It’s one thing to score in the regular season. The Calgary Hitmen did that in spades as a top-five goal-getting team during the 2024-25 schedule. Read More
Sharp-shooting Ethan Moore leads Calgary club to hot first-round start
Sharp-shooting Ethan Moore leads Calgary club to hot first-round start
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It’s one thing to score in the regular season. The Calgary Hitmen did that in spades as a top-five goal-getting team during the 2024-25 schedule.
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It’s quite another, though, to light the lamp in the playoffs — something that’s a scarce commodity when you run your eyes up and down the junior hockey club’s roster.
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But that’s not stopping them from making it happen for a hot start in the Western Hockey League post-season.
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“It feels great,” said Hitmen veteran Ethan Moore, who’s leading the charge offensively with three goals in the team’s first two games of the playoffs.
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“Puck bounces are going my way right now,” continued the 20-year-old winger. “And everybody’s just contributing and on the right side of the puck right now.”
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After Sunday afternoon’s 5-1 over the Saskatoon Blades at Scotiabank Saddledome, Moore and the Hitmen are on the right side of the first-round battle, up 2-0 in the WHL Eastern Conference quarter-final best-of-seven series.
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Better yet, they’re disproving any notion that a lack of playoff production in their past is a weakness in their game. Moore, for one, had just one previous playoff goal to his name — that coming for the Okotoks talent against the Red Deer Rebels in his only other playoff series two springs back.
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But playoff goal-scoring wasn’t a past success for the Hitmen, mostly because few players on the Calgary club have played more than a handful of post-season games.
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Case in point, Oliver Tulk — who boasts the most career regular-season goals, with 111, on the current lineup has just a pair of playoff markers but has only suited up for seven games.
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And the next guy on the franchise’s active-player sharp-shooter list is captain Carson Wetsch, with 68. And he has just two post-season pots in seven contests, as well, with his second tally coming Sunday afternoon.
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We know both those guys can certainly score, too. Tulk put up 38 this year after a 40-goal campaign last winter, while Wetsch has 25 and 33 — including a WHL-high 10 game-winners this season.
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And Carter Yakemchuk is a force from the point, recalling his 30 goals scored last year amounted to a franchise record for tallies by a defenceman in the regular season.