Brooks scores winner, Hitmen streak hits four
Sporting a fat lip and a sore tooth outside the Calgary Hitmen dressing room, it was only fitting that Calder Brooks wound up being the face of victory Sunday afternoon.
Having absorbed a painful high-stick at the Red Deer Rebels blueline — which led to a game-changing goal by the visitors in the second period — the entire team had been reeling from the noncall. The goal led to another in the third, which tied the game and ended up sending it into overtime.
But based on his previous 60 minutes of work, the Hitmen winger was given a chance when Rebels defenceman Mathew Dumba in the penalty box for hooking late in the game.
And, lo and behold, Brooks, planted in front of Red Deer’s goalie Patrik Bartosak, got a piece of Alex Roach’s point shot, to seal a 4-3 victory 1:48 into overtime.
“We were just on the powerplay, and I was told to stand in front of the net, and Roach
had a nice shot,” Brooks said. “It was a low shot, which is always nice, and I was able to get a stick on it.”
Karma was definitely in Calgary’s favour, especially after a first-period snooze fest — the complete opposite scene from Saturday at the Scotiabank Saddledome which saw the Hitmen rip nine goals past Lethbridge in a 9-0 victory.
On Sunday, the Hitmen fell behind 1-0 early after Red Deer’s Tyson Ness scored on their second shot of the game just before a Kenton Helgesen tripping penalty expired. It was the most exciting thing, really, as after 20 minutes, Calgary registered only six shots (three from Brooks Macek) and the Rebels had two (and were batting one-for-two).
But, in the second frame, the Hitmen made it 3-1.
First came a greasy powerplay goal from Cody Sylvester, who extended his three-game point streak to four. He and Brady Brassart had been grinding in front of the net and eventually connected while Dumba was off for tripping (the first of three bad penalties).
Less than a minute later, some wicked work by Victor Rask behind the net led to a Macek goal, who beat Bartosak on a wide-open net. To wrap up the spree, Pavlo Padakin stickhandled his way through traffic and sniped one over Bartosak’s glove hand.
However, in the final minutes of the second period came the mysterious high stick. Killing off a Zane Jones roughing penalty — and distracted with Brooks on the ice, cradling his face — the Hitmen allowed Dumba and Rhyse Dieno to walk in and score on goalie Chris Driedger blocker-side.
Later, the Rebels made it 3-3 in the third when Brady Gaudet plopped in a rebound off Dumba’s shot on net.
Head coach Mike Williamson lectured on the importance of overcoming those distractions.
“Stick or not, we have to make a better play on that,” he lamented. “There’s a good opportunity for an offensive chance. We’ve been a little greedy at times, and our priority is to kill the penalty off.
“We just needed to make a stronger play leading up to that ... it ultimately allowed (the Rebels) to get back in the game.”
But the visitors shot themselves in the foot, and the Hitmen (44-20-1-4) capitalized to win their fourth straight with only three games remaining in regular season.
Well-worth the high stick, according to Brooks.
“At first I thought I lost my tooth, which obviously I didn’t,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do about it. We got the win, and that’s all that matters.
The Hitmen wrap up their season this week — Tuesday at home against Medicine Hat Tigers, and against Kootenay on Friday (at Kootenay) and Saturday (at Calgary).