The Calgary Hitmen hosted the Saskatoon Blades for the first time this season at the Scotiabank Saddledome Wednesday night. Calgary was unable to hold on to two separate leads in a 5-3 loss to the visitors.
Calgary took an early lead in the game, with Oliver Tulk opening the scoring with his second of the season. The 19 year-old forward reached the milestone of 200 career Western Hockey League games with tonight’s contest. A beautiful three-way passing play from Ben Kindel, Brandon Gorzynski and Rylan Ng would follow, leaving Ng alone with the goalie to put home his first WHL goal and extend the lead to two.
Saskatoon came out strong in the second period, scoring back-to-back to tie the game. Cooper Williams was the first to strike at the 5:53 mark, with teammate Grayden Siepmann following up with the equalizer less than two minutes later. Calgary was able to respond and regain the lead courtesy of Keets Fawcett’s first of the season. A power play opportunity for Saskatoon led to the visitors tying the game up once again off a nifty between the legs goal from Hudson Kibblewhite.
Momentum continued to sway in Saskatoon’s favour through the final frame, leading to the game winner from Rowan Calvert with just under seven minutes remaining in regulation. With Calgary netminder Ethan Buenaventura on the bench, Saskatoon would net an insurance goal from William James with 41 seconds remaining to make the final score 5-3. Shots finished 27-21 in favour of Saskatoon.
Calgary is back on the ice Saturday, Oct. 5 in Red Deer at the Peavey Mart Centrium facing off against the Red Deer Rebels.