Hitmen to play five games in six nights
Published on December 31, 2007 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen open 2008 with a two game road trip into Saskatchewan starting this afternoon against the Blades in Saskatoon. The Hitmen are coming off a dramatic come from behind 6-5 home ice win over the Brandon Wheat Kings on Sunday afternoon. The Hitmen erased a 5-2 third period deficit to record the win. Ian Schultz led the offence scoring his first career hat trick while Kyle Bortis, Brandon Kozun and Carson McMillan also scored. McMillan's goal was the game winner with 23.6 seconds left. Bostjan Golicic chipped in three assists. Calgary outshot Brandon 29-27 as Dan Spence made 22 saves to pick up the win. The Hitmen went 0-2 on the powerplay while Brandon was 0-3.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: At 25-12-1-2 Calgary leads the Central Division and the Eastern Conference with 53 points. They sit three points ahead of Lethbridge for top spot in the division, and three points ahead of Regina for number one in the conference. Calgary is 15-6-1-0 at home, 10-6-0-2 on the road.
VS. SASKATOON: Today is the third of four meetings with the Blades. Calgary leads the season series 2-0.
-Nov. 3 in Calgary; Hitmen 4 Blades 1. Carson McMillan two goals.
-Nov. 17 in Saskatoon; Hitmen 2 Blades 1. Dan Spence 25 saves.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on goal: Saskatoon 57 Calgary 56. Powerplays: Calgary 0-11 Saskatoon 0-4
Their next meeting is Saturday, February 16 in Calgary.
POINT STREAKS: Brandon Kozun is on a five game point streak (4g 4a) and has points in eight of his last nine games (5g 8a). Brendan Rowinski and Bostjan Golicic are both riding four game point streaks; Rowinski (2g 3a), Golicic (1g 5a). Ian Schultz has goals in back to back games (4g) and has points in three straight (4g 1a). T.J. Galiardi also has points in three straight games (3a). Keith Seabrook has points in four of his last six games (2g 3a). Kyle Bortis has points in 11 of his last 14 games (11g 5a).
CAPTAIN CANADA: Karl Alzner is the captain of Team Canada who finished the round robin 3-1 at the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championship after a 4-1 win over Denmark on Monday. Alzner has one assist in four games and is a plus one with four shots on goal. Canada will now play Finland in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. A member of the Hitmen has made Team Canada in each of the last four years.
DID YOU KNOW? Hitmen forward Bostjan Golicic won a Bronze Medal with Slovenia at the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championship. Golicic finished the tournament with three points (2g 1a) in five games. He also had 17 shots on goal.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Hitmen are 0 for their last 22 with the man advantage, but the penalty kill is 21 for its last 22.
CAREER WATCH: Ryan White needs one point for 200. White's assist Sunday against Brandon moved him past Ryan Getzlaf and into sole possession of sixth place on the franchise list with 121. Dan Spence sits third on the franchise list for most games played by a goaltender. Alexandre Fomitchev appeared in 118 games, Brent Krahn 117 and Dan Spence 116.
WARM UP THE BUS: Including today, the Hitmen will play four of their next five games away from the Pengrowth Saddledome. In total Calgary will play seven road games in the month of January, the most of any month this season.
NO TIME FOR REST: Today's game in Saskatoon marks the start of five games in six nights for Calgary in five different cities (Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton).
ROSTER MOVES: The Hitmen have released forward Martin Stepan. The 18-year-old from Slovakia appeared in 18 games collecting four points (3g 1a).
THE ROSTER: Calgary is carrying 24 players; (13 forwards, 9 defencemen and 2 goalies). The Hitmen roster features eight rookies. -Break down....2 (20 year-olds), 9 (19 year-olds), 4 (18 year-olds), 7 (17 year-olds), and 2 (16 year-olds).
TEAM PACIFIC: Calgary Hitmen forward Chase Schaber and defenceman Matt Mackenzie are both members of Team Pacific at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Schaber has been named an assistant captain, and Team Pacific is 1-1 after a 6-2 win over Slovakia on Sunday. Schaber has three points so far (1g 2a). Next up is a date with Finland on New Year's Day. The tournament runs until January 4th.
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.
HITMEN VS: (Bran 2-0), (Cwk 0-1), (Edm 2-2), (Evt 0-1), (Kam 2-0), (Kel 0-1), (Ktn 1-1), (Leth 1-3), (MH 2-0), (MJ 3-1), (Port 0-0), (PA 1-1-0-1), (PG 2-0), (RD 4-0), (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 (10-6-0-0), vs. East (10-3-0-1), vs. BC (4-2-0-1), vs. US (1-1-1-0)
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).
GAME TIME CHANGE: The Calgary Hitmen home game on Sunday, January 13th against the Edmonton Oil Kings is now a 3:00 p.m. (MST) start at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The game has been moved up two hours to accommodate Rogers Sportsnet who is broadcasting the Battle of Alberta doubleheader. Fans are invited to stay in the Saddledome and watch the second half of the doubleheader featuring the Flames and the Oilers on the Enmax Energy Board.
HITMEN ALUMNI: Paul Gentile is playing Canadian Interuniversity Sport hockey with the U of C Dinos. Gentile who played 60 games for the Hitmen in the 2003-04 season has played 13 games with the Dinos and has two goals.
UPCOMING GAMES: The Hitmen are in Prince Albert tomorrow to wrap up their two game tour of Saskatchewan. Calgary then returns home to host Kootenay on Friday night. Game time is 7:00 p.m. at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
Western Hockey League Stories from December 31, 2007
- T-Birds Double Up Winter Hawks - Seattle Thunderbirds
- Keller Scores Winner in Spengler Cup - Saskatoon Blades
- Chiefs Make Annual New Year's Date With Americans - Spokane Chiefs
- Hitmen to play five games in six nights - Calgary Hitmen
- Team Sweden Wins Pool A, Advances to Semis - Chilliwack Bruins
- Tigers' Ennis Named BOSTON PIZZA WHL Player of the Week - WHL
- Pats Weekly - Regina Pats
- Blazers Rally Past Giants In Shootout - Kamloops Blazers
- Giants Weekly Recap - Vancouver Giants
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