Pretty convincing win to open the WHL title series tonight as the Hitmen hammer the Americans 7-0. The game was about as one-sided as the score sounds, with Calgary getting those 7 goals on just 23 shots on Americans goaltenders Drew Owsley (4 goals on 9 shots) and Alexander Pechurskiy (3 goals on 14 shots). Owsley barely made it past the halfway mark of the first period before being pulled.
I thought for a team for whom their skating is one of their main strengths, the Americans weren't moving their feet much in this game. Whole lot of standing around watching and not enough effort. The goalies take the hit to their stats but they got zero help from their teammates on some of those goals. Hitmen left wide open, Hitmen allowed to take the puck to the net, etc, etc. Good 60 minute team effort from the Hitmen though - there were Hitmen still blocking shots with 3 minutes left and the score 7-0. I'm sure there's a lot of hockey players out there who don't care to drop and block shots late in a blowout game.
The Americans - who are now 0-2 against the Hitmen this year and have been outscored 10-0 - get a chance to bounce back quickly with a better effort tomorrow night in game 2...
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