If you paid any attention to the Abbotsford Heat during the recent NHL labour dispute, you took notice of a couple of things:
1) The Heat gave up fewer goals than any other team in the league.
2) Barry Brust gave up fewer goals than any other goaltender on the Heat roster.
It’s a strange thing, even for longtime fans of the Heat. I mean, who is this guy, right? Brust came in on a one-year contract, but his name seemed to ring a few bells… And Flames fans are asking questions after looking at the numbers for their farm team.
More on Brust’s frustrating dance with the Flames after the jump.
The Chicago Wolves won back-to-back games against the Abbotsford Heat this weekend, including a 1-0 shutout win on Saturday night. Here’s a collection of images from that contest, for your ogling pleasure. All photos by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Pucked in the Head is happy to have the one and only Kennedy Goodkey guest posting for us this evening. Please hold your applause until the end of the introductory paragraph. Mr Goodkey has joined us for a couple of podcast episodes in the past, most notably in Top 7 Canucks Nicknames, Part I & Part II.
This marks the first time he has trekked up the road to an Abbotsford Heat AHL game, and it happened to be on the very day that NHL hockey was officially announced to be coming back from the lockout. He decided to record a running commentary of the evening as he went, warts and all. By ‘running commentary’, I mean just that. He goes from folk rock to sports aha-moments to popcorn in, dude, mere seconds. And by ‘warts and all’, I mean ‘complete with double spaces after periods, like some retired receptionist who still thinks Robert Goulet is just the dreamiest. I can say that because I am, in fact, Robert Goulet.
Not to take anything away from Kennedy’s usage of the word ‘antipodal’ — which is awesome, by the way, my favourite part is when he writes, “I must be some kind of elitist hockey-jerk.” But don’t let me spoil everything for you. Have a gander after the jump, and enjoy! Just remember that Mr Goodkey’s opinions are entirely his own, and with the exception of his loathing for the song Cotton-Eyed Joe, they do not reflect the deep, inner love and respect for all human life levels of hockey that Chris Withers and I hold dear.
— Jason Kurylo, who is, like, totally bogarting Kennedy’s opening
The Abbotsford Heat earned a split in their back-to-back set against the Rochester Americans with a 3-1 victory on Saturday night. After the jump, grab a gander at some images from the contest. Or just read about it here.
Either way, give a guy a hand with some fundraising for the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
Coquitlam native Ben Street had two goals and an assist in the win, while goaltender Danny Taylor stopped 17 of 18 shots. Here’s the game sheet.
With the win, the Heat remain tied for fourth in the AHL Western Conference. Abbotsford, the Houston Aeros and Texas Stars all have 41 points in 34 games. In the North Division, Abbotsford sits four points behind the Toronto Marlies, who themselves beat the Rockford Ice Hogs 5-2.
The Abbotsford Heat have a pair of home games against the Vancouver Canucks affiliate Chicago Wolves next Friday and Saturday, January 11 and 12 at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. The puck drops at 7 pm on both nights.
After a strong start to the season, the Abbotsford Heat have cooled considerably. A middling November and a woeful December have seen them slip from the top of the league standings to fourth place in the Western Conference. The Heat have just two wins in their last ten games, compared to Rochester’s six.
On Saturday night at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, the hometown Heat used the ol’ shootout to decide the second half of a back-to-back against the Texas Stars. All-Star goaltender Barry Brust made 39 saves on 40 shots for the 2-1 win — like this one during a first period that saw the visitors gain a 17-9 advantage on the shot clock. Below you’ll find a plethora of pictures from the game, including a still from the winning shootout goal by Krys Kolanos.
With the NHL continuing to alienate fans and sponsors at a rate not seen since the Foxtrax puck, I’ve taken to finding other ways to amuse myself recently. There remains an entire world of sport out there, and that world even includes hockey! Let’s take a look.
NHL Fans Yes, NHL fans, you amuse me. Your desperation amuses me. Your “cautious optimism” regarding the players and owners meeting without Bettman and Fehr amused me, too. Let’s be clear here: every time you send a rage tweet @NHL or @NHLPA you are sending the message loud and clear that you’ll be back. That makes you part of the problem. The NHL doesn’t fear its fans because its fans have given them nothing to fear. You know what would make the league perk up and take notice? Silence. We’re in this position right now because everyone involved knows they can get away with it. If you really want to help, be quiet. A lack of attention is the only thing these corporate scumbags will understand. “Oh wait,” they’ll say, “those people who used to care enough to beg and plead with us to bring the game back are now eerily quiet.” I seem to have trouble taking my own advice, but that is not the point!
Going into last weekend’s action, the Abbotsford Heat had only lost one regulation game on home ice this season — their play at home early this season was one of the major reasons the team led the league after 20 games played. Now, five days later, they can count three. To boot, they dropped two more games in overtime, and all of these losses came at the hands of entirely beatable teams near the bottom of the standings.
The top-of-the-league Abbotsford Heat were back in action on Friday night to take on the decidedly not-the-top-of-the-league Hamilton Bulldogs. With hundreds of Canadiens fans in the building to watch les petits Habitants, Abbotsford arranged to have Habs legend Yvan Cournoyer – he of the TEN Stanley Cup rings – in the building to drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff. Pucked in the Head absolutely did not intentionally delay our arrival so that we could share the elevator with him and get a picture. Mr. Cournoyer, who I’m happy to report is a very nice man who appeared not at all perturbed by two fanboys asking for his photograph in an elevator, cheerfully commented that he hoped it would be a good game. It was not. Well, not for the Bulldogs, it wasn’t.