More Cow Bell....

That, was fun.

For the first time in a lot of years I enjoyed the game from a fan's perspective at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge last night in a 6-3 Kootenay win.

It was Cow Bell night and all fans received a cow bell from Best Buy. To coin a frase from an old Will Farrell/Christopher Walken SNL skit, the Canes could've used more cowbell.

The Canes, who were without leading scorer Austen Fyten who broke his foot the night prior against the Cougars, scored the first goal but gave up the next six as Drew Czerwonka got two goals and James Martin, Max Reinhart, Christian Magnus and Jesse Ismond got singles in the 6-3 rout.

The game was the first of the season that saw all of the club's eligible veterans play, save for 20-year-old goaltender Todd Mathews who was the fourth 20. D Jagger Dirk and Forwards Ryan Bloom, Jared Zentner and Erik Benoit were healthy scratches.

• Nathan Lieuwen was solid in the nets, making a couple of spectacular glove saves when it was close and when it was 6-1.
• The club's top line of King, Fraser and Reinhart was dominant every shift all night.
• James Martin is the club's early d-man of the year. Offensively the Winnipegger has the hot hand.
• Brayden McNabb left the game in the second on a hit against the boards that looked like a shoulder problem. He is day-to-day with an upper body injury? Cripes, it's only October and we're into upper and lower body injuries?
• Enmax centre wasn't as jumpin as the night before when there were 4900 there. Saturday's game drew just over 2900. Big swing.
• With the 20-year-old deadline fast approaching I just can't see Mathews not being the odd-man out. And with today's waiving of PG goaltender Morgan Clark the market isn't exactly hopping for 20-year-old puck-stoppers. It's really too bad as another quality player and quality kid - who always had time to stop by the Peewee practice to help out - is going to be on the outside looking in because of what's becoming an archaic rule. There was a regular reader who posted here and on GD's blog a while back on a good idea with 20's. Please feel free to post it again.

On another note, still haven't heard what the punishment will be for Ams leading scorer Brendan Shinnimin on Blades D Josh Nicholls last week. Here's the crime. I sincerely hope the WHL doesn't let up because Shinnimin is a top player. Hits that dangerous must be stopped at all costs. 15-20 games should do it.

Ice are in Swift for a Thanksgiving Matinee tommorrow at 2:30PM