Hitmen To Hit The Community Then Play Two Home Games
January 25, 2010 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release
CALGARY HITMEN NEWS AND NOTES
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen get a few days of practice before hosting the Brandon Wheat Kings Friday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The Hitmen, winners of three straight, are coming off Sunday's 6-2 come-from-behind win over Lethbridge. Trailing 2-0 early in the second period, the Hitmen erupted for six unanswered goals with five of them scored in a span of 9:14. Misha Fisenko led the way with a hat trick while Joel Broda, Del Cowan and Jimmy Bubnick added singles. Brandon Kozun and Michael Stone each chipped in three assists as Calgary outshot the Hurricanes 41-19. For the second straight game the Hitmen dominated the special teams battle going 5-7 on the powerplay while killing all seven Lethbridge chances. Calgary is 32-15-1-1. At 66 points the Hitmen are tied with Medicine Hat for the Central Division lead but have three games in hand on the Tigers. Calgary is second in the Eastern Conference, three points back of the conference leading Saskatoon Blades and seven points behind the WHL leading Tri-City Americans.
VS BRANDON: Friday is the third of four meetings with the Wheat Kings. The season series is tied 1-1 with both meetings in Brandon. It's been an offensive battle so far with Brandon averaging 37 per game to Calgary's 31.
Oct. 7 in Brandon: Hitmen 4 Wheat Kings 3 in a shootout. Kris Foucault had 2g 1a while Michael Snider made 30 saves through overtime plus two more in the shootout.
Nov. 20 in Brandon: Wheat Kings 5 Hitmen 2. Toni Rajala scored twice for Brandon while Andrew Hayes stopped 28 of 30 shots.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on goal: Brandon 74 Calgary 62 Powerplays: Calgary 2-6 33.3% Brandon 2-10 20.0%
The Hitmen and Wheat Kings will meet again on Monday, February 15th in Calgary.
STREAKIN: Brandon Kozun (3g 5a) is riding a four game point streak. Giffen Nyren (5a), Del Cowan (3g1a) and Michael Stone (6a) all have points in three straight games. Joel Broda (4g 1a), Tyler Shattock (4a) and Jimmy Bubnick (2g) all have points in back-to-back games. Martin Jones has won his last three starts posting two shutouts in his last five games.
FIRE AWAY: The Hitmen have recorded at least 30 shots on goal in each of their last eight games.
HOME SWEET 'DOME: Including Friday against Brandon, the Hitmen will play 13 of their remaining 23 regular season games at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
OFFENSIVE DEPTH: The Hitmen have nine players with 10 or more goals this season, four with 20 or more goals.
KOZUN'S CLIMB: With three points Sunday against Lethbridge, Brandon Kozun has moved into a tie with Ryan White for fifth place on the club's all time regular season scoring list. Both players have 237 points. Kozun is now 19 points back of Kris Beech for fourth.
DID YOU KNOW? Hitmen forward Jimmy Bubnick is the younger bother of Michael who is sixth on the club's all time games played list with 294. Michael played parts of six seasons with the Hitmen (1997-98 to 2002-03).
MILESTONES: Ian Schultz is two goals shy of 50 career regular season markers. Martin Jones needs 44 saves to catch Brent Krahn for third place on the club's all time regular season saves list. Jones has 2,868 while Krahn has 2,912 saves.
CHL TOP PROSPECT: Matt MacKenzie played in the 2010 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. Although Team Orr fell 4-2 to Team Cherry, MacKenzie was +1 and had a third period fight.
NHL DRAFT RANKINGS: Two Hitmen have cracked NHL Central Scouting's Mid Term Rankings for the 2010 Entry Draft. Matt MacKenzie is #85 among North American Skaters while Cody Beach is ranked 181. The NHL Entry Draft will be held at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles from June 25 to 26.
HITMEN TEAM LEADERS:
Goals (25) Joel Broda
Points (74) Brandon Kozun
Plus/Minus (+12) Tyler Fiddler
Assists (51) Brandon Kozun
PIM (121) Ian Schultz
Wins (20) Martin Jones
HITMEN VS: (Bran 1-1), (Cwk 1-1), (Edm 4-0), (Evt 1-0), (Kam 0-0), (Kel 0-1), (Ktn 4-3), (Leth 2-2), (MH 2-1-0-1), (MJ 2-2), (Port 1-0), (PA 0-1-1-0), (PG 1-0), (RD 3-0), (Reg 3-0), (Sask 1-2), (Sea 1-0), (Spok 0-1), (SC 1-0), (TC 0-0), (Van 3-0)
DRAFTED PLAYERS: The Hitmen have eight NHL prospects... Jimmy Bubnick-(5th round Atlanta 2009), Joel Broda-(5th round Washington 2008), Kris Foucault-(4th round Minnesota 2009), Martin Jones-(FA signing LA Kings 2008), Brandon Kozun-(6th round LA 2009), Ian Schultz-(3rd round St. Louis 2008), Tyler Shattock-(4th round St. Louis 2009), Michael Stone-(3rd round Phoenix 2008).
HITMEN ALUMNI: Dustin Kohn, who played parts of three seasons with the Hitmen (2003-04 to 2005-06), made his NHL debut last week with the New York Islanders. He becomes the 30th member of the Hitmen to play at least one game in the National Hockey League.
HOCKEY MUMS FIGHT BREAST CANCER: Be sure to mark February 7th on your calendars. It's the Calgary Hitmen Skate-A-Thon at the Pengrowth Saddledome! You can join Hitmen players on the ice and raise funds for the breast cancer awareness campaign. All participants with a minimum $20 pledge will get a ticket to the Breast Cancer Awareness game and a commemorative t-shirt while supplies last. Registration and pledge forms are on the Hitmen website. Visit hitmenhockey.com for all the details and help Hockey Mums Fight Breast Cancer!
UP NEXT: Calgary will wrap up their six game home stand Sunday afternoon against the WHL leading Tri-City Americans. Game time is 2:00 p.m. at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The Hitmen then hit the road for a pair of games on Tuesday, February 3rd in Swift Current and Wednesday, February 4th in Medicine Hat.
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