Candice Ward

Calgary beats Red Deer in second consecutive 5-2 victory

The Calgary Hitmen on Sunday completed a weekend sweep of the Red Deer Rebels handily with a 5-2 victory over their Central Division rivals. The victory came with depth scoring coming up in a big way while Brayden Peters continued his excellent play. Steve Hamilton described his club’s performances this weekend as “timely offense and good goaltending.” Hamilton also expressed his pleasure at his team’s overall health and stated, “We like our team. We’ve always liked our team. We just haven’t seen our team for a good portion of the year, so to get a little bit healthier now has been good.” While both clubs had slow starts and struggled on power-play opportunities, the Hitmen were able to build off their three-goal second period which featured goals from Dakota Krebs, Riley Stotts and Riley Fiddler-Schultz to secure the four-point weekend. 

The Hitmen and Rebels began the Sunday matinee in a rather slow fashion with several iced pucks and minimal shots on goal. Peters was the first of the Hitmen to make a significant impact when he robbed a rebel forward on the breakaway before also making a timely save on the rebound shot. He was coming off a 21-save win in Red Deer and was playing in his third set of back-to-back games this season. Calgary began picking up a more persistent forecheck but still struggled to put pucks on net. At the halfway mark, Red Deer led in shots with three to Calgary’s one. With just over five minutes remaining in the first, Red Deer went to the power play after a Tyson Galloway roughing penalty. The Red Deer power play, however, struggled with scrambled possession and accounted for just a single shot. With 35 seconds remaining in the frame, Cameron Hausinger leveled Luke Prokop in the Calgary zone. This hit sparked a scrum which led to coincidental roughing minors to Hausinger and Mark Kastelic. The closest opportunity to a goal came off the stick of Jett Woo when he nailed the post in the dying seconds. Despite this chance, the period ended scoreless with the coincidental penalties running into the second frame.

Offense for Calgary was displayed right out of the gate in the second and from a less likely name. Overager Dakota Krebs tallied his first of the season 1:02 into the second when he released a bomb of a slapshot from the high right circle area that flew past the blocker of Byron Fancy. Krebs credited the team’s success to the offensive contributions up and down the lineup, saying, “Scoring by committee is something that is huge for a team… whether it’s the first line or the fourth line, first defensive pairing or third pairing. It’s good to have that scoring depth.” Riley Stotts wasted no time, as three minutes later, the Hitmen leading point getter was the beneficiary of a terrific cycle that concluded with a slot wrist shot that beat Fancy high blocker side. Red Deer did show some resistance and a minute later cut the lead to one off a Zak Smith wrist shot that zipped through the five hole of Peters. Calgary answered back with the third goal in a span of 1:57 when a misplay of the puck by Fancy turned into an empty-net opportunity for Fiddler-Schultz who made no mistake. The Hitmen took the two-goal cushion into the intermission with shots even at 18. 

Dakota Krebs – Photo By Candice Ward

Calgary was yet again very quick to jump on the board to begin the third as Orca Wiesblatt scored a beautiful wraparound goal just 35 seconds in. The goal was nearly identical to one he scored mid October against the Saskatoon Blades. Ethan Anders entered the game after the Wiesblatt goal in relief for Fancy who allowed four goals on 25 shots. Josh Prokop beat Anders on the netminder’s second shot to increase the lead to four. Fancy re-entered the game just 1:21 after the fifth Calgary goal. The Rebels once again showed a late offensive spark when Jayden Grubbe sent a shot that beat Peters for the Calgary native’s fifth of the campaign. The Hitmen, however, were able to hold off the Rebels for the remaining minutes and come out as victors by a score of 5-2.

The Hitmen will return to action on Wednesday when they play host to the Winnipeg Ice.

 

The Hitlist:

  • In three back-to-back game sets this season, Brayden Peters has gone 4-1-1-0 while posting a 0.910 save percentage and 2.09 goals-against average.
  • In the latest Central Scouting rankings for the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Luke Prokop was listed 86th while Jack McNaughton was listed 14th among North American goalies.