2009-10 Calgary Hitmen/WHL thread

[Jesse834]

Calgary in 7
Tri-City in 6

[arloiginla]

First game against Brandon is tonight! Should be a great game. I'll be in section 111, row 5. Hopefully the Hitmen get the early jump and hold home ice.

[Flickered Flame]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Would be nice, but I really can't see them spending the money to do it. It's not the easiest/cheapest thing to do. Hell, they left the C on all year in 04-05 until after the season was formally cancelled.

Thanks to junkies for posting the picture. Here is the logo at center ice:

[I wanna be like Miikka]

Woooot, hitmen up 1-0!!

[Phil Ivey]

2-1 Brandon

1-0 Tri City early

[Flickered Flame]

A brutal power play in the 2nd lead to a Hamonic breakaway goal as he came out the box along with a couple of De Serres saves in the third were the difference. It is really going to come down to which team finishes off their chances. One bad goal again by Marty. That cannot continue. I sure like how the Wheaties always look for the late man jumping into the rush. Travis Hamonic is a great defenseman.

[Trojan97]

Pretty sloppy game by both teams. Both goalies were shakey but DeSerres managed to out do Jones with a couple massive saves in the third. I continue to be entirely unimpressed by Jones as his rebound control remains pathetically bad and he shows no sign of getting it under control anytime soon.

The Wheat Kings were uncharacteristically sloppy with their passing and I expect them to significantly improve on that and roll on in game two. This is probably as close to a must win as you can get for Calgary.

[Resolute 14]

Game went about as I expected - close, each team with some good pressure and chances. Ultimately, the difference came down to that abysmal goal Jones let in to tie the game. Goals like that just can't happen.

Pressure is definitely on the Hitmen tonight.

[johnnyluv]

2-1 right now, with Brandon definitely getting some preferential treatment from the refs. Goalie interference much?

[Flickered Flame]

A very common game from the Hitmen so far. Play a great period and then take the foot off the gas. Too many games that haven't been 60 minutes efforts, if it continues, Brandon will take this walking away.

[Phil Ivey]

1-0 Tri City. Still thinking G-men in 6. They're just that good.

[Phil Ivey]

Well Make that 2-0

[I wanna be like Miikka]

SCHULTZ!!! Hitmen win in OT!!!!

[Flickered Flame]

Well I was worried they were going to blow another 5 on 3. Obviously a big win for the Hitmen to get back into the series. Hopefully they can come away with the split if not 2 wins in Brandon.

[Resolute 14]

There's only two penalties a ref will call without hesitation in OT, and Brandon took both. Urbom's whining about his high stick was hilarious. What did he think Herman was going to do when he took a vicious, ill-advised hack at a puck over his head and nailed an opponent instead? I'm amazed he didn't get a misconduct.

Both games now, the difference proved to be some collossally stupid mistakes.

[Berger]

Huge win for the Hitmen tonight, couldnt afford to drop the first 2 at home to Brandon and expect to comeback like they did against the Jaw. Did anybody else hear Kelly McCrimmon post game comments? I was listening to the fan post game so dont quote me word for word but they were along the lines of "I thought both calls in ot were bad calls. Tyler Shattock who is supposed to be a power forward in this league is running guys from behind all night, gets hit in ot and explodes when he hits the boards and tricks the refs into calling a penalty" Seriously Kelly? Explodes? That was a clear hit from behind and was boderline a major penalty. Im not a fan of penalties in ot for any team, but those were two must call penalties.

[Resolute 14]

I'm surre McCrimmon had nothing to say about the constant interference his team was getting away with all night, or the fact that Brandon tied it up on a phantom hook.

[johnnyluv]

Schenn also whined a bit, saying something to the effect that Urbom swung the stick pretty hard, and Schultz would have been bleeding if it had actually hit him. You'd expect Brandon to be mad about the loss, but that's just plain stupid.

[arloiginla]

I'm not a fan of the constant criticizing of the officiating, saying that the Hitmen always get shafted. But I did think Brandon got away with a ton in game 1, especially after the Hitmen scored on their first powerplay.

I suppose what goes around comes around, so it's fitting the Hitmen win game 2 on a 5 on 3.

It'll be interesting to see how the series goes in Brandon, the Hitmen need to win one there.

[Trojan97]

I'm going to get ripped being the local Brandon fan and that's fine but the call to put the Wheat Kings down 2 men in OT was a joke. The ref clearly hesitated to make the call by initially putting his arm halfway up, then pulled it down only to put it back up a few seconds later to make the initial call. I don't mind the call in regulation but putting a team down two men in OT is essentially ending the game in favour of whoever gets the man advantage. Being wishy washy on such a massive call is brutal and should not happen.

Regardless, Jones outplayed DeSerres tonight and the play of the goaltenders looks like it will be the deciding factor in the series. I have the series going at least 6 so a split in Calgary isn't a very big surprise. It'll be interesting to see what happens in Brandon.