The Calgary Hitmen are back on a two game winning streak after this weekend’s two home games at the Saddledome. Both games began slow for the Hitmen, however, the club was able to battle back against the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday before beating Central Division rivals, the Medicine Hat Tigers Sunday. From here the Hitmen will look to further their streak on the road this weekend against two East Division teams. Firstly a rematch on Friday against the Moose Jaw Warriors, Calgary will then travel east to battle the Regina Pats in the WHL Prairie Classic outdoor game on Sunday.
The Hitmen lately have received massive contributions from leadership and veteran players in their lineup. Some of these Players include Carson Focht, Egor Zamula, Mark Kastelic and Orca Wiesblatt. Primarily, Zamula who holds the second highest point streak in the WHL with four goals and nine assists in nine games played. Three of his four goals have come on the man advantage as the Philadelphia Flyers prospect has been a beast quarterbacking one of the leagues better power plays. Mark Kastelic has also been dominant since his return and the overage captain has scored six in his first five games while adding two assists. Meanwhile the second line combination of Orca Wiesblatt and Carson Focht has proven itself a force to be reckoned with. The two have combined for 11 goals and 25 points throughout nine games and will surely look to continue this strong chemistry on this weekend road trip.
The first of the two weekend meetings will feature a Moose Jaw Warriors team seeking revenge after a 7-3 loss to the Hitmen in Calgary on October 18th. Calgary did a great job of shutting down Brayden Tracey and other top end offensive threats for the most part, but yet still allowed Ryder Korczak to use his shifty speed and skill set to net two goals. It will be very important for the Hitmen to continue playing shutdown defense against clubs like Moose Jaw with strong top six forward corps. The latter game of the weekend will be held outdoors and will have the Hitmen battling against the Regina Pats on their home turf at Mosaic Stadium. The Pats are a rather young team that have struggled immensely thus far and find themselves last in the WHL. In saying that, Regina still has veteran leadership that have played well up to date including forwards Austin Pratt and Ty Kolle while recently acquired defenseman Zach Wytinck has been terrific recording seven points in four games with his new team. Max Paddock has also shown he is a goaltender who can be relied upon and despite a tough start to this season has the ability to have great influence on the outcome of games.
For Calgary it is unclear whether Tye Carriere will be able to suit up for the Hitmen as he sat out both weekend games with an upper body injury. Adam Kydd will serve his fourth and final game of his suspension on Friday while a timeline for winger Cael Zimmerman’s loser body injury has yet to be determined. One thing that is looking positive for Calgary is the backup goaltending situation. With Carl Stankowski released from the active roster to a club which has yet to be determined, Brayden Peters faced the task of backing up Jack McNaughton. On Sunday against the Medicine Hat Tigers Peters replaced McNaughton after just over eight minutes of play and walked away with second star of the afternoon in a 6-3 victory.
The Hitmen return home after these two road games and resume play at the Saddledome on Monday October 28th against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The Hitlist:
- The Hitmen are 4-1-1 in central division games this season and 2-1-0 against non divisional teams.
- Calgary currently sits 1st in the eastern conference wild card race with at least two games in hand of every team in the central division.
