CALGARY -- It’s been a long time since the Calgary Hitmen last played a hockey game — a full calendar year to be exact.
The Hitmen’s last season came to an end on March 5 2020, because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. And they’ll play their first game since then on March 5 when they host the Red Deer Rebels.
Defenceman Jackson Van der Leest says he can hardly wait to hit the ice again.
“It’s awesome. I mean it’s been 11 months since I left Calgary, back when COVID was just starting out,” he said.
“It’s been a long time coming and a long off-season.”
Things will be different for the Hitmen this season.
They’ll only be playing 24 games and it won’t be in front of the fans at their usual home, the Scotiabank Saddledome. Because the Calgary Flames affiliate, the Stockton Heat, are playing their games at the Saddledome, the Hitmen had to find a new home.
This season they’ll play all of their home games at the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex on the TsuuT’ina Nation, in front of no fans.
Forward Cael Zimmerman says he and his teammates are thankful they have a place to call home.
“From what I’ve heard it’s an unreal facility,” Zimmerman said.
“We’re very thankful for them to you know open it up for us and open their arms to us. Yeah, super excited about it.”
The Hitmen won’t hit the ice for practice until later this week. Until then they have to isolate in their hotel rooms at the Grey Eagle hotel. It’s one player per room and they’re not allowed to leave until the isolation period has ended on Friday. Van de Leest says they have plenty of things to keep them occupied.
“We’ve got bikes in here and we’ve been doing some workouts,” Van de Leest said.
“We have a Zoom call set up every morning with the whole team. Today we did some trivia and we kind of go over some funs tuff to keep us engaged. I also take a couple of university courses online and those keep me busy. And then the Xbox is set up and the boys squad up and we’ll play after dinner.”
And if they’re still looking for something to do, they can work on their hockey skills in the hotel room. Zimmerman says a simple stick and golf ball helps him work on his stickhandling. He says boredom hasn’t set in — yet.
“They’re keeping us busy and we’ve got lots to do with calling family and talking to people. Watching Netflix, we’re staying busy," he said.
The Hitmen will open the regular season at the Seven Chiefs on Friday, March 5. The two teams will then face each other again the following night up in Red Deer on March 6.
