By Tim Ubels (Contributor) – Email
The Abbotsford Heat entered Friday’s back-to-back series with the Grand Rapids Griffins with only seventy-two points this season, which was good enough for eleventh spot in the Western Conference. Sitting three points out of a playoff spot with only six games to go in the year, the Heat essentially needed to win out the rest of the year and get some help in the standings if they hoped to squeak into the playoffs, which start later this month.
Facing off against a Griffins team which leads the Midwest Division and is arguably one of the best clubs in the AHL this year, the Heat would have to match the Griffins’ intensity and desperation and do so without the help of forward Roman Horak and defenseman Brett Carson, both of who were called up by the Flames earlier in the week.
Unfortunately, the Heat’s playoff hopes took another blow Friday night, as the game saw the Heat outshot and outplayed for most of the game.
Griffins forward Landon Ferraro, son of TSN analyst and former NHLer Ray Ferraro, opened the scoring by jumping on a juicy rebound given up by Heat goaltender Barry Brust and added another in the second period on the power play, sliding the puck five-hole on Brust from the side of the net.
Forty-seven seconds after Ferraro’s second goal, the visiting team struck again, and the goal by Griffins’ captain Jeff Hogan prompted Heat coach Troy Ward to pull Brust and go with Danny Taylor for the rest of the game. Although Taylor stopped all eighteen shots he faced, it wasn’t enough to pull the Heat back in the game.
A frustrated Greg Nemisz decided to drop the gloves with Griffins’ forward Louis-Marc Aubry late in the second period to try and spark a comeback from his team; however, it did little to change the outcome of the game.
Heat forward Krys Kolanos scored a power play goal from Ben Walter and Blair Jones, but Griffins forward Tomas Jurco added an empty net goal to seal the 4-1 victory for the visitors on Friday night.
After the game, Heat forward Tyler Ruegsegger spoke about failing to match the Griffins’ hard play:
“They came out a lot harder than we did. I think our first two periods we were outcompeted…It’s just not good enough, especially when we’re fighting for a playoff spot, we’ve got to have more than that…We’ve got to change some things tomorrow if we’re gonna give ourselves a chance.”
The message for the team was clear, and the Heat responded, starting much stronger for Saturday’s game. The team put early pressure on Griffin’s netminder Tom McCollum, a sign of desperation which was lacking during Friday night’s game.
On the other end of the ice, Danny Taylor played strong, stopping 32 of 34 shots that came his way, earning for himself the game’s first star and for a second straight night, gave his team a shot at victory.
The game was tied up 2-2 after the third period, and when overtime solved nothing, it came down to a shootout to decide the fate of the game. It was here where the Heat forwards shone, with Walter, Kolanos and Blair Jones all scoring in the shootout to give the home team a much-needed victory.
After the game was over, coach Ward humorously referenced the team’s decimated defense and praised the play of Heat defenseman Joe Callahan. The veteran defenseman has served as a guide for the team’s young defenders over the past few months. Some of these defenders are seeing some of their first professional hockey league action this year, including Brett Kulak, who made his Heat debut on Saturday night. Ward remarked:
“I thought structurally we were a lot better tonight especially with our young D corps. Callahan’s back there with a bunch of little kittens. He’s got a heck of job back there. I mean kittens in a very nice way…they just don’t have a lot of experience back there.”
The Abbotsford Heat will have their work cut out for them if they hope to make the playoffs this year. The team plays two more weekend series to close out the season, with their final two home game coming next weekend against their division rivals from Toronto.
