Beefed-Up Hitmen Flex Muscles Against New Wave Blades

The Calgary Hitmen played an effective game of “keep away” as they rolled to a 4-1 victory Friday over the visiting Saskatoon Blades.

Calgary won 44 of 60 face-offs and held just as wide of a margin when it came to time of puck possession while out-shooting the Bridge City Bunch 33-13. Oliver Tulk scored twice and added an assist to pace the Hitmen offence as they improved their record to 23-11-4 for 50 points. Medicine Hat blasted Red Deer 8-1 Friday to keep pace with Calgary, each with 50 points to share the Eastern Conference and Central Division lead. Hayden Harsanyi busted up Daniel Hauser’s shutout bid with his second goal in as many games for the Blue and Gold since being acquired from Medicine Hat, just 3:44 into the third period. By acquiring a new trio of 20-year-olds and four 19-year-olds since the start of the season to give them 10 on the roster, the Hitmen have indicated they are “all in” to try and win a W-H-L title this season. While the Blades fell out of the Eastern Conference lead, they remain in first place in the East Division by five points over Brandon with their 22-14-4 record. Saskatoon plays six of their next seven games at home at SaskTel Centre, beginning with a contest against the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday at 7 o’clock. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interview with Bridge City Bunch bench boss Dan Da Silva as well as Les’ first intermission conversation with Calgary G-M Garry Davidson plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) CALGARY PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 3rd 3:44  26-20-23 2 4 20 23 26 7 11 24 37 38

CALGARY Goals CALGARY PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 3:49  37-11-38 6 8 11 37 38 2 20 21 23 26 1st 14:56  16-2-21 2 9 12 16 21 2 3 9 25 86 2nd 11:30  38-8-37 6 8 11 37 38 4 20 21 23 27 3rd 12:52 PP  37-24-9