Calgary Hitmen 4 At Medicine Hat Tigers 1
Feb 4, 2010 - Medicine Hat Arena

Calgary 0 1 3 - 4
Medicine Hat 0 1 0 - 1

1st Period
No Scoring.
Penalties-Bunz M.h (delay of game), 3:01; Broda Cal (roughing), 5:40; MacKay M.h (tripping), 6:32; Broda Cal (roughing, roughing), 10:40; Cameron M.h (roughing, roughing), 10:40; Nyren Cal (elbowing), 11:43; Carr M.h (roughing), 14:33.

2nd Period
1, Calgary, Foucault 14 (Beach, Kirsch), 2:40.
2, Medicine Hat, Cameron 31 (Hamilton, Okal), 9:55.
Penalties-Schultz Cal (tripping), 15:04; Beach Cal (major-fighting), 17:54; Kessy M.h (major-fighting), 17:54; Coyle M.h (hooking), 18:53.

3rd Period
3, Calgary, Fiddler 22 (Stone), 0:57. 4,
Calgary, Shattock 25 (Foucault, Broda), 18:35 (pp).
5, Calgary, Sylvester 7  (Stebner, Fiddler) 19:59 (sh en).
Penalties-Kirsch Cal (slashing), 3:08; Nyren Cal (tripping), 12:50; Etem M.h (high sticking), 18:28; Schultz Cal (hooking), 19:53.

Shots on Goal
Calgary 9-10-9-28. Medicine Hat 9-10-15-34.

Power Play Opportunities
Calgary 1 of 5; Medicine Hat 0 of 6.

Goalies
Calgary, Jones 23-10-0-0 (34 shots-33 saves). Medicine Hat, Bunz 24-14-3-2 (27 shots-24 saves).

A-4,006

Referees-Dan Cowley (76), Ryan Thompson (6).
Linesmen-Bobby Bedingfield (21), Michael Roberts (87).

Hitmen move into tie for first

Sean Myers, Calgary Herald

T he Calgary Hitmen pulled into a three-way tie for first place in the Central Division with an emotional 4-1 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 'Hat on Thursday night.

With their third straight Western Hockey League victory, the Hitmen are knotted with the Tigers and the Kootenay Ice at 72 points. Calgary is ranked first, however, with fewer games played and more wins (35).

Calgary scored one power-play goal on five chances, killed all six Tigers' opportunities and added a late empty-net short-handed marker.

"It's a huge win for us; it's a big game in the standings," said Hitmen head coach Mike Williamson. "We didn't have the start I would've liked to see, but I thought in the last 40 minutes we were better and (goalie Martin) Jones came up huge for us when we needed him to."

It was a physical game with each team assessed three roughing minors in the opening frame, and fighting majors handed out for a second-period scrap between Cody Beach and Tigers tough guy Kale Kessy.

The Hitmen's fourth line continued to impress after accounting for both goals (Beach and Justin Kirsch) in

Wednesday's 2-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos. This time, linemate Kris Foucault opened the scoring at 2:40 of the second period and later added an assist. Although the Hitmen dominated offensively in the period, they got caught on a two-on-one rush, with the Tigers' Bretton Cameron scoring on a rebound at 9:55.

The Hitmen scored on their first chance in the third when Tyler Fiddler buried a snapshot a minute in just seconds after a power play had expired for the game winner. Tyler Shattock scored on the power play and Cody Sylvester added a short-handed buzzer beater into an empty net.

The Hitmen (35-16-1-1) will host the Tigers (32-17-3-5) at the Saddledome at on Saturday at 7 p.m.

"It'll be a great game for sure on Saturday," said Williamson. "We know we'll see their best. We'll have to be better."

smyers@theherald.canwest.com