PREVIEW: HITMEN AT TIGERS

HITMEN HEADLINES: Tonight the Calgary Hitmen (32-13-1-3) play game one of a nine-game road swing against the Medicine Hat Tigers (25-23-2-1).  The Hitmen are coming off a 5-0 home ice victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings on Sunday. After a scoreless first period, rookie Chase Lang opened the scoring with a short-handed marker.  Jake Virtanen (1g, 1a), Brady Brassart (1g, 1a), Jaynen Rissling (2a) and Cody Sylvester (2a) each recorded two points for Calgary.  Zane Jones and Brooks Macek also scored in the win as rookie netminder Mack Shields recorded his second career WHL shutout.  Calgary remains third in the Eastern Conference standings, seven points behind the Edmonton Oil Kings for top spot in the conference and in the Central Division.

VS. MEDICINE HAT: Tonight is the fourth of six meetings between the Hitmen and Tigers. The last time these two clubs met, the Tigers held the Hitmen off the scoreboard in a 4-0 decision, gaining a 2-1-0-0 lead in the season series. Cody Sylvester (3g, 1a) leads the Hitmen in scoring against the Tigers with four points, followed by Victor Rask (1g, 1a) with two points. Curtis Valk (4g, 1a) and Hunter Shinkaruk (1g, 4a) lead Medicine Hat in scoring against the Hitmen with five points each.  Over the last five seasons, the Hitmen are 15-11-0-1 against the Tigers, including a 7-6-0-0 record when on the road.

SERIES RECAP

Oct.26/12 at CAL: Tigers 10 Hitmen 1
Curtis Valk (4g, 1a) and Hunter Shinkaruk (1g, 4a) each with five points for the Tigers.
Nov.23/12 at CAL: Hitmen 4 Tigers 1
Cody Sylvester (2g, 1a) recorded three points, while Chris Driedger stopped 24 shots.
Jan. 19/13 at M.H: Tigers 4 Hitmen 0
Rookie goaltender Marek Langhamer made 30 saves for his first career WHL shutout.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on Goal: CAL 77  M.H 88     
Power Plays: CAL 2-20 (10.0%)  M.H 6-22 (27.3%)    
Next Meeting: Sun., Mar. 3 at Medicine Hat, 6 p.m.

HITMEN TEAM LEADERS:        
Goals (25) Cody Sylvester                                             
Assists (33) Brooks Macek, Brady Brassart
Points (57) Brooks Macek               
Power Play Goals (10) Cody Sylvester
Plus-Minus (+37) Alex Roach
PIM (91) Kenton Helgesen
Wins (25) Chris Driedger

ROSTER UPDATE: 19-year-old forward Brendan Hurley has returned home to pursue other opportunities for the remainder of the 2012-13 season.  Calgary’s 24-player roster now includes 14 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders. 

ROAD WARRIORS: The Hitmen are among the top teams in the WHL when playing away from the Scotiabank Saddledome this season. In 22 road contests, Calgary has recorded 33 points (16-5-0-1), sitting five points behind Portland for the league lead when on the road.  Calgary is one of two teams that hold the WHL record for most road wins in a single season at 28 set in the 1999-00.  Saskatoon recorded 28 road victories in 2008-09.

GETTING AHEAD: Calgary has netted the first goal of the game in 31 of their 49 games played. Of those matches, the Hitmen have claimed 24 wins and a 0.806 winning percentage to rank fourth and fifth in the WHL, respectively. Brooks Macek leads Calgary in first goals with five this season. On Jan. 8 in Brandon, Macek scored the game’s first goal nine seconds in, which set a new Hitmen franchise record for fastest goal to start a game.

HOLDING LEADS: The Hitmen have a 26-0-1-1 record when leading after two periods. Only Edmonton, Portland, Kelowna have more wins when leading after 40 minutes at 32.

CAREER YEARS: Alex Roach is having the best season of his WHL career. The 19-year-old blueliner has put up a career-high 37 points, setting career highs in goals (11) and assists (26) over 47 games played.  Roach sits third in the league among defencemen with a plus-minus rating of plus-37 and fifth among the league’s rearguards in scoring.  Brooks Macek has a team-leading 57 points and has set a career-high in goals at 24, three more than his previous high of 21 set in 2009-10 with Tri-City. Cody Sylvester has 25 goals in 46 games this season, two more than his previous best of 23 set last year.

CLIMBING THE RANKS: Now in his fifth season with Calgary, Cody Sylvester is moving up the lists of all-time scorers in club history.  Sylvester has played 293 games with the Hitmen and has 81 goals, 113 assists for 194 points. The Vernon, British Columbia product now ranks seventh all-time in games played, 12th in goals (tie), 10th in assists and 11th in points.

STREAKIN’: Cody Sylvester (2a, 3g) and Jake Virtanen (1g, 2a) are among seven Hitmen with points in back-to-back games.

MILESTONE WATCH: Brooks Macek is three games away from reaching 300 career games played.  By setting up three more goals, Brady Brassart will reach 100 career assists.  Cody Sylvester needs six more points to record his 200th career point.

NHL PROSPECTS:  Chris Driedger (Ottawa 2012); Kenton Helgesen (Anaheim 2012); Jaynen Rissling (Washington 2012); Alex Roach (Three-year, Entry-level Contract, Los Angeles 2011); Victor Rask (Three-year, Entry-level Contract, Carolina 2011).

UPCOMING GAMES: Calgary will now play their next three games against East Division rivals, before heading across the border to face all five U.S. Division clubs. The Hitmen visit Swift Current tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 30, followed by stops in Saskatoon (Feb. 1) and Prince Albert (Feb. 2).  Calgary returns home on Saturday, February 16 when the Hitmen host the Victoria Royals.