Hitmen eliminated by Rebels
Jason Pirie/hitmenhockey.com
Photo: Candice Ward
It was fun while it was lasted.
Adam Helewka scored twice and added an assist to lead the Red Deer Rebels to a 5-3 Game 5 series-clinching win over the Calgary Hitmen tonight at the Enmax Centrium.
Adam Musil, Grayson Pawlenchuk and Jeff de Wit also scored for the Memorial Cup hosts, who captured the Round 1 best-of-seven series 4-1.
Red Deer moves on to the second round to face the Regina Pats, who upset the heavily-favoured Lethbridge Hurricanes in five games.
Jackson Houck, Pavel Karnaukhov and Bryce Platt replied for the Hitmen, who were forced to play without their captain Colby Harmsworth for three games in the series due to a suspension.
“It’s a tough break for Harmsy,” said an emotional Houck, of being unable to provide his overaged comrade and captain a proper Western Hockey League send off. “Kanner and I left it all out there like we should have, but it’s a tough pill to swallow when a fellow overager didn’t get his chance to play his final game. I’m just going to share this memory with my teammates one last time and take it from there.”
Despite surrendering five goals, it was a valiant effort by Hitmen goaltender Cody Porter who turned aside a number of top-notch Red Deer opportunities. He finished his evening’s work with 25 saves.
The Rebels went 2 for 4 on the power play while the Hitmen continued to be stymied with the man advantage as they were held scoreless on three opportunities.
In total, the Hitmen finished the series a paltry 3 for 21 with the extra attacker.
“Our power play (was the difference),” Houck said. “They play an aggressive style and play hard, but when they took penalties we weren’t able to make them pay.”
Musil, from Evan Polei and de Wit, snapped a scoreless draw at the midway point of the first period when he jumped on a loose puck in the Hitmen crease before tapping it into an empty net.
The Rebels extended their lead while on a power play after Helewka sent a laser to the top shelf with 2:56 to play in first period. Rookie forward Michael Spacek and defenceman Colton Bobyk provided the helpers.
Houck was able to cut Calgary’s deficit in half while shorthanded when he accepted a centering feed from Travis Sanheim, drove to the net, and potted his first of the series at 5:22 of the second period
Houck’s tally – Calgary’s first since Jakob Stukel scored late in Game 3 – put an end to Trevor Martin’s impressive shutout streak of 91 minutes, 20 seconds. The Rebels netminder made 26 saves in the series-clinching victory.
The Rebels would regain their two-goal lead when Helewka, from Luke Philp and Spacek, rifled his second power play goal of the contest and series-leading fifth marker at 11:26 of the second frame.
“You look at their first couple of units and they have some talent,” Houck said. “They traded for guys like Helewka and Philp and DeBrusk. Those guys are great hockey players. You can’t give a team like that any power plays.”
Before the Rebels could escape the second period with a two-goal advantage, though, Karnaukhov banged in a rolling puck off the end boards with only 40 seconds left on the clock. It took a lengthy review upstairs before confirming it was indeed a Calgary goal. Stukel chipped in with the lone assist.
The Rebels put the game out of reach early in the third period, however, when Pawlenchuk and de Wit lit the lamp within a rapid 27-second span.
Rookie forward Platt – making his Western Hockey League playoff debut – blasted a shot behind Martin at the 5:00 mark of the third period to bring Calgary within a pair.
Unfortunately for the Hitmen, that would be as close they would come.
“You have to give credit where credit is due,” Houck said. “They did a great job boxing us out. Most nights we get 30-plus shots on net with our pressure and our forecheck but that wasn’t the case in this series.”
