canes at the start of this season.
“Ashton can fly. He’s a big body and can create room for me. Bancksy just works hard and is a skill player. He talks a lot on the ice and works hard.”
Now after a 3-2 overtime loss to the Blades in which Lethbridge surrendered the tying goal with 47 seconds left before getting dinged with a too many men penalty in overtime.
That led to the Saskatoon game-winner, the ‘Canes seek to add to their point totals tonight, having taken seven of a possible eight points in their past four games.
“Just a full 60 (minutes),” said Maxwell on what it’ll take to get back into the win column tonight. ”We thought we played well for the first period-and-a-half or so. Then the momentum changed a bit and they seemed to have a bit more jump than we did. We just have to stay upbeat with the energy and play every shift. You can’t take shifts off, that’s when you get scored on. It won’t be tough for us to bounce back with a group like this. We’re all upbeat and positive.”
NOTES:
The Hurricanes announced Tuesday they had traded netminder Michael Tadjdeh to the Spokane Chiefs in exchange for an eighth round pick in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft.
Tadjdeh, who hails from Calgary, was listed by the Hurricanes in 2006-07 and spent the 2007-2008 season with the Calgary EDGE Varsity team.
Last season Tadjdeh filled in as a backup to Juha Metsola, notching a 10-10-0-0 record with a pair of shutouts in his first WHL season. With the acquisition of Linden Rowat from the Regina Pats and he additions of rookie goaltenders Brandon Anderson and Ville Kolppanen, Tadjdeh was the odd man out in Lethbridge and was sent home to Calgary two weeks ago to await a trade.
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