WHL Calgary Hitmen

Calgary Hitmen Game Preview - Wednesday, November 25 at Saskatoon

Published on November 25, 2015 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release


CALGARY HITMEN (15-10-0-1, 31 pts.) at SASKATOON BLADES (9-10-3-0, 21 pts.)

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015 - 6:05 p.m. MT - SaskTel Centre

TODAY'S GAME

The Calgary Hitmen close a two-game Saskatchewan road trip tonight in Saskatoon against the Blades. The Hitmen are riding a season-high six game winning streak after beating the Prince Albert Raiders 4-2 last night. Jakob Stukel had a team leading three points with two goals and an assist with Tyler Mrkonjic and Carsen Twarynski adding singles. Radel Fazleev had two assists and was plus-4. Cody Porter made 22 saves to record the victory. Calgary sits second in the WHL's Central Division at 31 points, just a single point back of the front running Red Deer Rebels. Saskatoon is fifth in the East Division with 21 points, three points behind the fourth place Regina Pats.

HITMEN BROADCAST INFORMATION

Radio: Sportsnet 960-The Fan

Webcast: WHL Live at whl.neulion.com

STREAKS

- Micheal Zipp (1g, 3a) is on a career high tying three-game point streak.

- Radel Fazleev (5a) and Jakob Stukel (3g, 1a) are on two-game point streaks.

- Jake Bean (2g, 2a) has points in back-to-back games and in three of his last four games (3g, 2a).

- Layne Bensmiller (2g, 1a) and Jordy Stallard (1g, 3a) both saw their three-game point streaks end last night in Prince Albert.

- Cody Porter has won his last five starts, posting a 1.80 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.

NOTEWORTHY

VS SASKATOON: Tonight is the third of four regular season meetings between the two teams. Calgary leads the season series 2-0 having outscored Saskatoon by a combined 11-5. Radel Fazleev (1g, 5a) tops the Hitmen with six points against the Blades while Micheal Zipp (3g, 2a) is next with five. Connor Gay (2g, 1a) and Brycen Martin (1g, 2a) lead Saskatoon with three points each against the Hitmen. Over the last five seasons, Calgary is 12-5-0-1 against the Blades including a 7-2 record in Saskatoon. The Hitmen and Blades will wrap up their season series on Tuesday, March 8th in Calgary.

2015-16 REGULAR SEASON SERIES RECAP

Nov. 3/15 at SAS: CAL 6 SAS 3...Micheal Zipp scored two goals and added an assist.

Nov. 22/15 at CAL: CAL 5 SAS 2...Jake Bean had two goals and an assist with Radel Fazleev adding three assists

INSIDE THE SERIES

Shots on Goal: CAL 59 SAS 50 Power Plays: CAL 4-9 (44.4%) SAS 1-6 (16.7%)

INSIDE THE STREAK: During Calgary's six-game winning streak they have outscoring their opponents by a combined 26-11 while outshooting them 195-128.

DID YOU KNOW? Calgary has the best record of any Eastern Conference team during the last 10 games. Their 7-3 mark has allowed them to pick up 14 of a possible 20 points.

GIANT IMPACT: Since arriving in a trade with the Vancouver Giants on Oct. 27, Jackson Houck, Jakob Stukel and Cody Porter have all made significant contributions. Houck has points in seven of his 10 games with Calgary collecting four goals and 10 assists. He was also named the WHL Player of the Week for the week ending Nov. 15 after recording six assists in two games. Stukel has 11 points in 12 games (8g, 3a) while Porter has notched a record of 7-2 with a 2.66 goals-against average.

SHOT CLOCK: Calgary is 13-1 this season when outshooting their opponents. They have outshot the opposition in each of the last six games, averaging 32.5 shots.

NHL DRAFT WATCH: Hitmen defenceman Jake Bean, forward Beck Malenstyn and goaltender Cody Porter have all been named to the National Hockey League's Players to Watch list for November in advance of the 2016 NHL Draft. The list, compiled by NHL Central Scouting Service, groups prospects by league and gives each player an individual rating. Bean, one of 49 players from the Western Hockey League on the list, received an "A" ranking which indicates a first-round candidate. Malenstyn and Porter received "C" ratings, indicating a fourth, fifth or sixth-round selection.

TRADE WINDS: On Nov. 10, the Hitmen acquired 19-year-old forward Tyler Mrkonjic (mer-CON-jick) from the Prince George Cougars in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft. Mrkonjic, in his third WHL season, has three points (2g, 1a) in six games since arriving in Calgary.

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT: As part of the WHL's 50th Season celebrations, the Hitmen presented two distinguished graduates with Alumni Achievement Awards on Nov. 13. Former Hitmen captain and current Anaheim Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf was recognized in the professional hockey category while two-time WHL Scholastic Player of the Year Chris Nielsen, now a senior orthopaedic surgery resident, was honoured in the scholastic category.

CANADA RUSSIA SERIES: Two Hitmen took part in the 2015 CHL Canada Russia Series. Defenceman Jake Bean had an assist for Team WHL while Radel Fazleev had an assist for Team Russia in a pair of Team WHL wins.

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

DYNAMIC DUO: The Hitmen have two of the top 10 scoring defencemen in the WHL in Travis Sanheim and Jake Bean. Sanheim (6g, 16a) and Bean (11g, 11a) both have 22 points to sit in a three-way tie for fifth overall. Bean's career-high 11 goals top all blueliners while his five power play markers is tied for first among all rearguards.

FAZ'S FRIENDS: The Calgary Hitmen Hockey Club has announced details on a new community program, Faz's Friends presented by MEG Energy. The initiative will see Hitmen centre Radel Fazleev and MEG Energy partner with Kids Cancer Care, a charitable organization that helps families fighting childhood cancer in Alberta. Throughout the season, families will receive tickets to attend a Hitmen home game, custom Faz's Friends t-shirts and concession vouchers. Following the game, the Faz's Friends guests will meet Fazleev for photos and autographs. The program will see close to 200 Kids Cancer Care guests benefit this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Calgary's power play, which has scored at least once in four of the last six games, is seventh in the WHL at 21.1%. The Hitmen penalty kill has killed off 16 of their last 17 shorthanded situations. Overall it's fifth in the league at 84.0%. Calgary is also tied for the second-most shorthanded goals in the league at five. Prince George leads the way with eight.

WHL TOP 125: The Western Hockey League has unveiled its list of the Top 125 players in WHL history as selected by a committee of League historians. Among them are seven Calgary Hitmen grads: Karl Alzner, Pavel Brendl, Ryan Getzlaf, Brandon Kozun, Andrew Ladd, Brad Moran and Brad Stuart. As part of the WHL's 50th Season celebrations, fans can now vote for the selection of the Top 50 Players of All-Time. Fans can visit Top50.WHL.ca to cast their ballots once per week from the 125-player list. Voting closes Sunday, Dec. 20.

MO BROS: The Calgary Hitmen, together with Tommy Gun's Original Barbershop, are proud to support Movember, a month-long campaign committed to changing the face of men's health. During the month of November for the seventh season in a row, Hitmen players and coaches are growing moustaches to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health issues. To support the Hitmen Movember team, visit moteam.co/calgary-hitmen.

HITMEN ALUMNUS: Former Hitmen goaltender Martin Jones is the NHL's first star for the week ending Nov. 22. The San Jose Sharks goaltender went 3-0-0 with a 1.63 goals-against average, .951 save percentage and one shutout. The 25-year-old helped backstop the Hitmen to their second WHL title in 2010 and was named playoff MVP.

Check out the Calgary Hitmen Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from November 25, 2015


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