WHL Calgary Hitmen

Calgary Hitmen News And Notes

Published on April 28, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release


HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen play Game 1 of the Western Hockey League Championship Series Friday night against the Kelowna Rockets at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The Hitmen are coming off back-to-back-to back series sweeps, ousting the Edmonton Oil Kings in the opening round before eliminating the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the second round and the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Husky Eastern Conference Championship. The 12 consecutive wins have tied a WHL Playoff Record.

VS KELOWNA: Calgary finished the regular season with a record of 59-9-3-1 (122 points) while Kelowna went 47-21-1-3 (98 points). The Hitmen and Rockets split their two regular season meetings.

-Dec. 14th in Calgary; Hitmen 4 Rockets 3. Eleven different Hitmen had at least one point. Kelowna outshot Calgary 16-3 in the third period after the Hitmen outshot the Rockets 11-4 in the second period.

-Feb. 28th in Calgary; Rockets 2 Hitmen 1. Collin Bowman's third period power play goal broke a 1-1 tie.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Shots on goal: Calgary 56 Kelowna 42. Power plays: Calgary 1-9 11.1% Kelowna 2-10 20.0%

WELL RESTED: Dating back to the start of the WHL Playoffs on March 19th, Friday's Game 1 against Kelowna will be Calgary's 13th game in the last 44 days.

GAME 1 FACTS: The Hitmen are 18-10 all-time in Game 1s.

'09 PLAYOFF TRENDS: Calgary has scored at least four goals in each of their last six games....Calgary has scored at least one goal in 31 of their 38 periods of post season hockey....The Hitmen have not been outshot through the first 12 games.

PLAYOFF HISTORY: This is first ever post season meeting between the Hitmen and Rockets. Calgary has been to the WHL Championship Series once before, winning the league title in 1999 in a five game series with the Kamloops Blazers.

BLUELINE BRIGADE: The Hitmen defence as a group has picked up 46 points (13g 33a) through the first 12 post season games. Paul Postma (4g 7a) Alex Plante (4g 7a) and Keith Seabrook (3g 8a) share the lead with 11 points each.

STREAKIN': Kyle Bortis (4g 11a) is riding a nine game point streak....Brett Sonne (4g 4a), Carson McMillan (6a), and Ian Schultz (3g 3a) are all on five game point streaks....Kris Foucault (6g 4a) had his six game point streak halted in Game 4 in Brandon....Keith Seabrook (3g 7a) has points in eight of his last nine games ....Joel Broda (12g 13a) has points in 14 of his last 17 games....Including the regular season, the Hitmen have now won 15 in a row....Calgary is 32-2-1-0 in their last 35 games.

CAREER WATCH: Brandon Kozun has the most career Hitmen playoff points by an active player with 33 (10g 23a). He is tied with Brent Dodginghorse and Kenton Smith for eighth place on the all time list. The Hitmen have a combined 548 games of playoff experience. Alex Plante leads the way with 64 games played, one game back of the all time leader Rod Sarich with 65.

PLAYOFF RECORD: Calgary has a lifetime playoff record of 90-64. The Hitmen have competed in 28 series prior to this one and have won 18 and lost 10. Calgary is 16-13 in post season overtime games.

WHL LEADERBOARD: Joel Broda is tied for fourth in post season scoring with 18 points, Kyle Bortis is tied for eighth with 17 while Brandon Kozun is tied for 14th with 15 points.....Broda leads the WHL in plus minus at +18, while Michael Stone is second at +17....Martin Jones is tied for the shutout lead with two and is second in goals against average at 1.73. His .917 save percentage is tied for third ....Paul Postma, Alex Plante and Keith Seabrook are all tied for sixth in defencemen scoring with 11 points while Michael Stone is tied for ninth with 10 points.

ALL-STAR SEASONS: Six Hitmen have been named Eastern Conference All-Stars. Paul Postma, Brett Sonne and Brandon Kozun are all First Team All-Stars while Joel Broda, Martin Jones and Michael Stone have been named Second Team All-Stars.

HITMEN WHL AWARD NOMINEES: Paul Postma is the Eastern Conference nominee for Top Defenceman and is up against Jonathan Blum of the Vancouver Giants for the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as WHL Defenceman of the Year. Kelly Kisio is the Eastern Conference nominee for the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as Executive of the Year and is up against Western Conference nominee Scott Bonner of the Vancouver Giants. Brett Sonne is the Eastern Conference nominee for Player of the Year and is up against Casey Pierro-Zabotel of the Vancouver Giants for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL Player of the Year. The winners will be announced on April 29th.

DRAFTED PLAYERS: The Hitmen have nine NHL prospects ...Joel Broda-(5th round Washington 2008), 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). Martin Jones-(Los Angeles Kings-Signed '08). Martin Jones, Paul Postma, Brett Sonne and Carson McMillan have already signed entry-level contracts.

CHASING LORD STANLEY: There are six former Calgary Hitmen in the Stanley Cup Playoffs; Brad Stuart (Detroit), Andrew Ladd (Chicago), Fredrik Sjostrom (NYR), Jeff Schultz (Washington), Darcy Hordicuk (Vancouver), Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim).

Check out the Calgary Hitmen Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from April 28, 2009


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