GAME PREVIEW: Calgary at Edmonton | 03.22.26
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen (38-20-8-1) play their regular season finale this afternoon on the road in Edmonton against the Oil Kings (44-18-3-2). Game time is 4:00 p.m. at Rogers Place. The Hitmen are coming off last night’s 8-5 home ice victory over Lethbridge in the Fan Appreciation game presented by CARFAX Canada. Blake Vanek and Harrison Lodewyk both scored twice for Calgary with Vanek’s second of the night snapping a 5-5 third period tie with 12:50 remaining in regulation. A total of 12 Hitmen recorded at lead a point with Vanek adding a pair of assists for a career-high four points. Edmonton meanwhile has been idle since Friday’s 2-1 victory in Lethbridge over those same Hurricanes. Lukas Sawchyn scored the game winner snapping a 1-1 tie with 7:04 left in the second period.
WHERE THEY STAND: Calgary has clinched fourth place in the Eastern Conference at 85 points while Edmonton has nailed down third with 93 points.
EDMONTON: Today marks the eighth and final regular season meeting between the two Central Division rivals. It’s also their third head-to-head battle in just seven days. Calgary leads the season series 5-2 thanks to four home ice victories. Overall, the Hitmen have outscored the Oil Kings by a combined 26-20. Kale Dach (3g, 5a) and Ethan Moore (2g, 6a) lead the charge with eight points each. Andrei Molgachev (4g, 3a) is next with seven. Kayden Stroeder (5g, 1a) is the top performer for the Oil Kings with six points. Blake Fiddler (3g, 2a) is next with five. Calgary is 9-10-0-0 in their last 19 visits to the Alberta capital.
2025-26 SERIES RECAP
Sept. 27/25 in CGY: Hitmen 6 Oil Kings 3…Six different Hitmen scored in the win with points from nine different players.
Oct. 26/25 in EDM: Hitmen 3 Oil Kings 2…Brandon Gorzynski scored twice for Calgary.
Jan. 28/26 in CGY: Hitmen 5 Oil Kings 2…Trailing 2-1 after 40, the Hitmen erupted for four third-period goals.
Feb. 13/26 in CGY: Hitmen 5 Oil Kings 3…Calgary erased a 3-1 first period deficit.
Feb. 14/26 in EDM: Oil Kings 4 Hitmen 3…Edmonton built a 4-0 second period lead.
Mar. 15/26 in CGY: Hitmen 3 Oil Kings 1…Andrei Molgachev scored twice for Calgary while Eric Tu made 29 saves.
Mar. 18/26 in EDM: Oil Kings 5 Hitmen 1…Kayden Stroeder notched a hat trick for Edmonton.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on Goal: CGY 192 EDM 208 Power Plays: CGY 6-31 (19.4%) EDM 4-28 (14.3%)
STREAKIN’: Ben MacBeath (1g, 9a) is on a career high tying six-game point streak. Harrison Lodewyk (5g, 4a) has points in each of the last four games.
HOME ICE CLINCHED: The Hitmen are playoff bound for the second consecutive season and will open the 2026 WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien with two straight home games. Their best-of-seven series against the Brandon Wheat Kings settles into Scotiabank Saddledome for dates on Friday, Mar. 27 and Sunday, Mar. 29. Both are 7:00 p.m. starts with tickets on sale now at bit.ly/4rJ7NSA. It will be eighth ever playoff series between the Hitmen and Wheat Kings and their first since 2015.
DID YOU KNOW? The Hitmen are 3-1 in their last four games…Today is Calgary’s fifth game in eight days.
FRANCHISE RECORD: Ben MacBeath has set a new club record for points in a single season by a rookie defenceman with 51, smashing the previous high of 39 set by Jake Bean in the 2014/15 campaign. MacBeath has established the mark in his 17-year-old season while Bean set the record at age 16. The club record for most points by a 17-year-old defenceman is 64 and is held by Bean with MacBeath now second all-time, four points ahead of Carter Yakemchuk (47).
FRANCHISE FIRST: The Hitmen have three players among the WHL’s Top-20 Rookie scorers for the first time in club history. Kale Dach is fourth (75pts) followed by Andrei Molgachev fifth (58pts) and Ben MacBeath who is 11th (51pts). MacBeath is also the highest scoring rookie defenceman in the Eastern Conference this season. Dach is the highest scoring Hitmen rookie since Andrew Ladd also tallied 75 points in 2003/04. The only player higher than Dach and Ladd’s performance is Pavel Brendl who recorded an eye popping 134 points as a freshman in 1998/99.
ODDITY: Should Blake Vanek play today he will be just one of five WHL players this season to appear in more than a team’s schedule of 68 games. For Vanek it would be his 69th game. He started the season in Wenatchee before a Jan. 7, 2026, trade to Calgary in exchange for prospect Carter Ernst and a sixth-round pick in the 2029 WHL Prospects Draft. Of note, Kelowna’s Ty Halaburda has played 72 games this season between Vancouver and Kelowna.
FAST FACTS: Calgary is 18-9-1-0 against the Central Division. The Hitmen have two players among the Top-20 goal scorers in the WHL this season in Julien Maze and Kale Dach. Maze is tied for ninth with 38 goals with Dach sitting 17th with 34. Calgary is 23-1-2-1 when leading after the first period. Ethan Moore’s two points (1g, 1a) last night against Lethbridge moved him into a tied with Radel Fazleev for 31st place on the club’s all-time regular season points list with 147. Brodie Dupont holds 30th place with 149 points.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTEBOOK: The Hitmen power play, which has scored at least once in 19 of the last 23 games, is second in the WHL at 32.0%. Calgary’s penalty kill is seventh at 79.7%.
HOME AND AWAY COMPARISON: The Hitmen are 18-10-4-1 on the road, just one win behind last year’s total of 19 in enemy buildings which saw the club post an overall record of 19-11-2-2. Edmonton is 23-6-2-2 at home where they have won three straight and are 6-1 in their last seven games.
SHOT CLOCK: Wyatt Pisarczyk (98) is two shots on goal shy of 100 for the season. Axel Hurtig (100) reached the century mark last night against Lethbridge.
WHL REGULAR SEASON CAREER MILESTONES: Hunter Aura reached 50 career assists on Wednesday in Edmonton while Ben MacBeath hit 50 career points the same day. Harrison Lodewyk reached the 100-point plateau last Sunday against Edmonton.
MAYFAIR DIAGNOSTICS INJURY REPORT: Rylan Ng (Upper Body, Indefinitely).
HITMEN VS: BDN (2-1-1-0), EDM (5-2), EVT (1-0), KAM (0-1), KEL (0-1), LET (5-2-1-0), MH (1-5-1-1), MJ (1-3), PEN (0-0-1-0), POR (0-1), PA (3-1), PG (1-0), RD (7-1), REG (3-0-1-0), SAS (2-1-1-0), SEA (1-0), SPO (1-0), SC (3-1), TC (1-0), VAN (1-0), VIC (0-0-1-0), WEN (0-0).
HITMEN ALUMNUS: Tanner Howe is in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The 20-year-old forward has returned to the lineup after missing most of the season with a knee injury suffered in the second round of the 2025 WHL Playoffs against Lethbridge. In 17 games with the Pens, Howe has 10 points (5g, 5a). Howe played 37 career games with the Hitmen after joining the club in a November 2024 trade with Regina collecting 39 points (12g, 27a).
