Saskatoon, Sask.- The Calgary Hitmen lived up to their name on Wednesday night, claiming a 6-3 win to eliminate the Saskatoon Blades in four games.
The Central Division powerhouse won its prior matches 4-2, 5-1 and 4-1 while never trailing in each of the matches.
After a scoreless opening period, Calgary alternate captain David Adaszynski broke through just 38 seconds into the second period and 2025 NHL Draft-eligible forward Ben Kindel doubled the lead seconds later with a perfectly-positioned one-timer from below the faceoff dot. Ottawa Senators prospect Carter Yakemchuk bagged the series-clinching goal after dancing through a slew of Blades defenders and lifting a backhand shot past the Saskatoon netminder. The Blades scored two goals a minute apart to keep the game tight, but Kindel capped off a natural hat trick with a pair of insurance tallies and his linemate Oliver Tulk buried his second of the series.
Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Tanner Howe showed up big in his home province with a team-leading nine points (2G-7A) in four games, including the game-winning strike in Game 3.
Kindel, who is ranked 20th among all North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings, led all Hitmen skaters in goals with five, in addition to two assists.
Rookie netminder Anders Miller was sensational in his WHL Playoff debut with a 3-0-0-0 record, a 1.51 goals-against average and .923 save percentage with starting netminder and WHL all-time wins leader Daniel Hauser listed as day-to-day with an injury.
Historically, Calgary has won all three postseason matchups against Saskatoon.
This marks the first time since 2019 the Hitmen have advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals and the team’s first sweep in the postseason since the 2009 WHL Playoffs, which saw Calgary sweep Edmonton, Lethbridge and Brandon en route to the WHL Championship Series.
