HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen play their first road game in 14 days on Friday night when they visit the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Hitmen are riding a season high four game winning streak after beating the Kamloops Blazers 6-2 Saturday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome. Six different Hitmen scored in the victory; Brandon Kozun, Matt Mackenzie, Keith Seabrook, Carson McMillan, Bostjan Golicic and Brett Sonne. Rookie goalie Michael Snider made his first Western Hockey League start and made 17 saves to record the win as the Hitmen outshot Kamloops 40-19. Calgary went 2-4 on the powerplay while the Blazers were 0-4.
VS LETHBRIDGE: Friday is the second of six meetings with the Hurricanes.
-Oct. 10th in Cgy; Hitmen 4 Hurricanes 2. Brett Sonne 1g 2a.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on goal: Calgary 37 Lethbridge 20. Powerplays: Calgary 1-6 16.7% Lethbridge 0-5 0.0% The Hitmen and Hurricanes meet again Thursday, October 16th in Calgary.
STREAKIN': Including four saves in the September 27th shootout win over Kootenay, Dan Spence has stopped 90 of 94 shots in his last three starts for a save percentage of .957. Carson McMillan (3g 4a) and Alex Plante (4a) are both riding four game point streaks. Brett Sonne (2g 4a), Brandon Kozun (2g 2a) and Matt Mackenzie (1g 2a) all have points in three straight games.
2008-09 HITMEN STANDINGS: Record (6-2-0-0), Home (6-0-0-0). Road (0-2-0-0). Central Division (1st). Conference (Tied 1st).
HITMEN TEAM LEADERS:
Goals (6) Brandon Kozun Points (13) Brett Sonne Plus/Minus (+5) Alex Plante
Assists (9) Brett Sonne PIM (21) Ian Schultz Wins (4) Dan Spence
DID YOU KNOW? The Hitmen have started three different goalies (Dan Spence, Martin Jones, Michael Snider) in the last three games and have won them all. The Hitmen have the best home ice record in the WHL at 6-0. Paul Postma was the Swift Current Broncos Most Scholastic Player at the age of 17. Chase Schaber played defence until the age of 12 switching to forward at 13.
JONES NOW A KING: On October 2nd Hitmen goaltender Martin Jones signed a three-year entry level contract with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. Jones had been participating in Kings training camp on a tryout basis. He returned to Calgary later that day and stopped 18 of 20 shots in a 4-2 win over Lethbridge.
ROSTER MOVES: The Hitmen have trimmed their roster to 26 players by reassigning rookie forwards Cody Beach and Edgars Ulescenko.
DRAFTED PLAYERS: The Hitmen have seven NHL picks ...Carson McMillan-(7th round Minnesota 2007), Alex Plante (1st round Edmonton 2007), Paul Postma-(7th round Atlanta 2007), Ian Schultz-(3rd round St. Louis 2008), Keith Seabrook-(2nd round Washington 2006), Brett Sonne-(3rd round St. Louis 2007) and Michael Stone-(3rd round Phoenix 2008).
THE ROSTER: Calgary is carrying 26 players; (15 forwards, 8 defencemen and 3 goalies)
-Break down....5 (20 year-olds), 6 (19 year-olds), 8 (18 year-olds), 4 (17 year-olds), and 3 (16 year-olds). There are 17 returning players from the 2007-08 season.
KILLING TIME: The Hitmen penalty kill is 36 of 37 this season operating at 97.3%. Overall it's now killed 33 straight penalties.
UPCOMING GAMES: The Hitmen are back in the Pengrowth Saddledome on Sunday to open a three game home stand against the Saskatoon Blades. Game time is 5:00 p.m. Prince George then visits the 'Dome on Wednesday with Lethbridge in the city Thursday.
• Discuss this story on the Western Hockey League message board...
• Digg this story
• Add to Del.icio.us
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.