Hockey Day in Canada brought good things to Vancouver-area teams this year, as the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Giants, Abbotsford Heat, Simon Fraser University Clan and UBC Lady Thunderbirds all posted wins on Saturday, February 9. Acting as the exception to the rule, the UBC men’s team suffered a 5-2 loss to the visiting University of Alberta Golden Bears.
More, including post-game reaction from the bowels of the AESC, after the jump.
Abbotsford Heat 4, Lake Erie Monsters 3 (SO)
Heading into the Family Day weekend, the Abbotsford Heat found themselves in a tight race for the lead atop the AHL’s North Division. Just four points separate the top four teams, with two of those teams having played four fewer games than the Heat, While they gave away a point to the Lake Erie Monsters, the Heat’s come-from-behind shootout win on Saturday night is a character-builder for a roster decimated by injury and call-ups by the parent club. Dustin Sylvester scored twice, including once in the last minute of regulation, and three Heat skaters scored in the shootout to secure the two points.
With the absence of leading scorer Ben Street, who was called up to make his NHL debut with the Calgary Flames the same night, and Ben Walter, the team’s all-time points leader, sitting out with an undisclosed injury, the Heat had difficulty so much as generating shots on net for much of the night. “Missing Ben Street significantly impacts our 4-on-4 play, our 5-on-4 play, even our 5-on-5 play. We had to make some significant changes without him and Walter. You throw those two guys out of the mix and we’re not as dynamic offensively.”
That was definitely the case through the first 30 minutes of the game. The Heat managed just seven shots on Monsters goalie Calvin Pickard before buzzing around the Lake Erie net near the end of the second period. Considering the reputation of the Abbotsford stats crew for padding the home team’s shot total, that speaks volumes about the Abbotsford frustration moving the puck forward.
“We struggled with everything for most of the game tonight,” said Ward. “Making passes, taking passes, we just missed a lot of pucks. It’s a tough place to be, but that’s the task at hand right now. While a lot of players at this level have a challenge managing 20 minutes at a time, a guy like Ben Street manages 60 minutes really well — he’s got great ice balance. That kind of consistency is something we as coaches love to have as an option on the bench, to put a guy out there in all kinds of situations at any time in the game.”
After a bad Lake Erie change late in the second period, the Heat put together their first flurry of sustained pressure. Pickard stopped a wraparound before the puck got poked back to Carter Bancks at the point. He delivered a slap pass to Brett Olson, who poked home a backhand from the top of the crease to bring the Heat within one.
Neither team looked cohesive to start the third. The Heat maintained possession in the offensive zone but were kept to the outside for the most part. Even with a power play and extended periods of time in the Monsters zone, the team was only credited with two shots on goal in the first 14 minutes of play. To be fair, the Monsters clogged up every lane, and blocked shots and passes alike.
At the other end, Barry Brust kept his team in the hunt. The only real third period opportunities for Lake Erie came on counterattacks as the Heat pressed for the equalizer. Notable was his shoulder save on David van der Gulik on a two-on-one break with five minutes remaining. It led directly to a chance to tie the game at the other end, as Max Reinhart went outside in on Chris Reed seconds later, Pickard came through with a big league save.
Frustration set in for Akim Aliu after yet another Pickard save two minutes later. After seeing limited ice time through the first 55 minutes, Aliu tackled a Lake Erie defenseman in the offensive zone, and effectively killed the momentum Abbotsford had built through the third period. “ I’m okay with that penalty,” said Coach Ward after the game, despite having to kill a two-minute minor when down a goal late in the game. “You’ve got a Lake Erie player who wanted a piece of everyone on the ice all night long, but then didn’t want to go then. Akim was sticking up for his teammates, and I don’t have a problem with that.”
The Heat responded appropriately, putting on a spirited penalty kill. Goaltender Barry Brust even stepped his shoulder into Gary Steffes after the Monster forward tipped a point shot off his right pad.
As the announcement came on for the last minute of play, Krys Kolanos entered the zone and saucered a pass to Max Reinhart on the right point. Sylvester tipped the puck under Pickard’s glove to send the game to overtime. When asked if he thought about pulling a Yakupov-style celebration out of his hat when that puck went it, he chuckled. “I don’t think I’d ever do anything like that,” said Sylvester. “It’s not really my style. But it is a great feeling to see that puck go in the net, and we needed these two points, for sure.”
SFU 5, EWU Eagles 1
Trevor Milner scored in the opening and closing minutes of the first period, and four different players had two points each in a convincing win for the SFU Clan over the Eastern Washington University Eagles at Bill Copeland Arena in Burnaby. SFU goaltender Graeme Gordon continued his stellar play, stopping 26 of 27 shots for the win.
All five SFU goals came during even-strength play, while the sole marker for the Eagles came on a man advantage in the third period. With two goals in Saturday’s win, Milner has 11 goals and 16 points in 19 games for the Clan this season. Also scoring for SFU were Taylor Piller, Tyler Mah and Colton Graf. Zach Maxwell potted the lone goal for Eastern Washington.
With 31 points on the season, the Clan remain three points behind the first-place Salkirk College Saints in BCIHL standings. Selkirk has just one loss in 18 games, a 2-1 loss to the last place Trinity Western University Spartans back on January 18. SFU has lost five games of the 20 they’ve played, including one overtime loss. The Eagles sit in fourth place with 15 points.
Vancouver Canucks 5, Calgary Flames 1
The Vancouver Canucks rode Jordan Schroeder’s first two career NHL goals to a convincing 5-1 win over the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena. There’s no sense going into great detail, as Canucks coverage is available pretty much everywhere else. I’ll leave it at this: as long as the team is winning, there is no goaltending controversy. The Canucks have won five straight now. Each goaltender has gotten a shutout, won in extra time or a shootout, and made big stops when necessary. Even without the Sedins putting up Art Ross numbers, Vancouver will win a majority of games when the goals against hovers in the area of 1.5.
Congratulations to Milan and Steven Rebrec, who won the Pucked in the Head tickets to the Skate with the Canucks event on Monday. Remember that all donors to our Ride to the Conquer Cancer campaign are eligible for all draws between now and the event in June — we’ve already given away Canucks tickets, Heat tickets, t-shirts, restaurant gift certificates and chances to meet the Canucks. There’s more to come, so please consider a donation today!