A couple younger members of the Calgary Hitmen are impressing with solid starts to the pre-season.
With many returning roster spots potentially up for grabs, some of the guys that could be on the bubble this year stepped up with strong games in the Hitmen’s pair of victories last weekend in Red Deer.
Last season Zach Huber (2000) felt bored at times. Under former bench boss Dallas Ferguson, Huber was often in the press box watching games during his 17-year-old season.
Bouncing in and out of the lineup, the former fourth-round pick by the Hitmen only recorded two goals and five points in 56 games.
So far in two pre-season games, he’s already matched his goal total.
“It feels good to be playing again,” said Huber. “It feels good to be put on the ice in all situations. Right now I’m just trying to take advantage of those opportunities and work my hardest.
“I feel like it’s last year again and I’m trying to make this team all over again.”
Huber lined up with the Hitmen’s first-round pick from the recent Western Hockey League Bantam Draft in Sean Tschigerl (2003) and a seventh-round pick from the 2017 draft in Riley Fiddler-Schultz (2002).
Huber’s line was impressive against the Kootenay ICE and earned the trust of new Head Coach Steve Hamilton to play short handed while the ICE had an extra attacker on the ice.
The puck eventually came to Huber and he sent it into the vacant cage late in the third.
Huber grabbed the headlines the following night against the Red Deer Rebels in overtime.
The hometown Rebels forced overtime with 17 seconds remaining in regulation when Chris Douglas sent home his first of the pre-season.
Slightly over one minute into the extra frame, Huber was on a two-on-one with 2017 second-round pick Ryder Korczak (2002), when he noticed the defenceman and the netminder cheating for the pass.
“I saw the top corner of the net and I just ripped it home,” said Huber, who finished plus-3 on the weekend.
Huber, who was the third best centre for the Hitmen last year with a 56.6 percentage in the faceoff dot, was riding shotgun last weekend for 16-year-old Fiddler-Schultz.
The Edmonton product Fiddler-Schultz reached the annual intrasquad game before getting reassigned to the Northern Alberta Elite 15s of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League last season, while the Hitmen took higher picks from the same draft to the pre-season in Luke Prokop (2002) and Korczak.
This year, Fiddler-Schultz impressed Hitmen staff enough to tag along with Prokop and Korczak as the only 16-year-olds in camp.
“It’s pretty exciting to be here right now. I put a lot of work in to get better and I hope to keep improving my game as I continue through camp,” said Fiddler-Schultz. “I think I got faster and more mature last year and over the summer, and I think I am ready for this league now.”
Against the Rebels, Fiddler-Schultz took a pass from Tristen Nielsen (2000) in the first period and snapped a shot past second-year netminder Ethan Anders.
“As training camp went on, he was recognized by our scouting and coaching staff as someone that was doing a lot of the small things right. That’s why he earned the opportunity to experience exhibition games with the rest of our team,” said Hitmen Assistant Coach Trent Cassan. “These first few games were fine, but they will get tougher as we move along and we will see how he adjusts.”
If Fiddler-Schultz hangs on long enough for Hitmen fans to see him in the pre-season finale Sept. 15 at the Scotiabank Saddledome against the ICE, they will see a left-handed 5-foot-10, 178-pound forward that likes to play with aggression despite his size and youth.
“I like to get guys agitated out there, but play smart at the same time,” said Fiddler-Schultz, who is also a proven winner, having won the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League title in 2016-17 with the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers and the CSSHL E15 title with Northern Alberta last year.
Huber and Fiddler-Schultz weren’t the only bubble guys to have an impact on the score sheet over the weekend.
Listed player Tye Carriere (2001) netted one goal against the ICE, while Bryce Bader (2001) and Orca Wiesblatt (2000) supplied one assist each.
“Scoring and getting assists only happened on one or two of their shifts all weekend. What we liked is what they did with the rest of their shifts,” said Cassan. “They showed good effort along with showing up on the score sheet. They played in both games on the weekend, had great effort level and did a lot of the small things right.”
Of that productive, young group pushing for a spot on the bottom six is Bader.
At some point during the weekend, Bader got his ankle tangled up and was seen gingerly walking around in a boot during practice. Cassan did not give a timetable for his return.
Cael Zimmerman (2001) was also not dressed for practice Monday afternoon at the Saddledome, but his status was not made available.
Blue liners Vladislav Yeryomenko (2000) and Dakota Krebs (1999) both sat out the intrasquad game Aug. 28 and both exhibition games over the weekend, but were both on ice this afternoon at practice.
Hunter Campbell (2001) also sat out the intrasquad game but has played in both pre-season games.
Also making the trip to Red Deer was the Tschigerl and Tyson Galloway (2003), who were taken in the first and second round respectably during the most recent draft.
Last year, recent top picks Prokop and Korczak appeared in three and two pre-season games respectively before getting reassigned
Along with the young players, the Hitmen have kept all four goaltenders through the first weekend of the pre-season schedule.
Like a perfect math equation, each goaltender saw one half of a game in Red Deer and all faired well.
Carl Stankowski (2000) started the first game and stopped all 19 shots thrown his way. Local listed goaltender Jack McNaughton (2001) entered in relief and stopped 9-of-10 shots.
In the second game, returning netminder Matthew Armitage (1999) started between the pipes and stopped 12-of-13 shots. The 20-year-old Nick Sanders closed the weekend out by stopping 13-of-14.
“They all showed well over the weekend. With how we are able to carry so many extra defencemen and forwards while practising four times a week for the next two weeks, we can carry four goaltenders and still get them enough work at practice,” said Cassan.
McNaughton could be the odd man out when the Hitmen get a better handle of Stankowski’s health situation.
McNaughton, who went 14-6-1 with a .906 save percentage and carried a 2.58 goals against last season for the Calgary Royals of the Alberta Midget Hockey League, is the only goalie on the roster without regular season experience in the WHL.
“It’s definitely tough going up against other WHL goalies, but I just try to be the best I can be when I’m on the ice and see what happens,” said McNaughton. “At the same time, it’s good to watch those other guys in net and pick up any little details I can that can help my game at this level.”
Success cannot be easily overlooked, even in the extremely small sample size of two pre-season games. All that the bubble players can do now is continue to push and makes decisions harder of the coaching staff.
Until then, the Hitmen have not released any roster details in preparation for this weekend’s slate of games in Edmonton and Carstairs.
