GAME PREVIEW: Calgary at Moose Jaw – 01.22.25
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen (25-12-3-2) are on the road in Saskatchewan for a single game stop in Moose Jaw against the Warriors (10-27-4-2) tonight. Game time is 6:00 p.m. (MT) at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. The Hitmen are coming off last Sunday’s 4-1 home ice victory over Regina which saw Ben Kindel set up three goals and Oliver Tulk scored twice. Sawyer Mynio, with his first with the Hitmen, and Carson Wetsch on the power play, also scored for Calgary while Daniel Hauser made 21 saves to record the victory. Moose Jaw meanwhile has been off since last Saturday’s 7-0 setback to the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings. It marked the fourth time the Warriors have been shutout this season on day they were outshot 33-20 and trailed 3-0 after the first period and 5-0 after 40 minutes.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Hitmen are third in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 55 points, trailing the conference leading Medicine Hat Tigers by three points but with three games in hand on the Tigers. Moose Jaw is 11th with 26 points.
MOOSE JAW: Tonight marks the third of four regular season meetings between the two clubs. Calgary is 2-0 against the Warriors after winning both games on home ice. Oliver Tulk (4g, 3a) and Ben Kindel (7a) have seven points each to lead the Hitmen while goaltender Anders Miller has stopped 42 of 43 shots against Moose Jaw for a .977 save percentage. Calgary is 2-5 in their last seven visits to Canada’s Most Notorious City. Their final meeting of the season is Saturday, Feb. 22 once again in Moose Jaw.
2024-25 SERIES RECAP
Dec. 1/24 in CGY: Hitmen 9 Warriors 0…Tanner Howe netted a hat-trick in front of 16,869 fans.
Jan. 8/25 in CGY: Hitmen 5 Warriors 1…Oliver Tulk scored his first hat-trick of the season and third of his WHL career.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on Goal: CGY 104 MJ 43 Power Plays: CGY 1-3 (33.3%) MJ 1-3 (33.3%)
STREAKS: Ben Kindel (14g, 34a) has points in 25 of his last 26 games…Oliver Tulk (20g, 28a) has points in 22 of his last 23 games…Sawyer Mynio (1g, 1a), Connor Hvidston (2a) and Axel Hurtig (2a) all have points in back-to-back games…Anders Miller is 4-0-0-1 in his last five starts with a 1.77 goals against average and .932 save percentage.
REUNION: Tonight’s game will see Hitmen defenceman and Minnesota Wild prospect Kalem Parker make his first return to Moose Jaw since a Nov. 17, 2024, deal that saw Calgary acquire Parker in exchange for prospect Nathan Gardiner, a second-round pick in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft plus third and seventh-round selections in 2026. Parker played 82 career games with the Warriors recording 54 points (9g, 45a) during parts of two seasons after joining Moose Jaw in an October 2023 trade from Victoria.
NHL RADAR: Three Hitmen are on NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings of the top North American skaters and goalies eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft. Among the skaters, Ben Kindel is ranked 20th with Brandon Gorzynski on the document 81st. On the goaltending list, Anders Miller is 19th. Overall, a total of 66 WHL players cracked the rankings.
HOME AND AWAY COMPARISION: The Hitmen are 2-0-0-1 in their last three games away from Scotiabank Saddledome and are 9-9-2-1 overall on the road this season. Their 21 road points rank tied for ninth in the WHL. Moose Jaw is 5-13-1-2 at home.
HAUSER’S HISTORIC CLIMB: Hitmen goaltender Daniel Hauser picked up career win 107 on Sunday against Regina moving him into a five-way tie for 11th all-time in WHL regular season history. Hauser is now just one victory behind Martin Jones (108) for 10th place.
FAST FACTS: For the second week in a row, the Hitmen have cracked the CHL Top-10 Rankings continuing to hold the eighth spot…Since starting the season with a record of 2-4, Calgary has gone 23-8-3-2.
WHL LEADERBOARD: The Hitmen have two of the WHL’s Top-5 scorers as Ben Kindel is fifth with 68 points while Oliver Tulk is fourth with 69 points.
CAREER MILESTONE WATCH: Oliver Tulk is two goals shy of 100. His 98 goals have him sixth on the clubs’ all-time goal scoring list, 12 back of Brandon Segal (110) for fifth place. Tulk is also 10th all-time in franchise scoring with 228 points, one point behind Cody Sylvester and Boris Protsenko who share eighth place with 229 points…Daniel Hauser is 34 saves shy of 4,000…Carter Yakemchuk needs two assists to reach 100…Dax Williams is five games away from 150…Sawyer Mynio played career game 200 last Saturday in Medicine Hat…
DID YOU KNOW? Calgary is 10-3-1-0 against teams from the East Division…David Adaszynski surpassed 300 faceoff wins this season on Sunday against Regina and has now won 10 or more draws in three of his last four games…Carson Wetsch leads the Hitmen in game winning goals with seven which is also third most in the WHL…Connor Hvidston has at least a point in eight of his last 10 games…This the 30th anniversary season in the WHL for Calgary.
MAYFAIR DIAGNOSTICS INJURY REPORT: Lukas Hansen (Upper Body, TBD), Carter Yakemchuk (Lower Body, Day-to-Day).
HITMEN MONTH-BY-MONTH: September (1-1-0-0), October (4-4-2-1), November (7-3-1-0), December (6-3-0-0), January (7-1-0-1).
SPECIAL TEAMS TRACKER: The Hitmen power play is 17th in the WHL at 19.6% while the penalty kill is also 17th at 74.1%.
ALUMNI WATCH: Josh Prokop is playing U SPORTS Men’s Hockey with the University of Alberta Golden Bears. The 24-year-old forward is sixth in team scoring with 21 points (7g, 14a) in 22 games. Prokop played three seasons with the Hitmen from 2018-2021 recording 88 points (34g, 54a) in 143 games.
UPCOMING GAMES: The Hitmen will enjoy a two-day break before a pair of weekend games. On Saturday, Jan. 25 they travel to Lethbridge to face the Hurricanes before returning to Scotiabank Saddledome to wrap up the weekend on Sunday, Jan. 26 at home against Red Deer. Note the later 6:00 p.m. start time against the Rebels in another Sunday Funday presented by Brookfield Residential.
