2007-08 Calgary Hitmen / WHL thread - Page 24 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

dionfan · 04-23-2008, 10:17 PM

A Hurricane warning is now in effect for the Washington area!!!

Man, the atmosphere in Enmax was awesome, loudest I have ever heard it. i couldn't even hear the PA announcer at times, and for anyone who knows the arena, you know how truly impressive that is.

Dion · 04-23-2008, 10:18 PM

What a sad way to end a season.

The Hitmen showed so much promised only to throw it away.

I'd love to see Kelly Kisio fired over this. I truely believe it was his coaching that lead to this disappointing ending.

This team was too good to go out in 4 straight.

Azure · 04-23-2008, 10:53 PM

Wow....my ears are ringing, and my throat hurts from all the yelling.

Quite the game if you're a Hurricane fan.

MelBridgeman · 04-24-2008, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dion

What a sad way to end a season.

The Hitmen showed so much promised only to throw it away.

I'd love to see Kelly Kisio fired over this. I truely believe it was his coaching that lead to this disappointing ending.

This team was too good to go out in 4 straight.

Well i kinda had a bad feeling when the musical goalies started...that just isnt a good sign....and to me it looked like the team just continued to lose confidence, that and Lethbridge just had their way with Calgary all year...

Jagger · 04-24-2008, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Lethbridge just had their way with Calgary all year...

That must have gotten into their heads a little bit, or a lot perhaps. They say that you can throw the regular season records out of the window come playoff time but not in this case. Again, I have to go back to goaltending. The Hitmen's simply wasn't good enough. Spence has never impressed me. Jones seemed the better of the two but he really wasn't ready to be the go-to guy yet. Bad ending to a promising season. I'm not surprised they lost to that Lethbridge team, they're the real deal, I am surprised they went out with very little fight though.

Azure · 04-24-2008, 10:21 AM

Spence wasn't the problem last night though.

Their defense couldn't deal with the Lethbridge forecheck, and like Brad Curle said, they just couldn't buy any puck luck.

Lethbridge is good though, real good. Pretty amazing the difference from watching them at the start of the season, and watching them now.

wpgflamesfan · 04-24-2008, 06:30 PM

whl final should be a really good series. hopefully tri makes it in as I have a good friend that plays for them.

Resolute 14 · 04-24-2008, 07:30 PM

I'd rather Spokane made it, as I'd like to check out a Finals game, and I suspect that tickets will be a little easier to come by in Spokane. Plus, it's closer than Kennewick. Plus, I've never been to Spokane's arena yet.

Buff · 04-25-2008, 11:05 AM

Too bad the fical fans in Lethbridge took so long to jump back on the bandwagon. "Trader" Vic (GM Stasiuk's nickname) made a tonne of trades to change the makup of the Hurricanes. He dealt away many fan favorites (and with good reason), but the fans don't see nothing more than a fan favorite being traded and they sour on the team. The support was piss-poor throughout the season and even in the 1st round. Suddenly "Oh, the Hurricanes are doing awesome? See? What did I tell ya? I knew all along that we'd do awesome this year".

There were a tonne of people jumping all over Stasiuk for making so many trades, yet nobody will credit him with turning the team around is such little time. The 'Canes had some talented players with bad attitudes, or players who developed a bad attitude towards the team due to the previous era of management. Stasiuk did a heck of a job getting them out of town and bringing in players who wanted to play in Lethbridge. Even Hurricanes alumni are no longer afraid to back their former team after Stasiuk cleaned house.

Resolute 14 · 04-25-2008, 12:47 PM

Support for the Hurricanes has been luke-warm for years. But, that's going to happen when you've accomplished nothing in a decade. For reference, see the Flames, circa late 1990s/early 2000s.

In the past, that building was like a morgue, even the playoff games I went to a couple years ago. Definitely the weakest fanbase in Alberta. But, again, complete lack of accomplishments.

It's nice to see the interest picking up again, however. Hopefully they can make it stick, as the Hurricanes are expected to remain a top team next year as well, I believe.

Buff · 04-29-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Support for the Hurricanes has been luke-warm for years. But, that's going to happen when you've accomplished nothing in a decade. For reference, see the Flames, circa late 1990s/early 2000s.

In the past, that building was like a morgue, even the playoff games I went to a couple years ago. Definitely the weakest fanbase in Alberta. But, again, complete lack of accomplishments.

It's nice to see the interest picking up again, however. Hopefully they can make it stick, as the Hurricanes are expected to remain a top team next year as well, I believe.

