Known more for playoff heartbreaks, this season's Calgary Hitmen squad is better suited to succeed where others have failed.
Sporting a lunch pail crew of players, the Calgary Hitmen's chances of winning the Western Hockey League title has never been better.
Over the last half decade, the Hitmen have been one of the steadiest teams in Canada, always a dangerous team in contention for the title in April. Part of the reason for the success has been the stellar play of some junior stars, most notably: Ryan Getzlaf, Andrew Ladd, Justin Pogge and Karl Alzner.
All four have played in the National Hockey League, including Alzner who only graduated from the junior ranks over the summer. While each were household names in the WHL and all won a gold medal representing Canada at the under-20 world junior tournament, none of them were able to bring the junior hockey-crazed fans in Calgary a WHL championship.
It certainly hasn't been for a lack of talent and regular season success, as the Hitmen boast the fourth-best point total over a five-year span, averaging 90 points per season. Medicine Hat leads the way with an average of 98.2 points per season over the last five seasons, while the Kootenay Ice follow at 93.6 and the Vancouver Giants at 92.6.
As of Friday morning, Calgary leads the league with 83 points in 50 games with Vancouver second-overall at 79 points in 45 games.
What makes this season's version of the Hitmen different is the lack of a true star leading the way. While some will argue Brett Sonne, who won gold with Canada at the world juniors three weeks ago, and Brandon Kozun are very good junior players, neither of them have the same prestige as that of predecessors Getzlaf or Ladd.
In his junior heyday, Ryan Getzlaf was the type of personality the league could market. He was one of the league's top offensive weapons and had a personality that fans mostly adored, but some, mostly those being fans from rival teams, hated. Ladd's physical play and offensive track record also made him a target.
The point is Getzlaf and Ladd were stars. Their teammates looked up to them and in some cases, relied too much on them for the team's overall success which may have been the downfall behind the Hitmen team of 2004-2005.
As disappointing as that season was, none of the previous years' losses were harder than the following season where, with Pogge evolving into one of the best junior goaltenders, the Hitmen finished with 101 points. Going back and forth with Central Division-rival Medicine Hat all throughout the season, Calgary finished two points behind the Tigers.
The table was set for a Calgary-Medicine Hat Eastern Conference Final. Fans eagerly anticipated what would go down as an epic thriller, until the upstart Moose Jaw Warriors stunned the junior hockey world. Moose Jaw went on to beat the Hitmen in seven games in the second round before knocking off Calgary's nemesis, Medicine Hat, in the East final.
The Hitmen-Tigers Eastern Conference final series took place the next season. However, while the Hitmen regressed slightly, the Tigers improved, making the 2007 East final one of two teams on unequal footing. When Hitmen star forwards Ryan White and Brodie Dupont were injured in the series, it was all she wrote for another Hitmen season.
Then there was last season. After finishing first in the conference with 99 points, the Hitmen once again appeared poised for a championship run. Calgary struggled to put away the Warriors and Swift Current Broncos in the first two rounds before being annihilated by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the conference final. The Hurricanes won the season series 5-1 before sweeping the Hitmen 4-0 in the series, outscoring them 19-7.
"Lethbridge had something we couldn't figure out," Hitmen general manager Kelly Kisio said.
At times during the series with Lethbridge, Alzner appeared to be trying to do more than his share of work. In addition to Alzner's somewhat frantic play, which became susceptible to mistakes, the goaltending tandem of Martin Jones and Dan Spence let the team down when they needed them most.
As the new season began, fans in Calgary had reason for skepticism. The team had once again failed to so much as play in the league final after another impressive regular season.
On the surface, this year's team might appear like every other version of the Hitmen. A regular season dynamo, Calgary established themselves as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference this season.
What makes this team different is the depth and accountability within the lineup. In previous years where Hitmen role players may have expected the stars to do the bulk of the work, this year's squad has seemingly bought into the team concept like no other.
"I think our guys have really stepped up to the plate and played every night," Kisio said. "There haven't been many nights at all that you can say there wasn't a good effort put forward. In our league when you bring it to the table every night and you play hard every night you're going to get your share of points."
Given the team's chemistry, many felt Calgary wouldn't be as aggressive as other teams before the trade deadline. As predicted, Calgary was mostly quiet but did make a trade to better position themselves. Added were forwards Joel Broda and Tomas Karpov from Moose Jaw, a trade which brings more depth to the lineup without adding the prestige of a star player.
As Kisio indicated, the team's brass had mixed feelings about adding to their lineup.
"It's a tough decision to make but at the end of the day I think adding the guys that we did wouldn't do too much damage in the dressing room and put some pressure on our older guys to make sure these guys fit in," he said.
The Hitmen have scoring littered throughout their lineup with Kozun and Sonne leading the way. Five players have already reached the 50-point plateau with two more, Carson McMillan and Michael Stone, on pace to reach it shortly.
Then there's Jones. The goalie who was victimized in the playoff series against Lethbridge attended camp with the Los Angeles Kings in the summer after going undrafted. Shortly after camp Jones signed a three-year contract with the Kings, making his new pro team look smart given the way he has performed this season. While the team in front of him is strong, his numbers have been excellent with a goals against average below two and a save percentage at 0.919 with five shutouts.
The core of players leading the Hitmen this season may be deeper than in any of their previous year. And while some star players are prone to gaining an overblown ego in junior hockey, the culture in the Hitmen locker room makes such a thing unlikely, not that it was the case with previous star players in Calgary.
"The guys, going into the games, knew they had to play hard - they knew there wasn't going to be one guy carrying the load," Kisio said. "That tends to make your hockey team a team and I think that's how we played the first half of the year."
As much as the playoffs are a different beast, the Hitmen know what to expect. While there are many variables that can occur during a playoff series such as slumps and injuries, this year's Calgary team is built to withstand such circumstances. With no real star leading the charge, this year's version is better suited to succeed where others failed.
