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’Canes swept away |
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Written by Dale Woodard
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Wednesday, 08 April 2009 |
These Hitmen whacked their target early.
Now they have their second straight sweep and a berth in the third round.
Facing the Lethbridge Hurricanes in Game 4 of the teams’ second round Western Hockey League series Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre, the Calgary Hitmen tallied twice in the opening two minutes.
That 2-0 lead was never threatened as Calgary skated to a 6-0 victory that hands the Hitmen a 4-0 series sweep, ups their post season winning streak to eight games after an opening-round 4-0 sweep of the Edmonton Oil Kings and sends them into the third round.
“For us that was huge,” said Hitmen head coach Dave Lowry. “I don’t think we expected to get up a couple that quick. But what it allowed us to do was settle in and play our game.”
It was 2-0 1:52 into the game as Brett Sonne and Joel Broda found a way past ’Canes netminder Juha Metsola for a quick lead.
The Hurricanes hit for what they thought was their first goal of the game with 6:13 left in the first, but the goal was waved off when it was ruled Kyle Beach kicked the puck into the net off the point shot.
“In the four games we really didn’t get the start we wanted to,” said Hurricanes head coach Mike Dyck. “It was key for us. Especially coming off a seven-game series (against the Saskatoon Blades). (We needed) some early energy and some jump and we seemed to start behind the eight-ball. It was tough in each of the games.”
The Hitmen padded their lead to three goals on the man advantage when Alex Plante’s point shot found the twine 2:02 into the second period.
Metsola was called upon to come up big shortly afterwards, throwing out the right pad and denying Calgary’s Carson McMillan on a two-on-one.
After a scoreless first half of the third, the Hitmen made it 4-0 with 8:23 to go when Kris Foucault poked home a rebound from in close.
A few minutes later Brandon Kozun turned on the afterburners and broke in on a shorthanded breakaway, only to be held up and earning a penalty shot.
The Hitmen sniper made no mistake, burying the chance at the 13:38 mark to make it 5-0 Calgary. Ian Schultz rounded out the scoring with his third of the post season with 5:28 left in regulation.
“Our guys were very good tonight,” said Lowry. “They were very committed and we got big efforts from a lot of guys.”
Much like Tuesday night’s game, the Hurricanes struggled in the second period, only mustering two shots on Hitmen netminder Martin Jones.
Hurricanes assistant captain and playoff leading scorer Zach Boychuk said the two early goals were deflating.
“It’s tough to get into the game when they score two goals. Obviously it’s crushing. We’re already down 3-0. But you have to give the guys credit. We didn’t completely quit. We outshot them the rest of that first period.”
Now, the Hitmen have their second straight sweep and more time to rest up for the third round.
Wrapping up the series Wednesday was key, said Sonne.
“It’s a great city, but we don’t want to stay here too long,” he said with a grin. “We like our own beds, we just wanted to play the best we could.”
Eight wins in a row later, it’s apparent Sonne and his teammate are bringing their A-game to the table as they await the winner of the Brandon Wheat Kings/Medicine Hat series.
“It’s been fun,” said Sonne. “I think both teams we swept played us hard and we recognized that. We also know it’s only going to get harder from here.”
“They’re on a roll right now and it seems like everything is going right for them,” said Boychuk of the Hitmen. “They’re a very good team and probably have the best defensive corps in the whole CHL and I can see them going all the way to the Memorial Cup, that’s how good they are.”
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