The first 36 games of the 2017-18 season didn’t necessarily go the Calgary Hitmen’s way, but they wrapped up the official first half of their season with a divisional victory that has evaded them the past few weeks.
Coming off the heels of a four-game sweep to the Kootenay Ice, the Hitmen dug out of an early hole to hedge the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime Saturday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“That was a big win for us. Losing four to Kootenay hurt us, but there is still al lot of hope in our dressing room and this win shows the character we have in our room,” said Hitmen winger Jakob Stukel.
Things didn’t look good for the Hitmen early, as they trailed 2-0 after the opening frame in front of a crowd of 8,494.
Andrei Grishakov went on to have a career game, but he was responsible for putting the Hitmen (11-19-5-1) behind early.
The Hurricanes (16-17-3-0) are making a living on the power play (29.86 per cent) this season. On the Grishakov tripping penalty, the Hurricanes showed off their stellar east-west puck movement when Calen Addison sent a crisp pass to Tate Olson, who then found the Central Division’s leading scorer Giorgio Estephan in the slot. Estephan spun and found Jordy Bellerive, who ripped home his 20th of the campaign.
“(Jordy) is one of their best players. He’s signed by Pittsburgh and (the Hurricanes) like to play their top end guys a lot, so when he’s out there you need to be aware and on your toes to give yourself the best chance to stop the puck,” said Hitmen netminder Nick Schneider.
No goalie is immune to the occasional soft goal, and Schneider fell victim once again at the closing moments of the first period.
Egor Zudilov caught nearly everyone in the arena by surprise when he fired a puck from way down on the half wall on net. Schneider certainly didn’t see it, as it snuck by him to give the Hurricanes the 2-0 advantage.
“I thought Nick was excellent tonight. He had a tough one at the end of the first — it’s something you don’t see often with him — but I thought he was mentally strong to bounce back,” said Hitmen Assistant Coach Trent Cassan, who picked up his first career win seen as he was filling for the ill Dallas Ferguson.
Schneider’s 40 saves are a season high, with several of them coming at the expense of Bellerive’s point total.
Bellerive was within five feet of the goal mouth for a pair of glorious one-touch chances in the first on feeds from his line mates Lane Zablocki and Jake Elmer, but was turned away by the Calgary Flames prospect, as the Flames President of Hockey Operations watched from the press box.
“Schneider played a great game. I got one on him in the first but then he looked like he figured me out. He had a couple great efforts out there; I thought I should have had four or five more goals, but it was still good to see that I’m getting those chances,” said Bellerive.
One of the 20-year-old’s best stops on Bellerive came in the extra frame, where a quick left footed save sprung the Hitmen on a rush the other way.
Dom Schmiemann took the rebound up the ice and dished it off to Mark Kastelic, who dashed in on net and chipped the puck over the shoulder of backup netminder Reece Klassen, as the Hitmen improved to 2-5 in overtime. Kastelic has both overtime winners this season.
Klassen filled in for the sick Stuart Skinner, who was listed as day-to-day. Klassen stopped 27 shots as his record dropped to 3-4-1-0.
Having watched his teammate duke it out with his homeland earlier in the day, Grishakov put the Hitmen on his back in the second.
Even though Vladislav Yeryomenko and Team Belarus fell to Grishakov’s homeland 6-5 in the World Junior Championship, the Hitmen defenceman was probably thrilled to see his best friend on the team record his second career two-goal game.
The newly formed line combo heated up in the second period when Stukel threw it into fifth gear, blowing past a pair of Hurricane skaters in the neutral zone before waiting for Brendan Stafford to slide out of his way. He then found Grishakov wide open standing at the left post. Klassen was out of position and Grishkov had the entire six-by-four to shoot at.
“That was a little bit different of a combo; they haven’t played together a whole lot,” said Cassan. “Stukel is great in open ice and on the rush, and Andrei shot the puck well tonight. When he does use his shot, it can be deceptive and catch guys off guard like he did tonight.”
Later in the frame, it was Grishakov who did the heavy lifting.
Brady Pouteau tripped Stukel in the Hurricane zone, sending the Hitmen’s improved power play to work.
Grishakov turned the puck over along the halfway, sped past Tanner Nagel, carved his way into the slot and lasered a shot past the glove of Klassen for his 10th of the season.
The Russian’s marker pushed the Hitmen’s power play up to 23.8 per cent this month compared to 20.9 per cent in November. The penalty kill has taken a much more drastic improvement, as it hummed along at a 81.8 per cent in December, up from 63.4 per cent last month.
The win definitely alleviated some pressure in the locker room. Even though they still surrendered the loser point to the Hurricanes, the win brings the Hitmen’s record within the Central to .500, at 7-7-3-0.
The season hasn’t gone they way the team envisioned back in September, but they are taking solace in still being in the playoff race at the halfway mark.
“It’s been a lot of up and down so far, we’re halfway through the season this year but there’s still a lot of games left and that’s really good. We’ve lost a lot by one goal and we’ve faced a lot of adversity, but 36 games is a lot of hockey left so we are looking forward to that,” said Stukel.
The Hitmen will play their first game of the second half of the season and their first of the New Year Jan. 1 when they take on the Edmonton Oil Kings (9-22-4-1) at Rogers Place. Their first home game of 2018 goes Jan. 3 (7 p.m.) when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers (20-15-2-0) at the ‘Dome, as they conclude a eight-game stretch against divisional opponents.
