HITMEN WIN GAME TWO IN OVERTIME

In a tense, physical playoff battle in Central Alberta on Saturday night the Calgary Hitmen produced a 2-1 overtime win over the Red Deer Rebels at Peavey Mart Centrium.  Their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Quarter Final series is now tied 1-1.

With the game scoreless through 40 minutes the Rebels struck first when Vegas Golden Knights prospect Christoffer Sedoff tallied the opener with just under nine minutes remaining.  It stayed that way until the Hitmen pulled goaltender Brayden Peters for an extra attacker and seconds later Sean Tschigerl tapped in a loose puck with 1:37 remaining to send Game 2 to sudden death.

The game winner came off the stick of David Adaszynski 16:42 into the extra session.  Defenceman Carter Yakemchuk made a brilliant play reaching high to keep the puck in the Rebels zone before passing the puck down the boards to Tschigerl.  He then went rink-wide to Carter MacAdams who found a wide open Adaszynski in the slot.  For MacAdams it was his second primary assist of the game.

The shot clock was as close as the scoreboard with Red Deer outshooting the visitors 39-38.  Peters was excellent for Calgary making 38 saves while Kyle Kelsey turned aside 36 shots for the Rebels.

Both teams were blanked on the power play with each club going 0-4.

The series will now take a one-day breather before shifting to Calgary for Games 3 and 4 on Monday, April 3 and Wednesday, April 5 at Scotiabank Saddledome.  Tickets for the 7:00 p.m. start times are on sale now at hitmenhockey.com