Game Day: Hitmen welcome Blazers for rare visit

 

The Calgary Hitmen begin a two-game homestand by welcoming the Kamloops Blazers tonight to the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Game time is 7 p.m.

The Blazers make their first visit to Calgary since Dec. 13, 2014 and will seek their first win in the Stampede City since Dec. 11, 2012.

This will also be Game 6 of a seven-game road trip for the Blazers, who dropped a 5-4 decision on Wednesday in Red Deer despite leading 3-0 after the opening 20 minutes.

Overall, the boys from the Loops have gone a dismal 1-4 on this early season eastern trek.

The Hitmen, meanwhile, will look for a major improvement after coming off their poorest effort of the young season.

Calgary, which swept a home-and-home set with Kootenay on season opening weekend, was unable to capitalize on eight power play opportunities in a 4-0 road loss on Saturday to Central Division rival Lethbridge.

“We didn’t play to our potential,” said centre Mark Kastelic. “I’m sure (head coach) Mark (French) and the coaching staff will push the pace this week to make sure we’re ready for a good weekend of hockey.”

With a measly 5.6 percent success rate, the Hitmen power play is ranked 19th in the league while the Blazers are owners of the eighth-ranked power play (25.9%) and the fourth stingiest penalty kill (90.3%).

“This is our chance to redeem ourselves,” Kastelic said. “We haven’t had much time to gel with all our guys gone (to NHL camps). Now that we have everyone back, and we’re back at home in front of our fans at the ‘Dome, we should be able to regroup and get some chemistry going.”

Last Meeting

Goalie Connor Ingram, a 2016 third round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, turned aside 36 of 38 shots to backstop Kamloops to a 3-2 home win last February.

Gage Quinney, Matt Revel and Collin Shirley scored for the Blazers, while Jake Bean and Radel Fazleev replied for Calgary.

Welcome Back

A Hitmen team that has lit the lamp only five times in its first three games of the season will receive a much-welcomed offensive boost this weekend.

Defenceman Jake Bean and forwards Matteo Gennaro and Jordy Stallard will make their season debuts for the Hitmen after being returned to Calgary this week by their respective NHL clubs.

Gennaro and Stallard, both Winnipeg Jets prospects, combined for 39 goals and 92 points last season.

https://twitter.com/JakeBean_2/status/784205554696675328

Bean, meanwhile, set a franchise record for most goals by a defenceman in a single season with 24 in 2015-16.  The Carolina Hurricanes’ 2016 first round pick should not only bring an offensive punch but a key veteran presence to a young Hitmen defensive core.

With the return of Bean, Gennaro and Stallard, the Hitmen have all eight players that attended NHL camps back in the fold.

NHL Attention

Hitmen sophomore centre Mark Kastelic, 17, was recognized on the National Hockey League’s Preliminary Draft Watch List that was released on Tuesday.

Kastelic, one of 52 WHL players to make this year’s list, received a ‘C’ ranking which indicates a fourth-to-sixth round candidate.

“It’s a big honour,” said the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Kastelic, a recipient of the 2015-16 Hitmen RE/MAX Rookie of the Year Award. “It’s always nice to be recognized, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I’m just going to try to do everything I can to improve my ranking.”

The Phoenix, AZ native captured silver with Team USA at the 2016 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup.

Hitmen Season Record: 2-1-0-0

Blazers Season Record: 2-4-0-0

2015-16 Season Series: 1-1

Hitmen to Watch

RW Tyler Mrkonjic – A veteran of 206 Western Hockey League games, Mrkonjic makes up one-third of this year’s Hitmen overaged troop. The 6-foot-2, 204-pound winger, who enjoyed career-highs last season in goals (13), power play goals (2), game-winning goals (4) and points (24), has one goal and one assist with a team-leading plus-two rating this year. The Hitmen acquired Mrkonjic’s services in a trade with Prince George last November in exchange for a sixth round pick in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft (right wing Reid Perepeluk). A St. Albert native, Mrkonjic was originally a fourth round, 82nd overall, selection of Tri-City in 2011.

 

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Blazer to Watch

D Luke Zazula – The 16-year-old rookie defenceman has chipped in with four points (two goals, two assists) in his team’s first five games of the season. A 5-foot-8, 165-pound Delta Hockey Academy graduate, Zazula was named the Canadian Sport School Hockey League’s (CSSHL) Top Defenceman for the 2014-15 campaign. Last season, he helped lead Delta to a league title with 26 points and 103 penalty minutes in 29 games. The Langley, B.C. native was the Blazers’ fourth round, 82nd overall, selection at the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft.