GAME PREVIEW: Calgary at Red Deer – 03.22.25
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen (44-16-3-3) are on the road tonight as they head into the final weekend of the Western Hockey League’s regular season with a stop in Central Alberta against the Red Deer Rebels (26-32-6-2). Game time is 7:00 p.m. at Peavey Mart Centrium. It’s the second half of a home and home set between the two clubs with Calgary skating to a 5-1 home ice win on Wednesday. Sawyer Mynio (1g, 1a), Ethan Moore (1g, 1a) and Oliver Tulk (2a) all recorded multi-point performances while Daniel Hauser made 21 saves to pick up the win. The Hitmen outshot the Rebels 30-22 and built period leads of 2-0 and 5-0.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Hitmen are tied for first place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with Medicine Hat at 94 points. Both clubs have two games remaining with the Tigers home to Lethbridge tonight. Red Deer, at 60 points, is ninth in the conference and has been eliminated from playoff contention.
RED DEER: Tonight is the eighth and final regular season meeting between the two Central Division rivals. Calgary is 3-2-1-1 against the Rebels. Since going winless in 11 games against the Rebels dating back to last season, the Hitmen have gone (3-0-0-1) in their last four. Oliver Tulk (2g, 10a) leads the Hitmen in the season series with 12 points while Ben Kindel (2g, 8a) has 10 and Carter Yakemchuk (4g, 4a) eight. Jaxon Fuder (3g, 2a) has been the top performing Rebel with five points. Samuel Drancak (2g, 2a), Matthew Gard (4a) and Talon Brigley (4a) all have four. The Hitmen are 1-1-0-1 in Red Deer this season.
2024-25 SERIES RECAP
Oct. 5/24 in RD: Rebels 5 Hitmen 2…The Rebels scored three unanswered goals after Reese Hamilton tied the game for Calgary.
Oct. 16/24 in CGY: Rebels 5 Hitmen 4 OT…The Hitmen overcame a 3-0 deficit to earn a point before Hunter Mayo scored the OT winner.
Nov. 4/24 in CGY: Rebels 3 Hitmen 2…Red Deer overcame a 2-1 third period deficit scoring the winner with 3:56 remaining.
Jan. 3/25 in RD: Hitmen 6 Rebels 2…Anders Miller made 32 saves while Ben Kindel set up three goals.
Jan. 26/25 in CGY: Hitmen 6 Rebels 1…Sawyer Mynio scored twice for Calgary.
Feb. 28/25 in RD: Rebels 2 Hitmen 1 Shootout…Ty Coupland scored the shootout winner in Round 3.
Mar. 19/25 in CGY: Hitmen 5 Rebels 1…Calgary scored twice on a second period 5-on-3 to turn a 2-0 lead to 4-0.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on Goal: CGY 237 RD 209 Power Plays: CGY 11-29 (37.9%) RD 3-18 (16.7%)
STREAKS: Sawyer Mynio (3g, 8a) is riding a seven-game point streak…Ethan Moore (5g, 1a) is on a three-game goal scoring streak…Tanner Howe (2g, 2a) is on a three-game point streak…Brandon Gorzynski (2g, 1a) has scored in two consecutive games…Hunter Aura (1g, 1a) and Kalem Parker (2a) have points in back-to-back games…Ben Kindel (2a) saw his two-game point streak end Wednesday against the Rebels.
MOUNT HAUSER: Daniel Hauser picked up career victory 123 on Wednesday against Red Deer, breaking the WHL’s all-time record for most regular season wins by a goaltender moving ahead of former Saskatoon Blade Nolan Maier (122). Along the way Hauser recorded his wins with Winnipeg (78), Wenatchee (25) and Calgary (20).
CHASING NUMBERS: With two games remaining in the regular season several Hitmen are chasing season milestones. Ben Kindel (98) is two points away from 100…Connor Hvidston (19) needs one goal to reach 20…Carter Yakemchuk (49) is one point shy of 50…Tanner Howe (46) is four points away from 50…Kalem Parker (39) is one point shy of 40…Ethan Moore (98) is two faceoff wins away from 100…David Adaszynski (493) is four faceoff wins short of 500.
FAST FACTS: Calgary has slipped a spot this week to ninth in the CHL-Top 10 Rankings presented by Delta Hotels by Marriott…The Hitmen are 16-10-1-3 against the Central Division…Calgary is +83 in goals for and against while Red Deer is -64…The Hitmen have three 30-goal scorers this season in Oliver Tulk (38), Ben Kindel (34) and Carson Wetsch (32), marking the first time since the 2013-14 season when Jake Virtanen (45), Brady Brassart (35) and Greg Chase (35) all hit that mark.
40 WIN CLUB: Calgary’s 44 wins are tied for ninth most in franchise history and the highest total since 2014-15 when they posted 45 wins and won the Central Division back when the schedule was 72 games.
HAUSER MAKES HISTORY: On Mar. 7 against Swift Current, Daniel Hauser cemented his name in the Hitmen record books when his shutout streak ended at 245 minutes and 25 seconds. He had broken Justin Pogge’s 2006 mark of 228:47 the previous game and in the process also set a new franchise with four straight shutouts, which also tied the WHL record. The previous club record of three straight shutouts was shared by Justin Pogge and Martin Jones
HOME AND AWAY COMPARISION: The Hitmen are 18-11-2-2 on the road and riding a seven-game point streak (6-0-0-1) away from Scotiabank Saddledome. Their 40 road points are fifth most in the WHL. Red Deer is 17-11-5-0 on home ice.
WHL LEADERBOARD: Daniel Hauser is second in the WHL with a 2.57 goals against average while his .912 save percentage is tied for fourth best and his five shutouts top the league…The Hitmen have two of the WHL’s Top-7 scorers. Ben Kindel is seventh with 98 points while Oliver Tulk is tied for fifth with100. The last time the Hitmen had a 100-point player was Brandon Kozun in 2009/10 when he tallied 107 points. The last time Calgary had a pair of 100-point producers was 2008/09 when Brandon Kozun (108) and Brett Sonne (100) both hit the century mark. Axel Hurtig is tied with Luke Shipley of Brandon for the Eastern Conference defencemen lead in plus/minus at +37.
CAREER MILESTONE WATCH: David Adaszynski is one point away from 100…Ben Kindel needs one goal to each 50…Oliver Tulk is two assists shy of 150…Carter Yakemchuk (180) is one point behind Michael Stone (181) for third place all-time in franchise scoring by a defenceman…Sawyer Mynio hit the century mark in assists on Wednesday against Red Deer while Daniel Hauser eclipsed 10,000 minutes the same night.
PLAYOFF TICKETS: The Hitmen are heading to the WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien and have clinched home ice advantage in Round 1. Tickets for the first two games of their best-of-seven opening round series at Scotiabank Saddledome are on sale now at HitmenHockey.com/Tickets. Game 1 is Friday, Mar. 28 at 7:00 p.m. with Game 2 on Sunday, Mar. 30 at 2:00 p.m. Calgary’s opponent is yet to be determined.
MAYFAIR DIAGNOSTICS INJURY REPORT: None
UPCOMING GAMES: Calgary will put the finishing touches on their 68-game regular season schedule tomorrow, Sunday, Mar. 23 at home against the Medicine Hat Tigers. Game time is 5:00 p.m. for Fan Appreciation Day which will see the Hitmen player awards handed out in a pre-game ceremony. It’s also another Sunday Funday presented by Brookfield Residential with all the usual food and beverage specials and concourse activities but without a post game family skate due to the later start time.
