Tambellini heroics in vain as Hitmen suffer second loss
In his first game of the season with the Calgary Hitmen, Adam Tambellini proved he still has a nose for the net.
Tambellini scored the lone goal of the first period on Friday against the Medicine Hat Tigers when the puck bounced off of him and past goalie Marek Langhamer.
“The goalie tried to tip it into the corner and it went off my stomach and in,” said Tambellini, who also drew an assist on a power-play goal by Chase Lang in the second period. “It was nice to get it out of the way I guess, but not enough.”
Calgary’s record fell to 0-2 following a 4-2 loss to the Tigers in front of 6,047 fans at the Saddledome. Cole Sanford had a goal and an assist for the Tigers, who improved to 3-0, while Steven Owre, Alex Mowbray and Miles Koules, into an empty net, also scored.
“We got into some trouble in the second with some penalties, myself included,” Tambellini said. “That put us back on our heels a bit. We’ve got to limit those penalties. I think if we do, we’ll have more energy for our five-on-five play.”
Both goalies played well as Langhamer made 27 saves to record the win for the Tigers, while Mack Shields stopped 29 of 32 shots he faced in a losing cause.
Along with six other players who returned to Calgary earlier this week after attending National Hockey League training camps, Tambellini made his season debut with the Hitmen against the Tigers.
“It’s great to be back,” said Tambellini upon his return to the Saddle-dome on Thursday. “Going to an NHL camp, you see NHL guys and how they prepare. Even for games or for practice, it’s all the same. To see the pace of that level, it was good to get a taste of it.”
So far, 2014 has been a whirlwind of a year for Tambellini, whom the Hitmen acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Jan. 8 just before the WHL trade deadline for Calgary’s first-round selection in the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft.
Tambellini proceeded to score once and set up three others in a 6-4 road win over the Saskatoon Blades in his first WHL game. The six-foot-three, 180-pound centre went on to rack up 17 goals and 22 assists in 31 regularseason games before adding five goals and four helpers in six playoff contests.
“I think the challenge for Adam is to play a full season,” Hitmen coach Mark French said. “From his skill level and his maturity and I think in a lot of situations he’s probably ready to be a pro, but he needs to keep focused on what it’s going to take become a really good pro. I think he should be a really good player at this level and we’re certainly expecting him to be one.”
In the fall after the Rangers chose him in the third round (65th overall) of the 2013 NHL draft, Tambellini opted to attend the University of North Dakota and play at the college level before changing his mind and joining the Hitmen mid-season.
“Being in college last year, I didn’t get to experience the main camp (with the Rangers),” Tambellini said, while noting that his Hitmen teammates Kenton Helgesen, Greg Chase, Jake Virtanen, Ben Thomas, Travis Sanheim, Radel Fazleev and Lang should benefit from their experiences attending NHL camps as well. “For me, it was pretty cool to see. For our younger guys, too, it was an eye-opener to see where that next level is and hopefully work on things this year to make improvements to get to that next level.”
With so many players inserted back into Calgary’s lineup, Tambellini said it may take some time for the Hitmen to play up to their potential. “We’ve got a really deep team this year,” he said. “We’ve got a really strong forward group and really good D. I think we’ve got the makings of a team that can go pretty far.”
On Thursday, Calgary reassigned defenceman Aaron Hyman, 16, to the Calgary Midget AAA Flames and then released forward Landon Welykholowa, 18, on Friday.
The Hitmen will play their third straight home game to start the season on Sunday (4 p.m.) against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.