Hurley brings the three e’s to the lineup

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“We will definitely need to play a structured game”, Hurley told RocketFAN. “We need to play the game simply. If we do that, we can give them a run for their money. If we play hard, we have a chance.”

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During the regular season, the Rockets and T-Birds met four times, with Seattle winning every game – outscoring their BC Division rivals by a margin of 15-7.

“I don’t think it means anything at all”, Hurley said without hesitation about failing to beat the T-Birds in the seasonal series. “In playoffs, it is all about how good you are right now. If you come together as a team and play the right way and play hard, I am excited and hopefully, we can do some damage.”

The two teams haven’t met since December 31st.

Since then, the T-Birds added Winnipeg Jets first-round draft pick Brad Lambert, acquired Colton Dach in a trade, and acquired the rights to Dylan Guenther, who joined the team on February 5th after starting the season in the NHL with the Arizona Coyotes.

“We play 68 games, and we play against players like that all year long,” Hurley taking a mature angle to playing against elite players. “If you stick to your game and play the same way, it makes no difference.”

The T-Birds and Rockets hooked up in a significant trade on January 7th when captain Colton Dach was dealt to the U.S Division team for Hurley, d-man Ethan Mittelsteadt, a first-round prospects pick in 2024, and several other draft picks.

“It is going to be a little bit weird playing some of the guys that I am friends with, but I’m excited and it should be fun”.

Hurley is hoping to accomplish two things when the puck drops on Friday.

The 18-year-old will make his WHL playoff debut and would love nothing more than to score his first goal with his new team after spending only 15 games with the T-Birds after a trade from Swift Current back in mid-November.

“It is going to be more pressure”, Hurley said honestly. “There is going to be more intensity as it is do-or-die for teams. If you lose, you go home, so you are putting everything out there, and are giving it everything you have. It is definitely going to be more intense.”

Injured in his debut with the Rockets back in early January against the Kamloops Blazers, Hurley spent close to three weeks with Andrew Cristall, rehabbing, after the team’s leading scorer got nicked up in the same game.

“We spent a lot of time together. It was fun to hang out with him, and now we are pretty good buddies.”

While waiting for the clearance to skate from the medical staff, Hurley and Cristall were often seen shooting pucks, in sneakers and shorts, on a net outside the dressing room.

“We were just playing horse”, Hurley said with a chuckle.

“I took him down a couple of times. He wasn’t too happy, but we had good times.”