GAME PREVIEW: Calgary vs Edmonton – 02.07.25
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen (31-13-3-2) play their third straight game at home tonight as they welcome their provincial rivals from Edmonton to Scotiabank Saddledome. Game time is 7:00 p.m. against the Oil Kings (26-19-1-2). Be sure to take advantage of the $6 Hitmen Happy Hour from when doors open at 6:00 p.m. up until the opening faceoff. Items include pizza, burgers, hot dogs, 14-ounce beer, highballs and 6-ounce house wine. It’s another Nutrien Chuck-A-Puck night in support of Brown Bagging for Calgary Kids. Pucks will be tossed in the second intermission and are available for purchase behind Section 117 and 223 with awesome prizes to be won. The Hitmen are coming off Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Prince Albert. Oliver Tulk scored twice with Connor Hvidston added a single helping push Calgary out to a 3-0 lead. Ethan Bibeau broke Daniel Hauser’s shutout bid with 1:55 remaining as Hauser finished the game with 27 saves to earn the victory. Edmonton meanwhile has been idle since last Saturday when they blanked the Hurricanes 2-0 in Lethbridge. Rookie goaltender Ethan Simcoe turned aside all 35 shots he faced to record the shutout while Cole Miller and Marshall Finnie supplied the goals.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Hitmen are third in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 67 points, two points behind the front-running Medicine Hat Tigers while Edmonton is seventh with 55 points, one point back of both Brandon and Saskatoon.
EDMONTON: Tonight marks the sixth of eight regular season meetings between the two Central Division rivals. Calgary is 4-1 against the Oil Kings, having won the last four. The winning team has scored four or more goals in all four victories. Connor Hvidston (2g, 6a) leads Calgary in the season series with eight points while Carter Yakemchuk (2g, 4a) has six. Miroslav Holinka ((2g, 2a) and Gavin Hodnett (1g, 3a) are the top performers for Edmonton with four points each. The Hitmen are 2-0 on home ice against the Oil Kings this season. Their next meeting is over a month away on Wednesday, Mar. 12 in Edmonton at 11:00 a.m.
2024-25 SERIES RECAP
Sept. 28/24 in EDM: Oil Kings 4 Hitmen 1…Alex Worthington made 33 saves for Edmonton in a first-star performance.
Nov. 29/24 in CGY: Hitmen 4 Oil Kings 2…Carter Yakemchuk broke a 2-2 tie for Calgary with 2:57 remaining.
Jan. 1/25 at EDM: Hitmen 4 Oil Kings 1…The Hitmen scored four unanswered goals as Carter Yakemchuk notched three points (1g, 2a).
Jan. 29/25 in CGY: Hitmen 6 Oil Kings 0…Calgary built period leads of 2-0 and 4-0.
Jan. 31/25 in EDM: Hitmen 5 Oil Kings 2…Ben Kindel scored twice while Daniel Hauser made 29 saves for Calgary.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on Goal: CGY 180 EDM 140 Power Plays: CGY 3-24 (12.5%) EDM 3-26 (11.5%)
STREAKS: Oliver Tulk (8g, 7a) is on a nine-game point streak and has points (25g, 35a) in 29 of his last 30 games…Carson Wetsch (3g, 1a) and Connor Hvidston (3g, 4a) are both riding four-game point streaks while Ben Kindel (2g, 2a) has points in three consecutive games…Anders Miller is 5-0-0-1 in his last seven appearances with a 1.48 goals against average and .939 save percentage… Carson Birnie (1g, 3a) and Carter Yakemchuk (1g, 5a) both saw their four-game point streaks end Wednesday against PA.
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. In the goaltending department, Anders Miller is 19th. Overall, a total of 66 WHL players cracked the rankings.
HOME AND AWAY COMPARISION: The Hitmen are 19-4-1-1 at Scotiabank Saddledome. The Hitmen went 20-10-3-1 on home ice last season. Their 40 home points trail only Everett (43). Edmonton is 11-11-1-1 away from Rogers Place, going 3-1 in their last four road games with their only loss against Calgary on Jan. 29.
JANUARY REWIND: Ben Kindel led all Hitmen and the WHL in scoring last month with 28 points (8g, 20a) in 14 games. Oliver Tulk was second on the club with 25 points (11g, 14a), Connor Hvidston (2g, 11a) third and Carson Wetsch (10g, 2a) fourth. Carter Yakemchuk (3g, 6a) and Brandon Gorzynski (4g, 5a) shared fifth place with nine points each. Kindel and Tulk also tied for the plus/minus lead at +20.
FEBRUARY SCHEDULE: The Hitmen play 12 games this month with seven of those games on the road and three remaining at home counting tonight.
HAUSER’S HISTORIC CLIMB: Hitmen goaltender Daniel Hauser picked up career victory 112 on Wednesday against PA. He is now two wins behind Griffen Outhouse who sits ninth on the WHL’s all time regular season wins list with 114.
FAST FACTS: Calgary’s 31 ties their most in a single season since the 2022-23 campaign when they finished seventh in the Eastern Conference Standings with 31 wins…The Hitmen have outshot their opponent 38 times this season…The Hitmen have dropped two spots this week in the CHL Top-10 Rankings, now sitting ninth…Since starting the season with a record of 2-4, Calgary has gone 29-9-3-2 including 13-2-0-1 in their last 16…The Hitmen are 11-9-1-2 against teams from the Central Division…Calgary is +50 in goals for and against while Edmonton is +27.
WHL LEADERBOARD: The Hitmen have two of the WHL’s Top-4 scorers as Oliver Tulk is fourth with 81 points while Ben Kindel is in third place with 82 points.
CAREER MILESTONE WATCH: Ben Kindel needs two assists to reach 100…Oliver Tulk is sixth all-time in franchise scoring with 240 points, 16 points behind Kris Beech (256) for fifth place…Tulk became the sixth member of the Hitmen 100 goal-club 10 days ago against Edmonton. He is seven goals behind Brandon Segal (110) for fifth place on the clubs’ all-time goal scoring list…Connor Hvidston hit the 200-point mark last Friday in Edmonton…Chase Valliant played his 100th career game on Sunday against Lethbridge
DID YOU KNOW? Connor Hvidston (306) surpassed 300 face-off wins on Wednesday against Prince Albert, joining Oliver Tulk (441) and David Adaszynski (345) as the other two Hitmen to achieve that mark this season…As a team, Calgary is 55.3% on draws.
MAYFAIR DIAGNOSTICS INJURY REPORT: Lukas Hansen (Upper Body, Indefinately), Noah Kosick (Upper Body, Day-to-Day).
HITMEN MONTH-BY-MONTH: Sept. (1-1-0-0), Oct. (4-4-2-1), Nov. (7-3-1-0), Dec. (6-3-0-0), Jan. (12-1-0-1), Feb. (1-1-0-0).
SPECIAL TEAMS TRACKER: The Hitmen power play is 17th in the WHL at 20.1% while the penalty kill is 11th at 76.4%.
UPCOMING GAMES: Calgary will wrap up this four-game homestand on Tuesday, Feb. 11 against Lethbridge in another 7:00 p.m. start at Scotiabank Saddledome. The Hitmen then face six games in nine nights as part of an East Division tour beginning on Valentine’s Day, Friday, Feb. 14 in Saskatoon. The swing will also take Calgary to Prince Albert (Feb. 15), Swift Current (Feb. 17), Regina (Feb. 19), Brandon (Feb. 21) and Moose Jaw (Feb. 22).
