Hitmen to play four games in five nights
Published on January 28, 2008 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Calgary Hitmen News Release
HITMEN HEADLINES: The Calgary Hitmen wrap up a three game home stand tonight against the Kootenay Ice. It's the third of four meetings with their Central Division rivals this month. The Hitmen have won three straight and are coming off Sunday's 9-2 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings. Brock Nixon led the offensive attack scoring four goals while Michael Stone, Bostjan Golicic, T.J. Galiardi, Ian Duval and Karl Alzner added singles. Ryan White had four assists while Dan Mercer picked up two helpers. The Hitmen held period leads of 3-1 and 5-2 and got a 20 save performance from Dan Spence who recorded the win. Calgary outshot Brandon 34-22. Calgary went 2-7 on the powerplay. Brandon was 0-4.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: At 35-13-1-3 Calgary leads the Central Division and the Eastern Conference with 74 points. They sit seven points ahead of Lethbridge for top spot in the division, and three points ahead of Regina for number one in the conference. The Hitmen are second overall in the WHL Standings two points behind Spokane. Calgary is 19-7-1-1 at home, 16-6-0-2 on the road.
VS. KOOTENAY: Tonight is the fifth of eight meetings with the Ice. Calgary leads the season series 3-1 having outscored the Ice by a combined 18-8.
-September 24th in Calgary; Hitmen 5 Ice 1. Brett Sonne and T.J. Galiardi each with two goals.
-November 2nd in Cranbrook; Ice 4 Hitmen 2. Ice overcame a 2-1 second period deficit.
-January 4th in Calgary; Hitmen 9 Ice 2. Paul Postma 2g 2a. Hitmen powerplay goes 4-8.
-January 22nd in Cranbrook; Hitmen 2 Ice 1 OT. Carson McMillan forces overtime with 1:07 remaining.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Shots on goal: Calgary 159 Kootenay 107. Powerplays: Calgary 6-29 20.7% Kootenay 1-19 5.3%
Their next meeting is tomorrow night in Cranbrook.
STREAKIN': Carson McMillan is on a four game point streak; McMillan (1g 4a). T.J. Galiardi has a three game streak (3g 1a). Brock Nixon, Ryan White, Michael Stone, Ian Schultz, Brandon Kozun and Ian Duval are all riding two game point streaks; Nixon (4g 3a), White (1g 6a), Stone (2g 3a), Schultz (1g 2a), Kozun (3a) and Duval (2a). Dan Spence is 8-0-0-1 in his last nine starts with a 1.96 GAA and a .918 save percentage.
REGULAR SEASON CAREER WATCH: Kyle Bortis is one goal shy of 50. Dan Spence passed the 7,000 minutes played mark Sunday against Brandon. Ryan White needs one point to tie Ryan Getzlaf for fifth place on the Hitmen's all-time points list. Getzlaf has 215, White 214.
SOLID TANDEM: Both Hitmen goaltenders are among the Top 10 in goals against average in the WHL. Dan Spence is tied for fourth with a 2.23 GAA, while Martin Jones is sixth with a 2.28 GAA.
ROOKIE IMPACT: Three Hitmen are among the Top 20 rookie scorers in the WHL. T.J. Galiardi is second, Brandon Kozun is tied for sixth while Bostjan Golicic is tied for 13th.
IMPRESSIVE START TO '08: The Hitmen are 10-1-0-1 in the month of January outscoring their opposition by a combined 56-21.
ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Hitmen have drawn 226,323 fans to their first 28 home games for an average crowd of 8,082.
DID YOU KNOW? The Hitmen have only surrendered one first period goal in the last 10 games and that was Sunday against Brandon. Kyle Bortis has scored 17 of his 25 goals this season at the Saddledome.
ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Hitmen have drawn 226,323 fans to their first 28 home games for an average crowd of 8,082.
THE ROSTER: Calgary is carrying 23 players; (13 forwards, 8 defencemen and 2 goalies). The Hitmen roster features eight rookies. -Break down....3 (20 year-olds), 8 (19 year-olds), 4 (18 year-olds), 6 (17 year-olds), and 2 (16 year-olds).
NHL RADAR: Calgary Hitmen Ian Schultz, Michael Stone and Martin Jones have all made NHL Central Scouting's mid-season rankings for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Stone is ranked 51st among North American Skaters while Schultz is 94th. Jones is ranked 12th among North American Goaltenders.
TRADE WINDS: On January 10th, the Hitmen dealt defenceman Eric Frere to the Kootenay Ice for a fifth round pick in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft. On January 5th, the Hitmen acquired 20-year-old forward Brock Nixon along with a sixth round pick in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft from the Kamloops Blazers in exchange for 17-year-old forward Devon Kalinski and a second round pick in the 2008 Bantam Draft. Nixon played 286 regular season games in Kamloops recording 181 points (81g 100a).
HITMEN VS: (Bran 3-0), (Cwk 0-1), (Edm 5-2), (Evt 0-1), (Kam 2-0), (Kel 0-1), (Ktn 3-1), (Leth 1-3), (MH 2-0), (MJ 3-1), (Port 1-0), (PA 2-1-0-1), (PG 2-0), (RD 5-0), (Reg 0-2), (Sask 3-0), (Sea 1-0), (Spok 0-0-1-0), (SC 2-0), (TC 0-0-0-1), (Van 0-0-0-1)
DIVISIONAL RECORDS: Hitmen vs. Central (16-6-0-0), vs. East (13-4-0-1), vs. BC (4-2-0-1), vs. US (2-1-1-1)
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).
HITMEN ALUMNI: Tyler Beechey is in the German Elite Hockey League. He played 67 games with the Hitmen in the 2001-02 season following a trade from the Kootenay Ice picking up 97 points including 44 goals. Beechey has played 40 games this season with the Iserlohn Roosters collecting 41 points (22g 19a).
THIRD ANNUAL HITMEN HEAD SHAVE: Following Friday's home game against Edmonton the Hitmen will hold their third annual Head Shave for Cancer Charities. So far 10 players have signed up to lose their hair for this worthy cause including Kyle Bortis, Dan Spence and Matt Mackenzie.
UPCOMING GAMES: The Hitmen make the return trip to Cranbrook tomorrow to meet the Ice. Calgary returns to the Pengrowth Saddledome Friday night for a date with the Edmonton Oil Kings. Game time is 7:00 p.m. The Hitmen will then open a two game road trip Saturday night in Medicine Hat before heading to Red Deer the following Friday.
Western Hockey League Stories from January 28, 2008
- Chiefs Weekly Report - Spokane Chiefs
- Chiefs Clinch Spot in Post Season - Spokane Chiefs
- Oil Kings 'Get Pink'd' to raise money for Stollery Children's Hospital - Edmonton Oil Kings
- Hitmen to play four games in five nights - Calgary Hitmen
- Regina Pats Weekly - Regina Pats
- Silvertips' Gendur Named BOSTON PIZZA WHL Player of the Week - WHL
- Hurricanes Blow Away Blazers 8-1 - Kamloops Blazers
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