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Calgary Hitmen

Calgary Hitmen Game Preview - Wednesday, February 3 at Victoria

February 3, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release


CALGARY HITMEN (30-18-1-1, 62 pts.) at VICTORIA ROYALS (31-15-2-3, 67 pts.)

Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016 - 8:05 p.m. MT - Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre

TODAY'S GAME

The Calgary Hitmen, winners of three in a row, begin a four-game BC road trip tonight against the Victoria Royals. The Hitmen are coming off Sunday's 6-3 home ice victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. Jackson Houck had a team-leading three points scoring twice and adding an assist. Jordy Stallard, Matteo Gennaro, Pavel Karnaukhov and Jake Bean all added a goal and an assist. Travis Sanheim chipped in a pair of assists as 10 different Hitmen recorded at least a single point. Calgary outshot Brandon 34-28 with Cody Porter making 25 saves for the win. The Hitmen, at 62 points, are third in the WHL's Central Division, five points behind the Red Deer Rebels but with one game in hand. Victoria is second in the BC Division with 67 points, six points back of the front running Kelowna Rockets.

HITMEN BROADCAST INFORMATION

Radio: Sportsnet.ca/960 (Alt Stream)

Webcast: WHL Live at whl.neulion.com

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STREAKS

- Travis Sanheim (2g, 16a) has points in a career-high 12 straight contests. His 12-game assist streak is the longest in the league this season.

- Pavel Karnaukhov (1g, 4a) has points in three consecutive games.

- Tyler Mrkonjic (2g, 2a) and Beck Malenstyn (1g, 1a) both have points in back-to-back games.

- Matteo Gennaro (2g, 3a) has points in four of his last five games.

- Jakob Stukel (3g, 6a) saw his five-game point streak snapped Sunday against Brandon.

- Nik Amundrud has won his last three starts in goal. Since arriving in a late November trade with Saskatoon Blades in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft, Amundrud has posted a 2.19 goals against average and .912 save percentage.

NOTEWORTHY

VS. VICTORIA: Tonight is the first and only regular season meeting between the two teams this season. It's also Calgary's first trip to Victoria since Feb. 6, 2014 when the Hitmen erased a 5-1 second period deficit to win 7-6 in overtime. Pavel Padakin had three points (2g, 1a) including the winner. Last season they met twice in Calgary with the Royals winning both contests by a combined score of 7-3. Over the last five seasons, the Hitmen are 5-4 against Victoria, including a 3-2 record in BC.

2014-15 SERIES RECAP

Oct. 10/14 at CAL: VIC 3 CAL 2...The Royals erased a 3-0 third period deficit.

Jan 17/15 at CAL: VIC 4 CAL 1...Brandon Magee has three assists.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Shots on Goal: CAL 50 VIC 53 Power Plays: CAL 1-8 (14.3%) VIC 4-7 (57.1%)

INSIDE THE STREAK: The Hitmen enters tonight's game on a three-game winning streak, outscoring their opponents by a combined 16-6. It's their fifth such winning streak of three-games or more this season. Their longest of seven games was set from Nov. 13-22.

SHOT CLOCK: The Hitmen have outshot their opponents in 13 of their last 14 games and have fired at least 30 shots on goal in each of their last five games.

BIG KEEGS: Tonight marks the return of Keegan Kanzig to Victoria for the first time since Nov. 19, 2014 when he was traded by the Royals to the Hitmen along with a second-round pick in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft in exchange for 19-year-old forward Greg Chase, a fifth-round pick in 2015 and an eighth-round selection in 2016. Kanzig played parts of four seasons with Victoria, appearing in 217 career regular season games.

WELCOME BACK: Hitmen forward Taylor Sanheim has served his four-game WHL imposed suspension under supplemental discipline and is eligible to return to the line-up tonight in Victoria.

BATTLE OF THE TOP 10: Victoria is tied for fourth overall in the WHL standings with Red Deer while the Hitmen are tied for seventh with Everett.

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.

WHAT'S LEFT: Including tonight, of Calgary's 22 remaining regular season games 11 are at home and 11 are on the road.

TEAM ATTACK: When Tyler Mrkonjic scored twice against Prince Albert on Friday night he reached the 11 goal mark, becoming the ninth Hitmen to record 10 or more goals this season.

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.

SET UP MAN: Travis Sanheim enters tonight's game with 106 career assists, good for sole possession of 14th place on the clubs all-time regular season assist list. Boris Protsenko is 13th with 108. The franchise leader is Brad Moran who had 246 helpers.

PUTTING TEAMS AWAY: The Hitmen are 19-1 this season when leading after 40 minutes.

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.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Calgary's powerplay has scored in seven of the last eight games. Overall it's tied for fourth in the WHL at 22.3%. Only the Lethbridge Hurricanes at 60 have scored more powerplay goals than Calgary's 52 this season. The Hitmen penalty kill is fifth in the league at 82.4%.

DYNAMIC DUO: Calgary has two of the top 10 scoring defencemen in the WHL in Jake Bean and Travis Sanheim. Bean (18g, 27a) has 45 points to sit tied for third among defenceman while Sanheim's (8g, 32a) 40 points place him in a three-way tie for eighth. Bean's career-high 18 goals lead the league while his eight power play goals share the lead among all blueliners.

TEETER TOTTER: Calgary has been in a series off several 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 followed by a 2-5-0-0 stretch but are 3-0-0-0 since.

HERE WE GO: Tonight's game kicks off a stretch that will see the Hitmen play 13 games in 25 days.

PROMO CALENDAR

Hitmen single game tickets are on sale now. Upcoming home game highlights include:

- Lunar Celebration with post-game fireworks on Friday, Feb. 12 versus Red Deer

- Co-op Family Day on Sunday, Feb. 14 against Lethbridge

- Hometown Heroes on Saturday, Feb. 20 against Lethbridge

- Multicultural Night on Sunday, Mar. 6 against Red Deer

- Fan Appreciation Day, including a pre-game on-ice player awards ceremony, on Sunday, Mar. 20 versus Kootenay

MILESTONES

- Jake Bean is one game away from 100 while Keegan Kanzig is three games shy of 300.

- Micheal Zipp and Carsen Twarynski are both one point shy of 50.

Check out the Calgary Hitmen Statistics

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