The
Mob Scene !
How I
spent Christmas
Karl Alzner spent his Christmas
break at the IIHF World Junior Under 20 Championships in
the Czech Republic. Karl did all Hitmen fans and
Canadians alike proud as our fearless captain lead Team
Canada to their fourth consecutive Gold medal
performance. This was the second consecutive Gold for
Karl. Congrats Karl!
Bostjan Golicic got an early jump on Karl and
participated in the B Pool of the IIHF World Junior
Under 20 Championships in Latvia which took place two
weeks prior to Karl's tourney. Bostjan played for Team
Slovenia scoring two goals and getting 3 points in 5
games helping his team capture the Bronze medal. Way to
go Bostjan!
Chase Schaber and Matt MacKenzie represented the Hitmen
playing for Team Pacific at the World Under-17 Hockey
Challenge in London, Ontario. Chase picked up 4 goals
and 2 assists in 5 games! Matt also chipped in with a
helper on one of Chase's goals. They made it to the
Bronze medal game before falling a bit short to Team
West. All in all it was still a good showing!
The Right Place At The Right Time
Hitmen Booster Club members John
Turner, Dale Baird and Santa were among some Hitmen fans
who flew to Prague to support Captain Karl Alzner and
the rest of the boys on Team Canada at the World
Juniors tourney over the Christmas holidays. As luck
would have it, John and Dale ended up on the same flight
back to Canada as some of the players from Team Canada
including Karl Alzner, Zach Boychuk, Brandon Sutter and
Kyle Turris. The players proudly showed the passengers
their newly captured gold medals and eventually the
World Juniors championship trophy was brought out and passed
around to the lucky passengers. Santa wasn't so lucky
as his tour company apparently decided to leave Santa
without a return flight home. Being the world traveler
that Santa is, he eventually got things straightened out
and made it back to Calgary safe and sound.
Hitmen Trades
The Hitmen
were involved in a couple trades before the January 10th
trade deadline. We said goodbye to Devon Kalinski who
was traded to the Kamloops Blazers in return for sniper
Brock Nixon. Defenceman Eric Frere was also traded to
Kootenay...however, in keeping with Hitmen tradition,
as much as we hated to see Eric leave, in good
conscience...we just couldn't accept any Kootenay
players in return! We will miss the sense of humour
that Killer and Eric brought to the team but they'll
both get a little more ice time with their new teams.
Since joining the Hitmen, Brock has fit right in and
even scored his first Hitmen goal in his very first game
against the Rebels....and he didn't stop there, he's
been scoring consistently ever since!
Hitmen Hockey Cards
Watch for the autographed Hitmen hockey cards which are
due to be released within the next week at the Booster
Club tables. As always, these cards go fast! Also
available this year, is a limited quantity of
autographed Hitmen sheets of uncut cards for you
collectors. For the really serious collector, the
Booster Club is also selling prints of the Hitmen team
photos covering the history of the team in Calgary.
Stop by the Booster Club tables to get more info on how
you can get the entire set or just your favorite years.
These team photos have never been available to Hitmen
fans before now!
Schaber Scores First WHL Goal
Rookie forward Chase Schaber stunned Hitmen players and
fans alike with his super skills-like goal scored in the
shootout against the Tri-City Americans. He skated at
full speed toward the goalie faking an up close slap
shot and skating around the helpless tender and popping
the puck into the net. Chase's goal made the WHL top 5
plays of the week but unfortunately, shoot out goals
don't count as a goal in the regular stats. The upside
is that Chase didn't have to wait long to score his
first WHL goal. He scored it just one week later
against the Portland Winterhawks... another American
team...I'm sensing a pattern here! The Hitmen players
award the hardest working player a pair of beautiful
fluorescent rubber boots to wear for interviews, riding
the bike, etc. after each home win and the team
recognized Chase for his hard work. His fellow
teammates voted him the co-winner of the hardest working
player of the game alongside goalie Martin Jones who got
his first WHL shutout. This meant Chase and Martin each
got to wear one rubber boot for the remainder
of the evening!
Sonne
Set To Return Soon
Forward Brett Sonne is set to return to the line up in
Early February. He is now skating with the team. Even
though he couldn't take part on the ice, Brett still
kept busy doing rehab, writing movie reviews and
assisting Brad Curle in the Broadcast Booth. Brett
filled in for Ken Thrower providing color commentary for
4 or 5 games. Who knew he was so multi-talented? The
Hitmen have been on a roll as of late and are ranked 4th
in the league for their penalty kill, and with Brett's
imminent return to the ice, the Hitmen penalty kill is
only going to get even stronger...the Hitmen opposition
had better behave!
Where
Are They Now?
At a recent game in Lethbridge last month, Booster Club
Member Dale Baird caught up with former Hitmen player
Derek LeBlanc who was watching the Hitmen battle
the Hurricanes. Derek is now attending the University
of Lethbridge and is playing for the U of L Pronghorns.
Some of Derek's new teammates include former Hitmen
Shaun Norrie, Kris Deines and Scotty Bowles.
.JPG)
