By Mike Cadarette (Contributor) – Email
On an evening when most NHL teams would have been opening their 2012-13 season, only one professional hockey team in western Canada made their season debut: the Abbotsford Heat.
Despite going into the season having had no pre-season action, the Abbotsford Heat were able to open their fourth season of American Hockey League play on October 12 with a convincing 4-1 win over the Peoria Rivermen.
Early in the first period, the Heat applied lots of pressure in the offensive zone setting the tone with aggressive play from the outset. That aggressive play would get them into penalty trouble early in the first period in which the Heat were forced to kill off a five-on-three penalty kill.
Starting goaltender Danny Taylor proved to be a factor early stopping a flurry of shots on the penalty kill, which laid the foundation for not only his confidence, but his team’s confidence as well.
“I thought we did a great job on the [penalty kill],” said Taylor who finished the game with 26 saves and was the game’s first star, “Our penalty kill at home last year was not as good last year as it was on the road, so I think that was one of the things our coaches really wanted us to work on.”
Heat head coach Troy Ward felt that the early five-on-three penalty kill helped his team after not having a pre-season game. “One of the things that helps you the most, to get you energized, is that we had to kill a three-on-five right away,” said Ward. The Heat bench boss admired the play of his starting goaltender, saying, “Danny picked up where he left off last spring… It was a Danny Taylor performance we’ve seen in the past.”
The Heat finished the first period with a 1-0 lead after Max Reinhart made a nifty pass from behind the net to find Ben Walter for an easy tap-in goal.
In the second period, the Heat exploded offensively with a quick goal that came from Roman Horak only a minute into the period.
The Heat would get another tally after Peoria rookie Sergey Andronov took a four-minute high-sticking penalty. Sven Baertschi and Quintin Laing were able to find a wide open Ben Street on a well executed tic-tac-toe passing play.
The goals did not stop there. With 3:43 seconds left in the period, centre Ben Walter, who was moved from the third line to the first line half way through the game, sprung rookie phenom Sven Baertschi on a breakaway to score the Heat’s fourth goal.
“They kind of fumbled the puck at the blue line,” said Baertschi, who finished the game with a goal and an assist, “I just tried to fake out the goalie and it worked out.”
At the end of the second period, Nigeria-native Akim Aliu found himself having to choose between two sparring partners after Peoria’s Phil McRae and Anthony Peluso sought to fight the Heat’s forward. Aliu would eventually win the fight handily against McRae.
In the third period, newly appointed Rivermen head coach Dave Allison opted to change goalies, pulling Jake Allen (who finished with 10 saves on 14 shots) and replaced him with veteran goaltender Mike McKenna.
Halfway through the period, Rivermen tough guy Anthony Peluso beat Danny Taylor five-hole with a deceptive wrist shot marking Peoria’s only goal of the game.
The game would close out with a five-on-five line brawl, which saw the Heat’s Akim Aliu and Lance Bouma in the middle of the scuffle. “Akim and Bouma are always going to play with a little reckless abandon,” said head coach Ward, “Their private space is just a little wider than other guys’.”
The Heat will attempt to build on their young 1-0 record at home on Saturday, October 13 in a rematch versus Peoria.
