By Mike Cadarette (Contributor) – Email
The Abbotsford Heat had one of those weekends where one night they looked deserving of being the top team in the AHL, but the next had trouble even completing a pass against one of the worst teams in the league.
Last Sunday in Houston, head coach Troy Ward elected to bench Sven Baertschi, Ben Walter, Roman Horak and TJ Brodie for the entire third period and overtime – a gutsy move to be sure. It’s safe to say that whatever message the head coach was trying convey, the four Heat stars received it and delivered on Friday’s convincing 5-1 win against the Hamilton Bulldogs.
“I thought they had a good response to the fact that they didn’t play the last time,” explained Ward. “They’re very high character guys, good people, so I thought that they all responded pretty well tonight.”
The four players had quite the performance on Friday night. Each of them picked up at least a point, including Ben Walter who became the Heat’s all-time leader in scoring after a two-point outing.
Ben Street opened the goal-scoring floodgates at 6:50 of the first period on a crisp pass from Sven Baertschi. Just 32 seconds later, Ben Walter would walk out into the slot and wire a wrist shot past the Bulldogs’ netminder Robert Mayer scoring the second power play goal of the night.
Four minutes into the second period, Ben Olson would make a nifty close-quarters pass to Heat captain Quintin Laing in the crease where he was able to score the only five-on-five goal of the night for Abbotsford.
Mid-way through the second period Roman Horak scored the Heat’s third powerplay goal on a scramble play in front of the net putting his team up 4-0. That goal ended Horak’s nine-game goalless drought having not scored since November 2.
Nearly four minutes into the third period, Hamilton’s Gabriel Dumont would catch the Heat’s powerplay unit off guard, scoring a shorthanded goal to cut into Abbotsford’s lead and breaking Barry Brust’s chance at a shutout.
The Heat power play would respond yet again on a Steve McCarthy blast from the blue line that beat Mayer cleanly.
Clearly the Heat’s second ranked power play at home was the difference, as it took advantage of the Bulldogs’ undisciplined play.
“At the very least you want your power play to create chances and get momentum for your team,” said Ben Street, who was named second star of the game after collecting a goal and an assist. “Thankfully we were able to put the game away with the power play tonight.”
Saturday night was a different story for the Abbotsford Heat, however. The Heat looked vastly different from the previous night, suffering their first regulation loss at home in the first 20 games of the season. The Heat were shutout 3-0 by a Bulldogs team that looked like they had some bite right out of the gates.
“We knew it in warm-ups, they had a better jump in their step than they did last night. They just came out and wanted it more than we did and I think that just translated into the whole game,” said Tyler Reugsegger, who was named third star of the game despite his team’s shoddy play.
Bulldogs’ rookie Patrick Holland, who was named second star of the night, opened the scoring for his team just 4:23 into the first period knocking the puck over Danny Taylor with a scrum taking place in front of the net.
After a scoreless second period, the Bulldogs’ Steve Quailer would put Hamilton up 2-0 on the Heat after scoring a rare power play goal against a dominant Abbotsford penalty kill.
Three minutes later Hamilton sprinkled a little more salt on the wound when a puck deflected off of Montreal Canadiens’ first-round pick Louis Leblanc’s skate surprising Danny Taylor and the rest of the Heat defense.
The Heat were unable to solve Bulldogs’ goaltender Cedric Dejardins who stood tall in net and made a few spectacular saves. To matters worse, the Heat were without two of their most offensive-minded forwards in Sven Baertschi and Ben Walter, both of who suffered injuries in Friday’s contest.
“It’s two huge players,” explained Heat assistant Steve McCarthy. “Obviously, [they’re] two guys that play a lot of minutes for us … We have a resilient group and we’ll bounce back.”
The Abbotsford Heat will be back in action on Tuesday and Wednesday night to take on the San Antonio Rampage at the AESC.
