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Calgary Hitmen Game Preview - Tuesday, April 2 at Lethbridge

April 2, 2019 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release


CALGARY HITMEN at LETHBRIDGE HURRICANES

Game 7 of best-of-seven series. Series tied 3-3.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019 - 7:00 p.m. MT - Nicholas Sheran Arena

TODAY'S GAME

The Calgary Hitmen visit the Lethbridge Hurricanes tonight in Game 7 of their best-of-seven opening round WHL playoff series. With the 2019 Pioneer Hi-Bred World Men's Curling Championship at the ENMAX Centre, tonight's deciding game is once again at Nicholas Sheran Arena, home of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns. Calgary took Game 5 on Saturday in the much smaller facility that has a capacity of 1,176. The Hurricanes forced Game 7 on Sunday at Scotiabank Saddledome when Taylor Ross scored 3:57 into overtime to lift Lethbridge to a 7-6 victory. 'Canes defenceman Calen Addison netted the tying goal with 32.5 seconds remaining in the third period after Mark Kastelic had given Calgary a 6-5 lead with 2:23 left. Addison and Jake Leschyshyn led the visitors with a goal and three assists each. Zach Cox, Dylan Cozens, Jordy Bellerive and Nick Henry rounded out the scoring for Lethbridge. Cael Zimmerman topped all Hitmen with a goal and two assists with James Malm, Kaden Elder and Kastelic adding a goal and an assist. Devan Klassen and Ryder Korczak supplied the other Calgary goals. Final shots were 41-33 Lethbridge.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Radio: Sportsnet 960-The Fan

Webcast: WHL Live at whl.neulion.com

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STREAKS

- Seven Hitmen take point streaks into Game 7.

- Riley Stotts (1g, 5a) is on a four-game streak with James Malm (2g, 2a) on a three-game run.

- Mark Kastelic (3g, 2a), Dakota Krebs (5a), Cael Zimmerman (2g, 3a), Kaden Elder (1g, 2a) and Layne Toder (2a) all have points in back-to-back games.

- Luke Coleman (3g, 2a), Josh Prokop (3g, 1a) and Egor Zamula (3a) saw their three-game point streaks end in Game 6.

NOTEWORTHY

2019 WHL Playoffs: Round 1 Schedule:

The Hitmen and Hurricanes opening round playoff series is a 2-2-1-1-1 format.

Game 1 'Canes 3 Hitmen 2 OT LET leads series 1-0 ENMAX Centre, Lethbridge

Game 2 'Canes 4 Hitmen 1 LET leads series 2-0 ENMAX Centre, Lethbridge

Game 3 Hitmen 5 'Canes 3 LET leads series 2-1 Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary

Game 4 Hitmen 5 'Canes 2 Series tied 2-2 Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary

Game 5 Hitmen 6 'Canes 5 CGY leads series 3-2 Nicholas Sheran Arena, Lethbridge

Game 6 'Canes 7 Hitmen 6 OT Series tied 3-3 Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary

Game 7 Tuesday, April 2 7:00 p.m. Nicholas Sheran Arena, Lethbridge

SERIES NOTES: The team scoring first is 4-2...Calgary has outshot Lethbridge by a combined 212-208, outscoring the 'Canes 25-24...Eleven different Hitmen have made their WHL Playoff debut this series...Thirteen Hitmen have three or more points in the series while nine Hitmen have two or more goals.

SHOT CLOCK: Carson Focht and James Malm lead all Hitmen in the series with 21 shots on goal. Mark Kastelic is next with 20 while Kaden Elder has 18. Nick Henry tops the Hurricanes with 27 shots. Jordy Bellerive is next with 24. Jake Leschyshyn has 23.

FACE-OFF CIRCLE: Calgary is 241-453 on draws this series, operating at 53.2%. Mark Kastelic leads the team with 75 face-off wins. Riley Stotts is next with 61.

PLAYOFF HISTORY: 2019 marks the fifth time in league history the Hitmen and Hurricanes square off in a playoff series. Calgary has won three of the previous four.

2005: CGY 4 LET 1 - Hitmen led by Ryan Getzlaf (8pts), Andrew Ladd (6pts) and Justin Pogge 1.29 GAA

2006: CGY 4 LET 2 - Hitmen led by Fredrik Pettersson (7pts), Craig Lineker (7pts) and Justin Pogge 2.97 GAA

2008: LET 4 CGY 0 - Canes led by Mitch Fadden (7pts), Zach Boychuk (6pts) and Juha Metsola 1.73 GAA

2009: CGY 4 LET 0 - Hitmen led by Brandon Kozun (7pts), Kyle Bortis (7pts) and Martin Jones 1.00 GAA

GAME 7 FACTS: The Hitmen are 5-5 all-time in Game 7's. Their last Game 7 ended with a 6-2 win over the Kootenay ICE in the opening round of the 2015 playoffs. That game played on Apr. 6, at Scotiabank Saddledome saw Connor Rankin score a natural hat-trick in the first period. Chase Lang, Radel Fazleev and Kenton Helgesen also netted goals in the win. The Hitmen outshot the ICE 35-13. Once in franchise history has a Game 7 gone to overtime and that was in the opening round of the 2007 playoffs. Ian Duval scored on a breakaway 7:01 into sudden death to give Calgary a 3-2 win in Cranbrook over Kootenay.

COMEBACK TRAIL: Twice in franchise history the Hitmen have rebounded from a 0-2 playoff series deficit to win. In the 2010 post-season they lost both games on home ice before bouncing back to defeat the Moose Jaw Warriors in seven games in the opening round. During the 2007 WHL Playoffs, Calgary dropped the first two games of their second-round set with Brandon on the road then came roaring back with four straight wins to capture the series in six.

DID YOU KNOW?: Dakota Krebs leads the Hitmen in playoff scoring with seven points. He is the highest scoring Hitmen post-season performer since Adam Tambellini and Travis Sanheim both tallied 13 points 2015.

ALUMNUS WATCH: Brooks Macek, who played parts of three seasons with the Hitmen from 2010-13 is in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves. The 26-year-old forward has 60 points (26g, 34a) in 64 games. Macek signed a one-year two-way deal with the Vegas Golden Knights in June of 2018. During his time in Calgary he tallied 135 points (51g, 84a) in 149 games and sits 30th on the clubs' all-time regular season points list.

ONE TICKET ONE TREE: The Hitmen announced Friday that $9,956 will be donated to Tree Canada to purchase and plant 2,489 trees to assist with the Alberta forest recovery process. Funds were collected through the One Ticket, One Tree pilot project first announced at the Calgary Zoo on National Tree Day Sept. 26, 2018. As part of this initiative, Hitmen players were educated on ways to reduce their ecological footprint. They also raised awareness to local environmental issues. Highlights included Hitmen Go Green videos on upcycling, city cleanup, water conservation and alternative energy along with recycling and composting.

PROMO CALENDAR

& TICKET INFO

- TBD

PLAYOFF WATCH

- Calgary has a lifetime playoff record of 134-108.

- The Hitmen have competed in 43 series prior to this one. They have won 26 and lost 17.

- Calgary is 30-21 all-time in post-season overtime games.

- The Hitmen have a combined 253 games of playoff experience.

- Kaden Elder leads all players with 52 post-season games played. He also tops the Hitmen in career playoff points with 13. Luke Coleman and Riley Stotts are next, both with nine points.

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