The Calgary Hitmen head up the QE2 for games 3 and 4 of their first round series with Edmonton.  Game 3 goes tonight on FAN960.com for Husky Hitmen Hockey (7 pm).  The HItmen lead the series 2-0 after the first 2 games at the Dome, including a 2-1 overtime win on Sunday afternoon.

In that game, Carson MacMillan would pot the winning goal off a point shot from Paul Postma.  It came at 8:04 of the extra period, a frame where the Hitmen looked unstoppable.  The problem is, that effort wasn’t there for the 60 minutes before it.  Calgary started the game flying, like we thought they might, and peppered Oil Kings goaltender Torrie Jung with a number of quality chances.  A run of Edmonton penalties gave the Hitmen a ton of powerplay time, including 2:15 combined time of 5-on-3, but the WHL’s number 1 powerplay was unable to score in the first period.

The Hitmen took their own penalties in the middle frame, 5 straight in fact, and Edmonton was able to score as a result…their first goal of the postseason.  From the 2nd period to about midway through the 3rd, it was a Hitmen team that couldn’t stop tripping over themselves, with passes missing and shots going wide time after time.  But credit Calgary, they were able to stick with it, tie it in the 3rd and win it in overtime.  It wasn’t a great effort, and the Hitmen were all aware of that.  Talking to Head Coach Dave Lowry and defenceman Michael Stone following the game, the team knows they need to be much better and can’t have many more letdowns like that.

I know Lowry was riding the Hitmen in practice prior to game 2, making sure they were aware that this series is far from over.  They know that now and I think we’ll see a fired up Calgary team tonight.  Give Edmonton credit, they clogged it up real nice after taking the 1-0 lead.  They’ve got to do that again, and do it better tonight.

Joel Broda and Paul Postma lead the Hitmen with 3 points in 2 games while Martin Jones has let in just 1 goal in 128:04 minutes of play.

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