GAME PREVIEW: CALGARY VS WINNIPEG
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen (23-17-4-1) wrap up the weekend at home this afternoon against the East Division leading Winnipeg ICE (34-6-1-0). Game time is 4:00 p.m. at Scotiabank Saddledome for another Sunday Funday, presented by Brookfield Residential. In addition to $2 sips and snacks specials all game long, look for concourse activities from TELUS Spark and a cast of characters outfitted by the Costume Shoppe. There are also $6 Hitmen Happy Hour food and drink deals throughout the day and a post-game family skate. The Hitmen are coming off yesterday afternoon’s 3-2 overtime loss to the visiting Saskatoon Blades at Seven Chiefs Sportsplex. Carter Yakemchuk scored both goals for Calgary including the game tying marker with 68 seconds remaining. The ICE were in Red Deer last night and beat the Rebels 5-1. Carson Lambos led the way with four assists.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Hitmen are sixth in the Eastern Conference with 51 points sitting four back of fifth place Lethbridge. Winnipeg leads the conference with 69 points and share the number overall seed with Portland.
WINNIPEG: Today is the first of four regular season meetings between the two clubs. Winnipeg was 4-0 against Calgary last season outscoring the Hitmen by a 12-3. Blake Heward (1g, 1a) and Sean Tschigerl (1g, 1a) led Calgary in the season series with two points each. Conor Geekie (3g, 3a) was the top performer for the ICE with six points while Mikey Milne (2g, 2a) collected four. All time, Calgary is 3-5 against Winnipeg with the last Hitmen win coming on Feb. 27, 2020 in a 4-1 triumph at the ‘Dome. Kyle Olson led Calgary with two goals and an assist while Mark Kastelic and Carson Focht added singles. The Hitmen and ICE will meet again on Wednesday, Feb. 8 in Manitoba for the first of back-to-back games in Winnipeg.
2021-22 SERIES RECAP
Oct. 27/21 in CGY: ICE 3 Hitmen 2…Connor Geekie snapped a 2-2 tie with 3:54 remaining.
Feb. 18/22 in CGY: ICE 3 Hitmen 1…Zach Benson scored twice for Winnipeg while Ethan Buenaventura made 52 saves for Calgary.
Mar. 8/22 in WPG: ICE 2 Hitmen 0…Daniel Hauser made 14 saves for the shutout.
Mar. 15/22 in WPG: ICE 4 Hitmen 0…Dawson Cowan made 23 saves for the shutout.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on Goal: CGY 95 WPG 155 Power Plays: CGY 0-16 (0%) WPG 1-15 (6.7%)
PLAYER STREAKS: None.
FAST FACTS: Today is the last January game for the Hitmen, culminating a compact month that has featured 14 games in 29 days…Carter Yakemchuk’s two goals yesterday against Saskatoon was the first multi-goal game by a Hitmen d-man since March 20, 2021 when Tyson Galloway struck for two goals, including the OT winner, against Lethbridge…Oliver Tulk is one shot shy of 100. He had 67 during his rookie campaign last season…The Hitmen are 1-5-1-0 in their last seven…Calgary is 8-8-1-0 against the East Division…The Hitmen goaltending tandem of Brayden Peters and Ethan Buenaventura have almost identically shared the net this season, separated by only three minutes.
3-IN-3: This weekend’s trio of games is the fourth time this season the Hitmen face this scenario. It happens once more in March for a total of five during the 2022-23 campaign. So far Calgary has a combined record of 3-6-2-0 through the first 11 games of compressed play.
SCOUTS EYE: NHL Central Scouting has released its Mid-Term Rankings for the 2023 NHL Draft. Two Hitmen have made the list as Grayden Siepmann is number 138 among North American skaters while Oliver Tulk is 211.
MAYFAIR DIAGNOSTICS INJURY REPORT: Carter MacAdams (upper body, week-to-week), Jacob Wright (lower body, day-to-day), Billal Noori (upper body, week-to-week).
SPECIAL TEAMS: Calgary’s penalty kill is number one in the WHL at 85.7%. On the flip side the power play is 21st at 15.5%.
HOME AND AWAY COMPARISON: The Hitmen are 10-8-2-1 on home ice this season while Winnipeg is 15-4 on the road.
REGULAR SEASON CAREER MILESTONE WATCH: Brayden Peters needs just one victory to move into a tie with Mack Shields for sixth place on the Hitmen’s all-time wins list. Shields had 57. Peters also needs 40 saves to move into a tie with Daniel Spence for third on the all-time saves list. Spence collected 3,285. Chris Driedger is first with 3,773 with Martin Jones second at 3,374. Carter Yakemchuk hit the century mark in games played yesterday against the Blades.
HITMEN MONTH-BY-MONTH: September (1-0-0-1), October (5-4-1-0), November (6-2-2-0), December (6-4-0-0), January (5-7-1-0).
PROSPECT WATCH: Hunter Aura, Calgary’s third-round pick, 51st overall, in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, is playing U18 in the CSSHL with Yale Hockey Academy. In 18 games the 15-year-old defenceman has three assists. Aura had 29 points (12g, 17a) last season while playing U15 in the BCEHL with the Thompson Blazers.
UPCOMING GAMES: The Hitmen are back at home on Wednesday, Feb. 1 to host Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in a 7:00 p.m. start at Scotiabank Saddledome. Due to strong ticket demand, the Hitmen have opened second level seating at the ‘Dome. Bedard is a two-time Team Canada World Junior Gold Medalist and the projected first overall pick for the 2023 NHL Draft. Find all the ticket information at HitmenHockey.com.
