WHL Calgary Hitmen

Hitmen host Prince Albert Wednesday, Moose Jaw Saturday

December 4, 2007 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release


HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen play game five of a six game home stand tonight against the Prince Albert Raiders. Calgary is coming off Sunday's 6-2 win over Prince George in the 13th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss. Ian Duval and Kyle Bortis each scored twice in the victory with Bostjan Golicic and Ryan White adding singles. Karl Alzner, Brandon Kozun and Michael Stone each had two assists. It's was Duval's goal at 4:52 of the first period that unleashed a World Record 26,919 stuffed toys onto the ice. Calgary outshot the Cougars 33-19 with Dan Spence making 17 saves to record the win. Calgary was 4-7 on the powerplay while Prince George was 0-4.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: At 20-8-1-2 Calgary leads both the Central Division and Eastern Conference with 43 points. They also sit third overall in the WHL Standings, one point back of Vancouver and two behind Spokane. Calgary is 11-4-1-0 at home, 9-4-0-2 on the road.

VS. PRINCE ALBERT: Tonight is the third of five meetings with the Raiders. PA leads the season series 2-0.

-November 7th in Calgary: Raider 5 Hitmen 2. Max Brandl two goals.

-November 18th in Prince Albert: Raiders 4 Hitmen 3 in a shootout. Matt Robertson scored once in regulation and the shootout winner.

Shots on goal: Calgary 81 Prince Albert 44. Powerplays: Calgary 3-10 30% Prince Albert 1-4 25%

Their next meeting is Wednesday, January 2nd in Prince Albert.

POINT STREAKS: Carson McMillan is on a six game point streak, McMillan (1g 5a). Kyle Bortis has points in five straight games (4g 2a). Ryan White has points in 12 of the last 15 games (10g 3a). Ian Duval has points in six of his last eight games (5g 4a).

JERSEY AUCTION: The Hitmen are holding a jersey auction Saturday night from the 13th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss. Up for bid are 25 jerseys from the complete Hitmen roster, including all 20 game worn jerseys from the December 2nd game. The silent auction will take place on the Saddledome concourse near the west entrance. Bids close when the puck drops to start the third period. Proceeds will be split between Toy Mountain and the Rainbow Society.

WORLD JUNIOR INVITES: Team Canada has invited Hitmen Karl Alzner and Ryan White to take part in the National Junior Selection Camp from December 4-10 at Father David Bauer Arena. Meanwhile Hitmen Bostjan Golicic is in Slovenia hoping to crack the Slovenian line-up for the 2007 B Pool World Junior Hockey Championship. The B Pool tournament starts December 12th in Latvia.

THE ROLLING STONE: Hitmen defenceman Michael Stone has nine points (2g 7a) in his last eight games. The highlight was a three assist performance in Moose Jaw on November 16th.

SPECIAL TEAMS IMPACT: During their current 10 game streak (8-0-1-1) Calgary is 15-57 26.3% on the powerplay while the penalty kill is 29-33 87.9%.

NHL RADAR: Calgary Hitmen Michael Stone and Martin Jones have both cracked NHL Central Scouting's Preliminary Rankings for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Stone is 18th among WHL prospects, while Jones is fourth among WHL goalies.

TEAM PACIFIC: Calgary Hitmen forward Chase Schaber will play for Team Pacific at the upcoming World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. The tournament will be held in London, Ontario and will run from December 29, 2007 to January 4, 2008.

SEASON OF STREAKS: The Hitmen started the season 9-1-0-0, then went 3-7-0-1, but are now 8-0-1-1 in their last 10 games.

HOME SWEET 'DOME: Calgary will play six of their next 9 games in the Pengrowth Saddledome.

CAREER WATCH: Karl Alzner reached the 100 point plateau with two assists Sunday against the Prince George Cougars. Dan Spence is 24 saves shy of 2,500. Paul Postma needs one point for 50. Ryan White is one point behind Chris Nielsen for eighth on the Hitmen's regular season points list. White has 195, Nielsen 196. Brad Moran tops the list with 450.

DRAFTED PLAYERS: The Hitmen have eight NHL picks ...Ryan White-(3rd round Montreal 2006), Keith Seabrook-(2nd round Washington 2006), Karl Alzner-(1st round Washington 2007), Alex Plante-(1st round Edmonton 2007), T.J. Galiardi-(2nd round Colorado 2007), Brett Sonne-(3rd round St. Louis 2007), Carson McMillan-(7th round Minnesota 2007) and Paul Postma-(7th round Atlanta 2007).

THE ROSTER: Calgary is carrying 25 players; (14 forwards, 9 defencemen and 2 goalies). The Hitmen roster features nine rookies. -Break down....2 (20 year-olds), 9 (19 year-olds), 5 (18 year-olds), 7 (17 year-olds), and 2 (16 year-olds).

HITMEN VS: (Bran 1-0), (Cwk 0-1), (Edm 2-1), (Evt 0-1), (Kam 2-0), (Kel 0-1), (Ktn 1-1), (Leth 0-1), (MH 1-0), (MJ 3-0), (Port 0-0), (PA 0-1-0-1), (PG 2-0), (RD 3-0), (Reg 0-1), (Sask 2-0), (Sea 1-0), (Spok 0-0-1-0), (SC 2-0), (TC 0-0), (Van 0-0-0-1).

DIVISIONAL RECORDS: Hitmen vs. Central (7-3-0-0), vs. East (8-2-0-1), vs. BC (4-2-0-1), vs. US (1-1-1-0).

ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Hitmen have drawn 127,350 fans to their first 16 home games for an average crowd of 7,959.

UPCOMING GAMES: The Hitmen are back on Saddledome ice Saturday night against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Game time is 7:00 p.m. Calgary then hits the road for games in Edmonton on Tuesday, December 11th and Lethbridge Wednesday, December 12th.

Check out the Calgary Hitmen Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from December 4, 2007


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