Support for the Hurricanes has always been luke-warm. I've been attending their games since they came to Lethbridge missing maybe 3 or 4 games from 93-94 through 98-99. They stunk in 94-95 and the attendance was horrible, it wasn't much better in 94-96 and it didn't get good in 96-97 (the year they went to the Memorial Cup) until after the trade deadline. The next year was not too bad, but two years after the Memorial Cup you would've thought that the team had never made the playoffs.

I just went today to pickup my tickets for the 1st two home games in the WHL finals. When I asked for a certain section they show you the screen and I could see the section I asked for and the parts of the sections on either side of it. They weren't even half full yet. I know it is a week away, but its the WHL finals! If I didn't know Lethbridge better I would have been worried about not getting tickets.

I suspect that as soon as the other series is decided (tonight) then a drove of fans will be purchasing tickets. Spokane has local boy Judd Blackwater and Tri-Cities has former Hurricane and also local boy Colton YellowHorn. Both are from reserves outside of Lethbridge, and their friends and families will be buying large amounts of tickets once they know they've advanced.

Buff · 04-29-2008, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Support for the Hurricanes has been luke-warm for years. But, that's going to happen when you've accomplished nothing in a decade. For reference, see the Flames, circa late 1990s/early 2000s.

In the past, that building was like a morgue, even the playoff games I went to a couple years ago. Definitely the weakest fanbase in Alberta. But, again, complete lack of accomplishments.

It's nice to see the interest picking up again, however. Hopefully they can make it stick, as the Hurricanes are expected to remain a top team next year as well, I believe.

I also want to mention the fans in Medicine Hat. Their fans support the team no matter how poor they were doing. Fans in Lethbridge are just too apathetic.

Resolute 14 · 04-29-2008, 01:34 PM

Well, I wouldn't say that. Before that team got good, they were pulling in less than 3000 on many nights.

Incidentally, Tri-Cities pulled out the road win in game six to force a decisive game seven in southern Washington. The Hurricanes must be loving this.

dionfan · 04-29-2008, 10:23 PM

its gonna be a chiefs/hurricanes final

Resolute 14 · 04-30-2008, 08:50 AM

Hopefully. If it is, I'm going to make it a point to go to Spokane for game 5.

Buff · 04-30-2008, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Hopefully. If it is, I'm going to make it a point to go to Spokane for game 5.

You won't be going to Spokane for game 5. Game 5 is in Lethbridge. Its a 2-3-2 series.

Resolute 14 · 04-30-2008, 01:06 PM

It it ends up Spokane-Lethbridge, that doesn't make a lot of sense given how close the two markets are, but meh. Should have realized the leauge would be anticipating a longer travel schedule.

Hmm. Gonna be hard to get to Spokane then. I presume games 1 and 2 are this weekend. Saturday, maybe.

Buff · 04-30-2008, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

It it ends up Spokane-Lethbridge, that doesn't make a lot of sense given how close the two markets are, but meh. Should have realized the leauge would be anticipating a longer travel schedule.

Hmm. Gonna be hard to get to Spokane then. I presume games 1 and 2 are this weekend. Saturday, maybe.

It is Spokane & Lethbridge. Spokane beat Tri-Cities 4-1 in Game 7 last night. I got the schedule from the 'Canes website just after midnight last night.

Here it is from whl.ca:
Fri. May 2 Lethbridge @ Spokane 7:00pm PT
Sat. May 3 Lethbridge @ Spokane 7:00pm PT
Tues. May 6 Spokane @ Lethbridge 7:00pm MT
Wed. May 7 Spokane @ Lethbridge 7:00pm MT
Fri. May 9 Spokane @ Lethbridge 7:00pm MT*
Sun. May 11 Lethbridge @ Spokane 7:00pm PT*
Mon. May 12 Lethbridge @ Spokane 7:00pm PT*
* - If necessary

The series will be televised on Shaw.

Resolute 14 · 04-30-2008, 09:14 PM

A note of good news for the Hitmen: Carl Alzner won the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as player of the year, and also the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as defenceman of the year. Kip Regehnas won the marketing award.

and LMFAO at Andy Thiessen winning the official of the year... is the dub really that thin?

http://www.whl.ca/news/?id=9445

Jagger · 05-01-2008, 10:56 PM

The bantam draft went today. The Rebels took Nugent-Hopkins at No.1, Ty Rattie from Airdrie went #2 to Portland. The Hitmen took defenceman Peter Kosterman, a Calgary product, at #19.

The #1 choice was a real crapshoot. Any one of six players could have been chosen first. Personally I'd have taken Rattie with the #1 but some fellow Rebel fans have seen them both play at the West Can Bantam Championship and really rated Hopkins over Rattie. I guess we'll see.