Hitmen ready to bring on the brooms against Blades

Calgary claims 4-1 victory in Game 3 in Saskatoon

Tanner Howe (#9) skates off after scoring the Hitmen’s second goal.

Tanner Howe landed a couple of counter punches the Saskatoon Blades couldn’t recover from.

On Tuesday, Howe and his Calgary Hitmen found themselves locked in a 1-1 draw in the second period with the host Saskatoon Blades in Game 3 of a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs. At the midway point of the frame, the Blades had a glorious chance to take the lead.

Blades 16-year-old associate player call up right-winger Kohen Lodge received a backdoor pass at the right side of the Calgary net. Lodge fired a puck to what appeared to be an empty cage only to be robbed by Hitmen netminder Anders Miller, who slid across the crease to deflect the puck away with his left skate.

Tanner Howe had one goal and one assist for the Hitmen.

Lodge had been playing with his hometown Red Deer Chiefs under-18 AAA team before joining the Blades for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign. Had he scored on that backdoor opportunity, he would have given the Blades their first lead in any game to date of their current post-season series with the Hitmen.

Just moments later with 8:38 remaining in the second, the Hitmen jumped ahead 2-1, when Howe, who is the Hitmen’s start 19-year-old right-winger, put a backhand shot home from the front of the Saskatoon net.

Only 85 seconds later, Hitmen import defenceman Axel Hurtig passed the puck from the left corner in his own zone up the left wing boards to Howe, who was position right before the red-line. 

David Adaszynski scored the Hitmen’s first goal on Tuesday.

Howe proceeded to redirect puck across the ice to Hitmen 17-year-old centre Ben Kindel, who was jetting into the Saskatoon zone along the right wing. Kindel zipped past the Blades defence on the outside, cut across the front of the Saskatoon net and put home a backhand shot to give Calgary a 3-1 advantage.

The Hitmen would cruise from that point to claim a 4-1 victory to disappoint most of the 5,206 spectators in attendance at the SaskTel Centre. With the win, Calgary takes a 3-0 lead in the series.

The Hitmen will try to close the series out in Game 4 slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the SaskTel Centre.

The odds are very long that the Blades will be able to make a comeback winning four straight games. Since the WHL started in 1966-67, only three teams have rallied back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series to claim the set.

Anders Miller made 20 saves for the Hitmen on Tuesday.

The Spokane Chiefs, who were guided by Mike Babcock as head coach, trailed the Portland Winterhawks 3-0 before rallying to take a first round series 4-3 in 1996. The Kelowna Rockets fell behind the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 in 2013 before rallying back to claim that first round series 4-3. The Blades fell behind the Red Deer Rebels 3-0 in an Eastern Conference semifinal series in 2023 and stormed back to take that series 4-3.

Out of the three games the Blades and Hitmen have collided in during the 2025 post-season, Tuesday’s contest was the best effort that was turned in by the Saskatoon side in the set.

The teams played through a fairly even opening frame with the Hitmen finishing the stanza with a lot of late pressure. With 53.2 seconds remaining in the frame, gritty Hitmen centre David Adaszynski tipped home a shot from captain Carson Wetsch to put the visitors up 1-0. Calgary had a 10-5 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes thanks to their late offensive pressure.

David Lewandowski scored the Blades lone goal on Tuesday.

The Blades came out with some jump in the second period. Just 2:31 into the frame, import rookie left-winger David Lewandowski, who turned 18-years-old in February, blew home a power-play goal from the right faceoff dot to even the score at 1-1.

Following Lewandowski’s goal, Blades star right-winger Tyler Parr, who turned 20-years-old in January, was denied in close by Miller. That set the stage for the robbery Miller made on Lodge and the Hitmen goals that followed from Howe and Kindel that gave the visitors a 3-1 advantage.

The Blades outshot the Hitmen 10-8 in the second period, while Calgary had the edge in total shots on goal 18-15 after 40 minutes.

Tyler Parr was denied on a key second period scoring chance.

The third period was controlled by the Hitmen, who held a 12-6 edge in shots on goal for the frame.

Hitmen star 20-year-old right-winger Connor Hvidston put to bed the competitive part of Tuesday’s contest scoring with 8:27 remaining in the third to push the Calgary lead out to 4-1. Hvidston had the puck in close in front of the Saskatoon net and put a shot past a Blades defenceman to the top left corner of the goal for his first of the post-season.

Evan Gardner turned away 26 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Miller stopped 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Hitmen.

The Blades were without 20-year-old left-winger Tanner Scott for a third straight post-season game with an upper body injury. 

Ben Kindel scored the third Hitmen goal on Tuesday.

Scott last suited up in the Blades last regular season contest when they fell 4-3 to the Raiders in Prince Albert on March 22.

For the first three games of the post-season, Calgary has been without the services of star overage netminder Daniel Hauser, who holds the WHL record for career regular season goaltending victories at 123. Hauser is out day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Eric Tu, who is a 16-year-old rookie, is serving as Calgary’s backup netminder.

The Hitmen entered the series having finished third overall in the WHL with a 45-17-3-3 record. They were also rated ninth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings that were released on March 25.

The Hitmen celebrate a goal from Connor Hvidston (#21).

The Blades finished sixth overall in the Eastern Conference standings with a 37-23-4-4 mark. They enter the WHL Playoffs with the second youngest roster out of the 16 teams that are playing in the circuit’s post-season with an average age of 17.9 years on their roster.

A year ago, the Blades entered the playoffs having topped the WHL standings with a 50-13-2-3 mark and were loaded with a lot of star veterans. They advanced to the Eastern Conference Championship series where they fell 3-2 in overtime in Game 7 at the SaskTel Centre to the eventual WHL champion Moose Jaw Warriors.

The 2024-25 campaign ended up being a reload season for the Blades, who traded a number of veteran stars before the WHL’s trade deadline back on January 9 acquiring needed draft capital and younger players. Even with those moves, the Blades still comfortably landed in a position to qualify for the WHL Playoffs.

The Hitmen enjoy their win on Tuesday.

Now, they will need a major effort on Wednesday in order to continue to be part of the WHL post-season.

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