By Scott Fisher /
The Calgary Hitmen and Moose Jaw Warriors are polar opposites.
The Hitmen, which won the Eastern Conference regular-season crown, rely on speed, cycling the puck and three solid scoring lines.
The Warriors, who drew Calgary as its first-round opponent, are a massive team built for physical battles and are content to slow things down.
And that can lead to penalties.
The Hitmen capitalized on three of 10 powerplays in the post-season opening game to beat the Warriors 5-1.
D-man Paul Postma led the way with a goal and two assists.
“They’re a big, physical team,” Postma told the Calgary Sun. “But we try not to worry about that too much.
“When the hits start coming and the penalties (are called), it’s just an opportunity for us to capitalize on ?the powerplay.
“I think discipline is going to help us win this series.”
But two days later, it was a completely different story.
The Hitmen once again got out to a 2-0 lead but the Warriors responded with four unanswered second period markers to bounce back with a clutch 4-2 victory.
Hitmen GM/head coach Kelly Kisio was bristling after his squad gave home-ice advantage to the Warriors.
“I don’t think it was just the second period,” Kisio told the Sun. “I thought we were bad the whole game.
“We didn’t compete near hard enough. If we want to play with Moose Jaw, we have to compete harder than that.
“Right from top to bottom, it was just a painful display of hockey.”
The Tribe connected on two of nine powerplay opportunities as Calgary showed it, too, can be guilty of playing undiciplined hockey.
Winger Brandon Kozun, who scored one of Calgary’s Game 2 markers, said his team needed to get back on track heading into the ‘Crushed Can.’
“They’re built for that rink,” Kozun said of the WHL’s second-most penalized team. “They grind and grind, and they try to get in your face.
“But we can’t back down. We just have to use our speed and play our game.
“Everyone wants it so if we have everyone pulling through, we’ll be fine.”
AND THE WINNER IS ...
Captain Karl Alzner was the major winner at the Petro-Canada Calgary Hitmen player awards dinner.
Alzner picked up a trio of awards.
The Washington Capitals prospect was named the Petro-Canada player of the year and, for the second straight season, earned both the Husky Energy top defenceman trophy and the Molson coach’s award.
“I’m so happy the coaches think so highly of me,” Alzner told the Sun.
“And that my teammates think the same way. I’m happy to be playing with them and a lot of my success goes to them.”
Last year’s player of the year, Ryan White, took home the fan favourite award and the Remax three-star selection trophy.
Kyle Bortis (East Side Mario’s most sportsmanlike player), Dan Spence (Enmax humanitarian award), Bostjan Golicic (Daimler Chrysler scholastic player) and T.J. Galiardi (Wendy’s rookie of the year) also took home hardware.. |
