RECAP: Hitmen Eliminate Wheat Kings and Move on To Round Two
Virden, MB – The Calgary Hitmen are officially off to Round 2 after eliminating the Brandon Wheat Kings in Game 4 of Round 1 with a 4-2 victory.
The Wheat Kings jumped out to an early lead, going up 2-0 in the first period on goals from Grayson Burzynski and Chase Surkan. Calgary began their comeback in the second period, with Kale Dach scoring his second of the playoffs to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into the third.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in the final frame, Harrison Lodewyk netted his first of the playoffs to tie the game. Ethan Moore then scored off the rush at the 11:48 mark to give Calgary the lead. Julien Maze added an empty-net goal in the closing minutes to seal the 4-2 win.
Moore’s goal stood as his fourth consecutive game-winning goal. He scored overtime winners in Games 1 and 2, followed by the game-winner in Game 3. In the internet era, no player has recorded four straight game-winning goals in the WHL playoffs; the most recent close mark was Morgan Geekie, who had three consecutive in 2018.
Eric Tu was stellar in net, winning all four of his playoff starts and finishing the series with a 1.63 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage.
Round One Results:
Game 1 Friday, Mar. 27 Hitmen 1 Wheat Kings 0 OT3 CGY leads the series 1-0.
Game 2 Sunday, Mar. 29 Hitmen 6 Wheat Kings 5 OT CGY leads the series 2-0.
Game 3 Tuesday, March 31 Hitmen 3 Wheat Kings 1 CGY leads the series 3-0.
Game 4 Thursday, April 2 Hitmen 4 Wheat Kings 2 CGY wins series 4-0.
The Hitmen now await the completion of the other first round series to determine their round two opponent. Ticket details for round two home games will be announced at a later date.
