Photo by Tim Smith
BRANDON, MB –
A frustrating setback in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Championship series isn’t about to derail the Calgary Hitmen ‘Playoff Train.’
The Hitmen have been in this spot before and if they’ve done anything this season, it’s battled through adversity.
After losing four-straight in October, the Hitmen stormed back to take points in 14 of their next 17 games.
On their tour of the WHL’s U.S. Division, they regrouped from a rough 7-2 loss to the Everett Silvertips at the Xfinity Arena and bounced back to steal a win from No. 1 in the league at the time Kelowna Rockets in The Okanagan.
The list goes on.
“We’ve battled through adversity throughout the year,” said Hitmen captain Kenton Helgesen following Friday’s 9-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings.  “This isn’t new to us. We have to build for Game 2.”
The Hitmen will quickly throw Game 1 out of their minds as they immediately look to take a 1-1 series tie back to the Scotiabank Saddledome as Game 2 kicks off on Saturday at Westman Place.
The silver lining of a losing effort, Helgesen explained, is that it offers some lessons the Hitmen can use to make a few tweaks.
Helgesen said the Wheat Kings taught his squad the importance of a good start and to bear down on the penalty kill against what proved to be an explosive Brandon power play unit on Friday, which converted on three-of-nine chances.
“We got shorthanded and we weren’t good enough on the PK. That killed us,” Helgesen said. “We have to learn from it. I guarantee we will have a better start on Saturday. We will stick to our system and play our team game because we know we’ve had success from it in the past.”
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That’s the playoffs and that’s hockey,” added Hitmen blueliner and Tampa Bay Lightening prospect Ben Thomas. “There’s going to be adversity in games and the series, but theres’ always that next shift. We have a lot of character in our room, I have no doubt that Game 2 will be a better effort.”
Puck drop for Game 2 of the ECC series kicks off at 6:30 p.m. MT in Brandon.