GAME PREVIEW: Calgary at Prince George | 01.03.26
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen (18-10-5-1) wrap up their four-game tour of British Columbia tonight with a stop in Prince George against the Cougars (23-11-2-0). Game time is 6:00 p.m. PST/7:00 p.m. MST at CN Centre. The Hitmen are 1-1-1-0 on the trip following a 4-3 New Year’s Day loss on Vancouver Island to the Victoria Royals. Calgary forced extra time when Kale Dach scored the lone goal of the third period before Timofei Runtso potted the game winner for the Royals 3:55 into the extra session. Harrison Lodewyk with his 10th and Ty Meunier with his third goal in five games since joining the club in a trade with Prince Albert also scored for the Hitmen. Calgary outshot the Royals 29-27 while Aidan Hesse made 23 saves in goal. Prince George also last played on January 1, falling 6-5 in overtime on the road in Penticton. The Vees overcame a 5-3 third period deficit to produce the victory, outshooting the Cougars 45-21. Arsenii Anisimoiv paced Prince George with three assists while Dmitri Yakutsenak and Brock Souch both notched a goal and an assist.
WHERE THEY STAND: Calgary is sixth in the Eastern Conference at 42 points, one point behind Saskatoon but with three games in hand on the Blades. Prince George is second in the Western Conference at 48 points, 11 points back of front running Everett.
PRINCE GEORGE: Today is the lone regular season meeting between the two clubs and their first in just under 15 months. Last season they met on Oct. 14, 2024, in Calgary with the Hitmen skating to a 5-0 victory. Goaltender Eric Tu made 31 saves to record his first career Western Hockey League shutout while Ben Kindel (1g, 1a) and Connor Hvidston (2a) both posted multi-point games. The last time Calgary made the trip to Northern BC was on Dec. 28, 2023, when they dropped a 3-2 decision to the Cougars despite outshooting the home side 37-23. Ethan Moore and Sean Tschigerl scored for the Hitmen, but it was Hudson Thornton who snapped a 2-2 tie, counting the game winner for Prince George with 1:40 remaining.
STREAKIN’: Ben MacBeath (10a) is on a career-high six-game assist streak…Kale Dach (2g, 4a) is on a three-game point streak… Julien Maze (7g, 6a) saw his seven-game point streak end New Year’s Day in Victoria while a two-game point streak for Hayden Schollar (1g, 1a) was also snapped against the Royals.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: The Hitmen have 13 rookies on their roster including 13 players who are 17 and under.
RECENT RUN: Calgary has picked up points in eight of their last 10 games, posting a record of 6-2-2-0.
MAKING THE TURN: Today is Calgary’s 35th game of the season, officially starting the second half of their 68-game regular season schedule. As of now the Hitmen are on pace for an 82-point season with a record of 36-20-10-1.
DID YOU KNOW? Ethan Moore’s third period goal Tuesday against the Vancouver Giants in Langley was his 117th career point, moving him into a tie for 49th place on the club’s all-time scoring list with Karl Alzner, Jimmy Bubnick and Jaynen Rissling.
ROSTER MOVE: Following Wednesday’s game against Victoria, Calgary returned prospect Jack Poole to the U18 Prep North Shore Warriors of the CSSHL. The 16-year-old forward from North Vancouver, BC was selected by the Hitmen in the fourth-round of the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft and has 22 points (15g, 7a) in 17 games with the Warriors this season.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTEBOOK: The Hitmen power play has climbed into sixth place in the WHL at 28.9%…The Hitmen penalty kill ranks third best at 82.2%.
DECEMBER NOD: Kale Dach is the Sandman WHL Rookie of the Month for December. The 18-year-old tallied 14 points (8g, 6a) in nine games with three of his goals game winners.
BUS BUDDIES: Today marks the fourth stop in a stretch of games for the Hitmen that sees the club play eight of their next 11 games on the road.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Kale Dach (21g, 21a) leads Calgary in scoring with 42 points which is tied for 23rd overall in the WHL…Julien Maze tops the Hitmen in shots on goal with 105 while Ethan Moore is next with 98.
WHL TOP 10: Eric Tu is fifth in the WHL in goals-against-average at 2.54 while his .905 save percentage ranks seventh…Harrison Lodewyk is sixth in the WHL in face-off wins with 368 and is also a team-leading 64.8% on draws…Ben MacBeath is eighth in the Eastern Conference in defencemen scoring with 27 points.
2026 NHL DRAFT: Five Hitmen are on NHL Central Scouting’s list as Preliminary Players to Watch ahead of the 2026 draft. Landon Amrheim and Ben MacBeath are forecast as second or third-round picks. Hunter Aura, Aidan Hesse and Andrei Molgachev are projected to be sixth or seventh-round candidates.
HOME AND AWAY COMPARISON: The Hitmen are 10-3-3-1 on the road including a 5-1-2-0 run in their last eight games away from Scotiabank Saddledome. Prince Geroge is 12-5-0-0 at home.
WHL REGULAR SEASON MILESTONES: Julien Maze is four points shy of 100…Hunter Aura is three games away from 100…Ty Meunier skated in his 100th career game last Saturday in Kamloops. Goaltender Eric Tu eclipsed the 2,000 minutes played mark on Dec. 19 vs. Brandon.
MAYFAIR DIAGNOSTICS INJURY REPORT: None.
OLYMPIC INVITE: Hitmen alumnus Travis Sanheim has been named to Team Canada’s Men’s Hockey Roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. The 29-year-old defenceman is in his ninth NHL season with Philadelphia and has 17 points (3g, 14a) in 39 games with the Flyers. Sanheim appeared in 132 career games with the Hitmen from 2013-2016 recording 162 points (35g, 127a).
HITMEN VS: BDN (1-0-1-0), EDM (2-0), EVT (0-0), KAM (0-1), KEL (0-0), LET (3-1-1-0), MH (1-2-1-1), MJ (0-2), PEN (0-0), POR (0-1), PA (2-0), PG (0-0), RD (4-1), REG (0-0-1-0), SAS (1-1), SEA (0-0), SPO (1-0), SC (2-0), TC (0-0), VAN (1-0), VIC (0-0-1-0), WEN (0-1).
UPCOMING SCHEDULE: The Hitmen head back to Alberta to open a three-game homestand. It all begins against Sawyer Mayes and the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday, Jan. 10 in a 6:00 p.m. start at Scotiabank Saddledome. The night is presented by Vallen and will see the Hitmen team up with Dungeon Wrestling to raise support and awareness for prostate cancer. Fans will be treated to three wrestling matches, one pre-game and one in each intermission. Calgary will then welcome Lethbridge the next day on Sunday, Jan. 11 in the Paw Patrol Game. The Hitmen will wear special Paw Patrol themed jerseys while characters Chase and Skye from the TV series will also be attending. Game time is 4:00 p.m. for the Sunday Funday contest presented by Brookfield Residential. Calgary then concludes the homestand on Wednesday, Jan. 14 against Tri-City in a 7:00 p.m. start at the ‘Dome.
