Ice freeze out Hitmen
The Kootenay Ice have given the Calgary Hitmen fits so far this season.
That trend continued on Remembrance Day as the Ice downed the Hitmen 5-1 in front of 7,328 fans at the Saddledome.
“We were pretty flat,” summed up Hitmen captain Jaynen Rissling. “It seemed like when the going got tough, a lot of us just kind of threw in the towel and gave up. Obviously that’s unacceptable.”
The Hitmen (10-6-4) also lost 3-1 to the Ice (11-8-2) last Tuesday in Cranbrook. Earlier this season, Calgary eked out a 4-3 overtime win at the ’Dome over Kootenay before the Ice responded with a 4-2 victory at home the next night.
“Kootenay, they play a certain way,” said Hitmen coach Mike Williamson. “They don’t really deviate from it. I think you have to make sure that you match that and have patience in your game as well. Our guys were frustrated tonight and we lost that part of our game.”
The Hitmen have now lost four straight games and six of their past seven, during which time they have a 1-3-3 record.
“Everyone’s frustrated right now,” Williamson said. “When there’s a little bit of adversity right now the confidence starts to go away from us and we start to do some uncharacteristic things. We’ll stick together here, work through it and be ready to go the next time out.”
Jaedon Descheneau scored twice and set up another to lead the Ice attack, while linemate Tim Bozon had a goal and two assists.
Rinat Valiev’s first WHL goal stood up as the game winner for the Ice and the Russian defenceman also recorded an assist. Jon Martin had Kootenay’s other goal, while goalie Wyatt Hoflin stopped 29 shots fired his way to record the win.
Calder Brooks notched the lone goal of the game for the Hitmen, who will be looking to return to their winning ways Friday when they host the Swift Current Broncos at the ’Dome.
“We’ve got a tough test on Friday coming up,” Rissling said. “That team’s one of the hardest working teams in the league. We’ve got to figure it out here; otherwise the same thing’s going to happen.”
Hitmen goalie Mack Shields finished with 28 saves as he suffered his first loss after recording six straight wins to start the season.
Bozon opened the scoring for Kootenay at 4:54 of the first when he converted a nice feed from Descheneau.
Brooks tied it late in the opening frame when he collected a rebound in front of the net and roofed it over Hoflin’s outstretched right pad.
The Hitmen fell behind 4-1 after two periods as Valiev, Martin and Descheneau scored in the middle frame for the Ice. Descheneau then added an insurance marker early in the final frame.
Descheneau scored both of his goals during Ice power plays as Kootenay finished 2-for-5 with the man advantage.
“We’ve got to stay more disciplined, not get too involved with the refs,” said Brooks, who also scored during Calgary’s 3-2 shootout loss at home on Saturday to the Medicine Hat Tigers. “They’ve been able to capitalize on the power play.”
After facing the Broncos on Friday, the Hitmen will continue their six-game homestand on Sunday when they face off against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
“We’ve just got to keep working hard, get back to practice tomorrow and just stay positive in the room,” Brooks said. “We know we’ve got a good team.”