Rochester Americans forward Cody Hodsgon gets his stick in the way of a TJ Brodie shot during the a 5-2 win over the Abbotsford Heat. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The Rochester Americans took a 5-2 decision in the first of back-to-back meetings on Friday. Below are a few pics from that contest. Check out our game summary if you’re into that sort of thing. And since you asked, here’s the box score too.
Related: pictures and a writeup of Saturay’s game, a 3-1 victory for the home side.
Featured with multiple pictures is Cody Hodgson, a blue chip prospect who started his pro career with the Vancouver Canucks organization but was traded to the Buffalo Sabres last year.
Also a focus is offensively minded defenseman TJ Brodie of the Abbotsford Heat, who is tied for third in team scoring with 19 points in 33 games.
Photo gallery after the jump.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
Sven Bärtschi of the Abbotsford Heat and Cody Hodgson of the Rochester Americans follow the puck up ice during a 5-2 Rochester win on January 3, 2013. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The Rochester Americans got a big, fat W in Abbotsford on Friday night, creeping to within two points of the Heat with a game in hand.
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.
More after the jump.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
Barry Brust makes one of 39 saves on the night to lead the Abbotsford Heat past the Texas Stars 2-1 in a shootout. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
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.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
Carter Bancks of the Abbotsford Heat faces off against Alex Chiasson of the Texas Stars in AHL action on December 15, 2012. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
One night after dropping a 3-1 decision against the visiting Texas Stars, the Abbotsford Heat looked to put a few more pucks in a few more nets. They failed to do so, winning a 2-1 shootout decision over those same Stars to maintain their advantage atop the Western Conference.
Abbotsford came out of the gates quickly, perhaps fueled by head coach Troy Ward’s decision to give his players the morning skate off. Three quality scoring chances were theirs in the first two and a half minutes. The Heat held most of the momentum, in fact, until Joe Piskula took a hooking penalty at 6:22. From then on, Texas controlled most of the play, though Abby did a good job of keeping the puck to the outside and limiting the Stars’ chances. The best opportunities for both teams came within seconds of each other following that Piskula penalty. The Stars’ Alex Chiasson tried unsuccessfully to stuff a puck past Barry Brust from about three feet. The rebound was cleared, and Lance Bouma ended up with a short-handed breakaway the other way. Only a last-second stick check prevented the Heat from taking the lead while a man down.
As entertaining as the first period was, with scoring chances aplenty and a scrap between Chris Breen and Francis Wathier, the second period proved quite dull. The teams did manage to get on the scoresheet, with Texas’ Matt Fraser opening the scoring on a 2-man advantage 5 minutes in. The Heat responded 3 minutes later on a powerplay of their own, Krys Kolanos tapping in a gorgeous cross-ice feed from Ben Street. Other than that brief flurry of activity, however, you could’ve taken the period off, and indeed it seemed many of the players did.
Loads more after the jump.
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
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!
(More after the jump).
Pucked in the Head is taking part in the 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer. You can help us reach our fundraising goal by throwing a few bucks at our campaign, at http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/jasonkurylo2013.
Zach McKelvie of the Abbotsford Heat (left) and Justin Vaive of the San Antonio Rampage battle along the boards during a Rampage 4-0 win on Wednesday, November 5. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
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.
Jason and Chris shared an elevator with Hockey Hall of Fame inductee and TEN TIME STANLEY CUP CHAMPION Yvan Cournoyer.
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.
Chris wears a shirt that is destined for ugly jersey greatness, offers to help cheer your opponents into oblivion, and makes an inappropriate comment about his ancestors. Jason is his usual smug, snickering self, but he scores a few points for adding some of Bruno Mars “Locked Out of Heaven” into the opening of the podcast.
Introduction
Locked Out of Heaven by Bruno Mars
Sofa Surfer Girl by the Orchid Highway
Somebody Approved This: Grizzly Adams Halloween Jersey
Look closely and you’ll see Justin Schultz’s November 10 winning puck frozen top shelf behind Danny Taylor, as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins looks on through his full face shield. For those of you who don’t know about these sorts of things, that’s some pretty fancy photographin’ right there. (Schultz may have done well on his end, as well…) Photo by Kenkoy for Pucked in the Head.
Coming into Saturday’s game, the Oklahoma City Barons hadn’t scored in nearly seven periods of hockey. The streak went back to a game last weekend against the Houston Aeros, and the Abbotsford Heat contributed another five and a half periods of frustration for the visitors from OC.
In between were a massive Aeros comeback to win that game, and consecutive shutout losses to the San Antonio Rampage and this very same Heat squad. As overheard in the media room before puck drop, “Will the young stars show up tonight? Probably, seeing as they’re going to be on TV.”
(Want more pictures, video highlights and warblings from yours truly? You got it. But first, buy this book. Or don’t. Your call.)
