The final meeting between the Calgary Hitmen and visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes was nothing short of a typical physical and exciting Central Division matchup. The Hitmen dug themselves out of a two goal deficit midway through the third. However, Dino Kambeitz tallied his second goal of the evening and the eventual game winner soon after, helping lead the ‘Canes to victory. Head coach Steve Hamilton voiced his frustration after the loss. “We rallied in the third to tie the hockey game and lose it on the next shift… We didn’t buy in today. Our power play didn’t buy in and it was disgusting and it has been disgusting the last couple games.”
Just a minute and a half into the game, the Hitmen found themselves shorthanded due to a Cael Zimmerman holding infraction. Calgary answered with a strong kill which provided the team some serious momentum. With the help of an Alex Cotton slashing call, the Hitmen tested their power play for the first time of the evening. Despite no goal on the man advantage, puck movement for the Hitmen was crisp, making for several scoring chances early on. However, near the middle part of the period, Chase Wheatcroft got a stick on a Jett Jones shot and beat Brayden Peters for the lead. While Calgary was able to regain momentum and apply heavy pressure in the Lethbridge zone, the Hurricanes managed to close the frame with the one goal lead.
To start the second, it was the Hitmen who were given the power play as Koletrane Wilson was sent to the box for holding just 24 seconds in. This advantage lasted just over a minute, however, as Jett Woo was later sent off for four minutes for checking from behind. While the Hitmen contained the Lethbridge power play for the most part, Wilson threw a point shot through traffic that was deflected by Kambeitz, zipping past Peters to extend the lead. The Hitmen responded well once again, drawing a penalty soon after, and began firing on all cylinders on the man advantage. By the midway point, physicality had ramped up between the two teams, giving Calgary several power plays. The Hitmen continued to struggle to find an answer to Carl Tetachuk despite the penalties to Lethbridge. Late in the period, Peters showed off his glove and made a big stop to keep the surging Hurricanes at a two goal advantage.
The Hitmen opened the third with immediate urgency and finally beat Tetachuk when Orca Wiesblatt tucked in his own rebound. Not long after, the Hitmen were given an excellent opportunity to even the score when Alex Thacker sent the puck out of play, giving Calgary a 5-on-3 power play. Riley Stotts quickly buried the puck on Tetachuk, but an outstanding, energy-filled shift from Kambeitz on the penalty kill stole the lead back for the Hurricanes 11 seconds later. Despite late efforts from Calgary, Kambeitz’ second goal stood as the winner, giving the fierce rivals of the Hitmen two points. Riley Stotts said, “We didn’t get on their back end as much as we wanted to. We layered pucks in for them to get and they just turned it back onto us so we have to be better at getting those pucks behind them and keep it away from them as much as we can.”
The Hitmen will be back in action on Tuesday in Prince Albert as the team will hit the road for a three-game road trip.
The Hitlist:
- Dino Kambeitz finished the season series against the Hitmen with six goals in seven games.
- Sunday marked the first set of back-to-back losses for Brayden Peters since December 9th, 2019.
