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Calgary Hitmen

Calgary Hitmen Game Preview - Friday, January 29 vs Prince Albert

January 29, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release


CALGARY HITMEN (28-18-1-1, 58 pts.) vs PRINCE ALBERT RAIDERS (26-16-4-1, 57 pts.)

Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 - 7:00 p.m. - Scotiabank Saddledome

TODAY'S GAME

The Calgary Hitmen host the Prince Albert Raiders tonight in the first of a pair of weekend home games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Hitmen are coming off last Saturday's 6-2 triumph over the Swift Current Broncos. Jackson Houck scored his fifth career hat-trick while Radel Fazleev notched four assists. Calgary scored four powerplay goals and outshot the Broncos 39-21. The Hitmen, at 58 points, are third in the WHL's Central Division, 14 points back of the league-leading Lethbridge Hurricanes and seven points behind the Red Deer Rebels. Prince Albert is third in the East Division with 57 points, seven points back of first place Brandon.

HITMEN BROADCAST INFORMATION

Radio: Sportsnet 960-The Fan

Webcast: WHL Live at whl.neulion.com

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STREAKS

- Travis Sanheim (2g, 12a) has points in a career-high 10 straight contests. His 10 game assist streak is tied for the longest in the league this season with Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings. Patrick set the mark between Nov.27 and Dec.16.

- Jakob Stukel (2g, 5a) has points in four consecutive games.

- Matteo Gennaro (1g, 2a) is on a three-game point streak.

- Jake Bean (2g, 3a) and Jackson Houck (4g, 2a) both have points in four of their last five games.

- Nik Amundrud has won his last two starts.

NOTEWORTHY

VS PRINCE ALBERT: Tonight is the fourth and final regular season meetings between the two teams. Calgary leads the season series 2-1, outscoring the Raiders by a combined 12-6. Jakob Stukel (4g, 1a) and Radel Fazleev (1g, 4a) top the Hitmen with five points each against the Raiders while Carsen Twarynski (2g, 1a) and Micheal Zipp (3a) both have three points. Reid Gardiner (2g), Kolten Olynek (1g, 1a), Jordan Tkatch (2a) and Simon Stransky (2a) all have two points each against the Hitmen. Over the last five seasons, Calgary is 14-4-0-1 against the Raiders including a 7-1-0-1 record at the 'Dome.

2015-16 REGULAR SEASON SERIES RECAP

Nov. 4/15 at PA: PA 3 CAL 2...Raiders erased a 2-1 deficit in the final two minutes.

Nov. 24/15 at PA: CAL 4 PA 2... Jakob Stukel scored twice and added an assist.

Dec. 3/15 at CAL: CAL 6 PA 1...Six different Hitmen scored goals with two in each period.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Shots on Goal: CAL 89 PA 80 Power Plays: CAL 1-9 (11.1%) PA 0-14 (0%)

SHOT CLOCK: The Hitmen have outshot their opponents in 11 of their last 12 games and have fired 39 shots on goal in each of their last three games.

WE MEET AGAIN: Tonight is the first meeting between the two teams since their Jan. 10 trade that saw the Hitmen acquire 18-year-old centre Matteo Gennaro, 16-year-old defenceman Ty Prefontaine and a sixth-round selection in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft from the Prince Albert Raiders in exchange for 18-year-old right winger Layne Bensmiller and 18-year-old defenceman Loch Morrison. Gennaro spent parts of three seasons with the Raiders appearing in 174 games. Bensmiller and Morrison were both in their second season in Calgary before the trade.

GAME WINNERS: Hitmen forward Jakob Stukel is one of six players tied for fifth in the WHL in game winning goals with six. Also sharing fifth spot is Prince Albert's Reid Gardiner.

