WHL Calgary Hitmen

Hitmen to play four games before Christmas Break

Published on December 10, 2007 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release


HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen open a two game road trip tonight in Edmonton against the Oil Kings. The Hitmen are coming off a very successful six game home stand picking up nine of a possible 12 points. It wrapped up Saturday night with a 3-1 loss to Moose Jaw. After a scoreless first period, Ian Duval staked the Hitmen to a 1-0 lead early in the second, but the Warriors rallied scoring a pair of powerplay goals to lead 2-1 after forty minutes. In the third, the Warriors added an insurance marker as Jordan Knackstedt led the Moose Jaw attack with two goals and one assist. Calgary outshot the Warriors 26-22 with Moose Jaw goalie Joey Perricone named the first star. Dan Spence made 19 saves and took the loss in the Hitmen net. Calgary was 0-6 on the powerplay while Moose Jaw was 2-6.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: At 21-9-1-2 Calgary is second in the Central Division, third in the Eastern Conference with 45 points. Calgary is 12-5-1-0 at home, 9-4-0-2 on the road.

VS. EDMONTON: Tonight is the fourth of eight meetings with the Oil Kings. Calgary leads the season series 2-1-0-0.

-Oct. 19 in Edmonton; Hitmen 4 Oil Kings 2. Ian Duval 3g.

-Oct. 28 in Calgary; Oil Kings 4 Hitmen 3. Clayton Cumisky scores game winner with 1.2 seconds left.

-Nov. 23 in Calgary; Hitmen 5 Oil Kings 3. Bostjan Golicic 2g.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Shots on goal: Calgary 109 Edmonton 63. Powerplays: Calgary 4-15 26.7% Edmonton 5-20 25.0%

Their next meeting is Sunday, January 6th in Edmonton.

POINT STREAKS: Carson McMillan is on a career high eight game point streak, McMillan (1g 7a). Kyle Bortis has points in six of his last seven games (7g 3a). T.J. Galiardi and Brandon Kozun both have points in two of their last three games; Galiardi (5a), Kozun (1g 3a). Ian Duval is on a three game goal scoring streak and has points in eight of his last 10 games (7g 4a).

CENTRAL DIVISION DIET: Tonight's game in Edmonton marks the start of six straight games against divisional opponents. Included in that span are three games against the Central Division leading Lethbridge Hurricanes.

SEASON OF STREAKS: The Hitmen started the season 9-1-0-0, then went 3-7-0-1, and are now 9-1-1-1 in their last 12 games.

RARE TUESDAY NIGHTER: This is only the second time this season the Hitmen have played on Tuesday night. They won their first 5-1 at home over Kootenay on September 24th.

WORLD JUNIOR INVITES: Team Canada's National Junior Selection Camp is underway this week at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary. Two Hitmen are in attendance; defenceman Karl Alzner and forward Ryan White. Meanwhile Hitmen Bostjan Golicic will play for Slovenia in the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championship. Slovenia is in Division I Group B. The tournament starts December 12th in Latvia.

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 and defenceman Matt Mackenzie 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.

THE SASKATCHEWAN SNIPER: Since arriving in an early season trade from the Swift Current Broncos, Kyle Bortis has 28 points in 29 games with the Hitmen, including 16 goals.

DID YOU KNOW? Martin Jones is 4-0 in his last four starts with a 2.20 GAA and a .899 save percentage. Ian Duval leads the Hitmen in road goals with seven. Meanwhile Carson McMillan has only scored two of his nine goals away from the Pengrowth Saddledome.

CAREER WATCH: Dan Spence passed the 2,500 save mark Saturday against Moose Jaw. Dan Mercer is one penalty minute shy of 300.

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 3-1), (Port 0-0), (PA 1-1-0-1), (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 (9-3-0-1), vs. BC (4-2-0-1), vs. US (1-1-1-0)

ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Hitmen have drawn 141,262 fans to their first 18 home games for an average crowd of 7,847.

HITMEN ALUMNI: Matt Kinch is in the American Hockey League with the Binghamton Senators. Kinch, who played five full seasons with the Hitmen from 1996-97 to 2000-01 has played in 19 games with Ottawa's farm team. He has five points (2g 3a).

UPCOMING GAMES: The Hitmen are back on the road tomorrow night in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes. Calgary then returns home for a pair of games before the Christmas break on Friday, December 14th against Red Deer, and Sunday, December 16th against Medicine Hat.

Check out the Calgary Hitmen Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from December 10, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central