Game 1 at Red Deer

[Hitmen1]

Finally the season gets under way for the Hitmen tonight in Red Deer. The Hitmen should have all NHL draftees back in the lineup except for Joel Broda who remains at Caps camp.

Potential forward lines look something like this:

Schaber-Foucault-Schultz
Kozun-Fisenko-Fiddler
Sylvester-Gross-MacDonald
And any 3 of Lawrence, Beach, Kirsch, Hilton and Burghart.

Full recap coming after the game.

[Hitmen1]

A great start to the season for the Hitmen. In the first period, the Hitmen struck first on a goal from Ian Schultz, the Rebels would tie it before the period ended after one of the Hitmen blueliners (I think Madaisky) went for a big hit in the neutral zone. The period lack flow as the Hitmen were assessed 4 minor penalties. Marty Jones was very good on those pks for the Hitmen. In the second, the Hitmen took another penalty and once again they successfully killed it off. The Rebels then took a couple of penalties and on the second one a battle along the boards had the puck come right out to Madaisky who picked the top blocker corner on Kuemper. It seemed the game changed right there as the Hitmen took complete control over the game, scored 3 more goals in the second period all by Tyler Fiddler. In the 3rd, Michael Stone scored on an absolute rocket from the point. The Rebels scored a short time latter on a tip in goal.

Boxscore:

1st Period-1, Calgary, Schultz 1 (MacKenzie), 3:39.

Penalties-Kozun Cal (tripping), 5:01; Fiddler Cal (interference), 10:04; Burgart Cal (too many men), 12:11; Fiddler Cal (charging), 16:17.

2nd Period-2, Red Deer, Nugent-Hopkins 1 (Ferraro, Green), 3:20.
3, Calgary, Madaisky 1 (Schultz, Foucault), 9:20 (pp).
4, Calgary, Fiddler 1 (Fisenko, Kozun), 10:55.
5, Calgary, Fiddler 2 (Beach, MacKenzie), 16:23.
6, Calgary, Fiddler 3 (Fisenko, Kozun), 19:04.

Penalties-Stone Cal (tripping), 0:51; Morin R.d (tripping), 5:43; Petrovic R.d (holding), 8:28; Siwak R.d (slashing), 12:13.

3rd Period-7, Calgary, Stone 1 (Gross), 5:27 (pp).
8, Red Deer, Kambeitz 1 (Weller), 5:52.

Penalties-Mappin R.d (cross checking), 3:32; Kerr Cal (roughing), 6:27; Kozun Cal (hooking), 9:16; Morin R.d (high sticking), 13:40; Burgart Cal (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 15:43.

Shots on Goal-Calgary 9-9-14-32. Red Deer 13-6-6-25.

Power Play Opportunities-Calgary 2 of 5; Red Deer 0 of 8.

Goalies-Calgary, Jones 1-0-0-0 (25 shots-23 saves).

Red Deer, Kuemper 0-1-0-0 (15 shots-11 saves); Barnstable 0-0-0-0 (17 shots-15 saves).