NHL DRAFT WATCH: Six Hitmen are among the top players available for the 2016 NHL Draft. The midterm rankings list is compiled by NHL Central Scouting Service and splits prospects into both North American (NA) and International categories. There are five Hitmen among North American skaters, including Jake Bean who is the top-ranked Western Hockey League prospect at number 13. Teammates Jordy Stallard (84th), Carsen Twarynski (95th), Jakob Stukel (113th) and Beck Malenstyn (124th) round out the skaters list. Cody Porter also earned a spot in the rankings among North American goalies at number 18. The 2016 NHL Draft will be held at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York on June 24-25.

'DOME SWEET HOME: Tonight is Game 4 of five straight at home for the Hitmen. Calgary is 15-7-1-0 at the Scotiabank Saddledome this season and 2-1 on their current homestand.

BIG STAGE: Hitmen defenceman Jake Bean played for Team Orr at the 2016 BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on Thursday in Vancouver. He also served as alternate captain. During Wednesday's Sport Testing Combine Bean finished third overall in on-ice testing tests which included forward and backwards sprints, reaction, weave agility, and transition agility each performed with and without the puck. With the addition of Bean, a CHL-high 27 Hitmen players have participated at this event since 1996 including 16 who have gone on to play in the NHL.

QUIET TIMES: Tonight is only the sixth game for the Hitmen in the last 26 days. However starting on Feb. 3 in Victoria the Hitmen will play 13 games in 25 days.

SET UP MAN: Travis Sanheim enters tonight's game with 102 career assists, one back of Chris Nielsen's 103 for 14th place on the clubs all-time regular season list. Brad Moran holds the franchise record with 246 helpers.

POST-GAME AUTOGRAPHS: Meet Hitmen forward Tyler Mrkonjic following tonight's game at the Hitmen Booster Club table located behind section 212 on the concourse.

OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY: Hitmen prospect Tristen Nielsen, a 2015 first-round WHL Bantam Draft pick, will represent Canada in ice hockey at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games, set for February 12-21 in Lillehammer, Norway. He is one of nine forwards and 17 players named to the team.

PUTTING TEAMS AWAY: The Hitmen are 17-1 this season when leading after 40 minutes.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Calgary has scored the seventh most goals in the league this season at 160. On the flip side they have given up 153, in a three-way tie for the ninth most allowed.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Calgary's powerplay, which has scored in each of the last six games (10-30), is tied for fifth in the WHL at 22.6%. The Hitmen penalty kill is also fifth in the league at 82.5%.

HITMEN VS: (BDN 2-1), (EDM 2-2), (EVT 1-0), (KAM 1-0), (KEL 0-1), (KTN 5-0), (LET 1-2), (MH 1-2), (MJ 0-4), (POR 0-0), (PA 2-1), (PG 1-2), (RD 2-0-0-1), (REG 3-0-1-0), (SAS 3-0), (SEA 1-0), (SPO 0-1), (SC 2-1), (TC 1-0), (VAN 0-1), (VIC 0-0).

DYNAMIC DUO: Calgary has two of the top 11 scoring defencemen in the WHL in Jake Bean and Travis Sanheim. Bean (17g, 26a) has 43 points to sit fourth among defenceman while Sanheim's (8g, 28a) 36 points place him tied for 11th. Bean's career-high 17 goals lead the league while his seven power play goals are tied for second among all blueliners.

TEETER TOTTER: Calgary has been in a series off four different runs this season. They started the 2015-16 schedule 5-1-0-1 before going 4-9-0-0 in their next 13 games. They then went on a major roll, posting a mark of 16-3-1-0 but since then are just 3-5 in their last eight games.

ALUMNI WATCH: Former Hitmen forward Pavel Padakin, who played parts of three seasons in Calgary (2012-13 to 2014/15) is in the American Hockey League with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. In 24 games, the 21 year-old right winger has four assists. Padakin has also spent time this season with the ECHL's Reading Royals where he recorded 13 points (5g, 8a) in 17 games.

Check out the Calgary Hitmen Statistics

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