Taylor Rocca
The Cable guy wasn't leaving any customers disappointed with their service Saturday night.
Levi Cable answered the call and delivered in entertaining fashion, registering four goals to lead the Kootenay Ice to a 6-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen in front of a season-high crowd of 2,976 at Western Financial Place.
"I got a lot of shots today and the bounces were going my way, so I thought I'd just throw everything to the net," Cable said after Saturday's win. "A lot of things just happened to go in for me. It was nice.
"It was really good to come back [from the holiday break] and get the win here."
The 20-year-old native of Hudson Bay, Sask., tallied twice in the first period before stealing an errant pass from Hitmen starting goaltender Mack Shields in the second period, completing the hat-trick by depositing the puck into the vacated cage.
"He brings a lot of speed," Ice goaltender Wyatt Hoflin said of Cable Saturday night. "He pushes the defencemen back. Tonight, he was shooting really well and getting his own rebounds.
"It creates a lot of space when the d-men are backing off to respect his speed."
Cable finished the night with five points, adding a third-period power-play goal as well as an assist on the final marker of the night, an even-strength tally from Jaedon Descheneau with less than five minutes to go in regulation.
Hoflin, making his 24th consecutive start between the pipes for the Ice, had a stellar night of his own, steering aside a season-high 51 shots to earn his 19th win of the 2014-15 campaign.
"It's nice for sure. Obviously we want to get two points while we're missing some key players," Hoflin said. "It will be that much easier to catch up in the points race when they get back."
In turning aside 51 pucks Saturday night, Hoflin erased his previous season high of 48 saves, which came in a 3-0 shutout victory on the road over the Medicine Hat Tigers Nov. 22.
"You get more touches on the puck, the more confidence you have to make the save," Hoflin said. "Tonight, [because of] rebounds, I gave up a little more shots than I wanted to. I think I could have brought that [shot total] down by at least 15 shots with some rebound control, but I felt good."
The victory was the fourth straight for the Ice, moving the Cranbrook-based squad into seventh place and the first wildcard slot in the WHL's Eastern Conference.
The Ice also pulled to within three points of the Hitmen. Calgary is holding down third place in the Central Division with 41 points.
Luke Philp rounded out the scoring for the Ice with a second-period goal that chased Shields from the crease. The 18-year-old Saskatoon native surrendered four goals on 15 shots before being replaced by rookie Evan Johnson.
Hitmen import forward Pavel Karnaukhov broke Hoflin's shutout bid with a power-play goal 6:20 into the third period.
Defenceman Micheal Zipp tallied the only other goal for the visitors.
Johnson made nine saves on 11 shots in relief of Shields.
The Hitmen (19-13-1-2) and Ice (19-17-0-0) will go toe-to-toe once again Sunday afternoon (4 p.m. MT) at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
Should he get the start Sunday afternoon, Hoflin will tie the Kootenay Ice franchise record for consecutive appearances by a goaltender. Todd Mathews set the record with 25 consecutive appearances in net from Jan. 21 to March 14, 2009.
Hoflin's run began Oct. 24 in a 9-2 setback on home ice against those same Calgary Hitmen.
"It's more about getting two points than the records or anything like that," Hoflin said.
"Getting a break right in the middle [over Christmas] was nice. Obviously I'm coming back fresh. Every time they call my name to start, I'm going to try to be as good as I can for the team and help us get two points."
Notes: The Kootenay Ice went without D Dylan Overdyk (concussion), F Sam Reinhart (World Juniors), D Rinat Valiev (World Juniors) and D Tanner Faith (upper body) Saturday night… With three defencemen unavailable and only four others on the roster, Ice affiliate player Tanner Lishchynsky (1995) made his Kootenay Ice debut Saturday night. Lishchynsky began the season with the Flin Flon Bombers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, registering 18 points in 29 games. The 19-year-old Saskatoon native had 78 games of WHL experience under his belt prior to Saturday (Prince George Cougars, 2012-14)…The Calgary Hitmen went without D Colby Harmsworth, F Jake Virtanen (World Juniors), F Terrell Draude and F Taylor Sanheim...