Burning Down the House

Hitmen Advance to WHL Conference Finals

I’ve been meaning to supplement this Calgary Flames blog with some coverage of the Calgary Hitmen ever since I started, but for whatever reason I just never got around to it.

Last night the WHL’s Hitmen completed their second consecutive playoff series sweep by destroying the Lethbridge Hurricanes in game 4 by a score of 6-0.

The Hurricanes made waves earlier in the season by trading for WHL bad-boy and Chicago Blackhawks 2008 1st round pick Kyle Beach at the trade deadline. Beach was supposed to add grit, power, and scoring to a Hurricanes team headlined by the pint-sized Zach Boychuk (Carolina 08).

Instead, Beach was blanked by the powerful Hitmen, only showing up on the scoresheet for the wrong reasons (-5 and 34 penalty minutes in 4 games) as his team was steamrolled 7-1, 2-1, 4-2, and 6-0. Beach 4th season of playoff experience will end with him picking up just 1 goal and 1 assist to go along with 61 penatlty minutes in 10 games.

The win was Calgary’s 28th win in their last 30 games, if you count playoff and regular season games together.

The Hitmen once again relied on dominant defensive play in their own zone, combined with timely saves from Los Angelas Kings free agent signing Martin Jones, who let in just 4 goals on 73 shots in the series (and just 7 goals on 157 shots in 8 playoff games).

Paul Postma led the attack from the blueline. The Atlanta Thrasher 7th round pick had 2 goals, 2 assists, and was a +4.

Keith Seabrook, a Capitals draft pick, went 1-3 and was +3.

Future Coytoe Michael Stone also went 1-and-3, but was a +6 to lead blueliners in that category.

The depth of the Calgary attack is evidenced by the fact that despite scoring 20 goals in the series, the individual leaders only had 3 each.

Brandon Kozun - 4GP - 3G - 4A - +6

Joel Broda (Capitals) - 4GP - 3G - 2A - +6

Kyle Bortis - 4GP - 0G - 7A - +3

The Hurricanes had to know they were in trouble even before Game 4 started when it became known that standout forward Brett Sonne would be returning to the lineup. After missing 4 games with an upper body injury, Sonne needed hadn’t even completed his first shift of the game when he found the back of the net to open the scoring.

The Hitmen now wait for the Brandon Wheat Kings to finish off the Medicine Hat Tigers tomorrow evening. Brandon leads the series 3-0 after finishing 3rd in the Western Conference regular season and sweeping Kooteney in the first round.

The Wheat Kings sport a fairly deep offense led by likely 2009 1st rounders Bradyen Schenn and Scott Glennie, as well as veteran forwards Jay Fehr, Andrew Clark, Matt Lowry, and Matt Calvert (Columbus 08). Keith Aulie (Calgary 08) and Colby Robak (Florida 08) form an imposing top pairing on the blueline, while undrafted goaltender Andrew Hayes has been decent but unspectacular in net.

Elsewhere in the WHL:

Vancouver Giants vs Spokane Chiefs - Series Tied 2-2

Tri-Cities Americans vs Kelowna Rockets - Series Tied 2-2