On Saturday for the third time in a span of just eight days, the Red Deer Rebels and Calgary Hitmen squared up with Calgary playing host. Head coach Steve Hamilton seemed pleased with the Hitmen effort and said “we were crisper today in all aspects of the game and we needed to be good in front of Jack (McNaughton)… I thought today we shared the responsibility.” Despite an at times stronger offensive zone presence from Red Deer compared to the last set of meetings, Calgary played excellent defensively and limited the Rebels from generating high quality scoring chances. Jack McNaughton also made several significant saves early on that provided his club with momentum to eventually take the third straight victory against Red Deer.
Calgary established an immediate solid forecheck which lead to an early lead from the stick of Connor Gabruch. Gabruch potted his fifth of the year off a gorgeous passing play from Dakota Krebs and Cael Zimmerman just 1:40 into the game. Soon after the goal Conrad Mitchell was assessed a hooking minor which the Hitmen killed off with ease. McNaughton who returned after a 13-day break was clutching early on making two stellar saves in the first five minutes to keep the Hitmen lead. With physical play ramping up, both clubs managed little shots. Red Deer was handed another man advantage when Carson Focht was sent off for cross checking, however, the Rebels were unable to capitalize. Calgary finished the frame up a goal while Red Deer had the 6-to-5 advantage in shots.
The Rebels opened the second with stronger offensive pressure and matched the forecheck of the Hitmen. Despite the pressure displayed on both sides, the clubs combined kept a tight defensive approach only allowing three shots throughout the first seven minutes of the period combined. The Rebels received their third power play just before the halfway mark but were yet again unable to make good on it. Minutes later after Carson Focht was slashed on a partial break the Hitmen took to their first power play of the game. The Calgary man advantage that had been relatively successful against the Rebels thus far did not disappoint. Focht, who drew the Red Deer penalty, wired a wrist shot from the right side faceoff circle past Ethan Anders after going scoreless in his last four contests. In killing the vast majority of an Orca Wiesblatt minor penalty, Calgary was able to finish the second with a two goal lead.
After a timely kill from the Rebels early on in the third, Calgary proved to be too much in the coming minutes as Focht from the high slot beat Anders glove side for the three-goal lead. Calgary maintained the strong defensive play limiting the fatigued Rebels to two shots in the first 10 minutes while testing Anders with several more scoring chances. With just under eight minutes remaining Jett Woo teed Focht up for the hat-trick chance. Unfortunately for Focht, the slap shot nailed the right post. Jackson Van De Leest however, extended the lead a minute later when his rocket point shot found the back of the net through traffic. The big man wasn’t done there as under two minutes later Van De Leest sent yet another bomb of a shot from the left point which beat Anders high blocker side. The hulking defenseman credited his teams overall performance to his contributions stating “I think we played a really good team game and I was able to benefit off of the team play” McNaughton stopped all 14 Rebel shots to earn the shutout and ultimately backstop his club back into the victory column.
The Hitmen will finish off their five game homestand on Friday against the Prince Albert Raiders.
The Hitlist:
- Jackson Van De Leest records first two goal game of WHL career. The 18 year old defenceman now has three goals and 17 helpers and is just a point shy of tying his career high.
- Jack McNaughton picked up his first shutout of the season and third of his WHL career in the 5-0 win.
