At 17-6-1, the Abbotsford Heat sit atop the American Hockey League standings. Two of those losses came in back-to-back home defeats to the league-worst Utica Comets last weekend, so it’s fair to say the home team will turn up the heat on West Division rivals the San Antonio Rampage on December 6 & 7.
Friday is the annual Teddy Bear Toss, so here’s hoping a spirited bunch show up to rain stuffed animal goodness upon the ice. (Bring a new, unwrapped bear to the rink, and toss it over the boards when the Heat score their first goal of the night. All toys are gifted to the Abbotsford Christmas Bureau, an organization that helped more than 3,500 children during the holidays last year.)
Perhaps that goal will be scored by Ben Street, this week named the AHL Player of the Month for November 2013. Street scored 11 goals and added 8 assists in 15 games, a big reason the Heat rattled off a franchise record 12 wins in the month.
As for the opposition this weekend, local hockey fans will likely recognize Ryan Whitney, a 10-year veteran of NHL action with the Penguins, Oilers, and Ducks. Also of note: Steve Pinizzotto, who had a cup of coffee with the Vancouver Canucks after the lockout.
Abbotsford Heat forward Ben Street and his trusty sidekick Stache were named AHL Player of the Month for Movember. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Michael Ferland of the Abbotsford Heat knocks Utica Comets defenseman Kent Huskins off his feet with a single punch in AHL action. Clint Trahan photo courtesy of the Abbotsford Heat.
The Abbotsford Heat find themselves worrying about the Vancouver Canucks affiliate Utica Comets.
They don’t need to concern themselves with a 3–2 decision to the lowly Comets on Friday night. Even after the loss, the Heat have won eight of their last ten games and sit in first overall in the AHL standings. The Comets, for their part, picked up just their fifth win of the year, and would not have done so without some serious heroics on the part of their goaltender. Under siege most of the night — including a third period that saw the Heat outshoot the Comets 13–2 — Joe Cannata made 35 saves for unanimous first star honours.
No, the Heat this season haven’t had to wring hands as they’ve done in the past about the number of pucks hitting the backs of the net. What they have worried about, though, is the ever-dwindling number of bums in seats at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre.
The bad news for Trinity Western sports fans: the SFU Clan converted a touchdown Saturday night against the visiting Spartans. The worse news: it was in hockey.
Depending upon which stats sheet you read, Mike Ball either got two or three points Saturday night in the SFU Clan 7–1 win over the TWU Spartans. There’s no denying this was a goal, however. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The Clan dominated the puck possession battle, and scored seven goals on 32 shots en route to a 7–1 spanking of the visitors from Langley. Nick Sandor was named first star of the game for his three-assist effort, while Jono Ceci garnered second star status on the strength of two goals and an assist. Goaltender Andrew Parent stopped 19 of 20 shots for third star honours.
Andrew Parent looks around a screen to make one of his 19 saves on the night. His SFU Clan cruised to a 7–1 victory over the TWU Spartans. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
SFU’s next game comes Thursday, November 28 in Langley at these very same TWU Spartans. Their next home game is just two days later, as they host the UVic Vikes at Bill Copeland Arena in Burnaby. The puck drops for both games at 7pm.
On January 3–4, SFU will host the second Great Northwest Showcase, featuring exhibition hockey between the Clan, the UBC Thunderbirds, and two NCAA Division 1 teams: the Princeton University Tigers and the seven-time national champions from the University of North Dakota (athletes formerly known as the Fighting Sioux). UND alumni include Vancouver Canuck nemeses Jonathan Toews and TJ Oshie, to name two. Oh, and let’s not forget Mike Commodore, who was immortalized in this bobblehead last season. A full fifteen of their current roster members have been drafted by NHL clubs. Fifteen.
* I’m not kidding here. Syl Apps Jr went to both Princeton and Queen’s Universities before embarking on an NHL career of his own — albeit not quite as stellar as his dad’s, Jr acquitted himself quite well. Syl Apps III followed dear ol’ dad to Princeton, doing well enough to get some pro contracts as a bottom-six forward in the AHL and ECHL. Syl III’s sister Gillian ain’t too shabby with a puck, either. She won Olympic gold with Team Canada in 2006 in Turin and again at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
The Vancouver Giants picked up all four points available this weekend, earning home wins in back-to-back games at the Pacific Coliseum.
First-overall pick and overall wunderkind Tyler Benson tries to stuff a puck home past Tri-City Americans goaltender Eric Comrie. He didn’t score on the play, but he was a major factor in Tyler Morrison scoring his third of the season, and his Giants won the game 5-2. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Canuck faithful came out on Friday night to see draft pick Hunter Shinkaruk, the captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers. But it was Saturday’s WHL debut of Tyler Benson, the top pick in last summer’s Bantam draft, that garnered the most attention.
Benson didn’t factor in the scoring, but he took a regular shift on the third line and did not look out of place skating against players four years his senior.
More to come, including pictures of four players with some serious hockey pedigree, but right now I need some shuteye before crushing the UBC Fall Classic in the morning.
Hockey Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur poses with his Spawn Toys likeness during the Abbotsford Heat home opener Friday night. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The Abbotsford Heat took three of a possible four points in their home opening weekend, splitting extra time results with the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday and Saturday nights.
Six-foot four goaltender Reto Berra backed the Heat to a 3–2 decision on Friday, thanking Corban Knight for ending things 1:58 into overtime. In turn, the Admirals rode 6’5″ netminder Magnus Hellberg to a 2–1 shootout win on Saturday.
It was a familiar refrain of sorts of the Heat, who spent much of last season splitting double headers they probably should have taken outright. The Heat came out of the second intermission on a mission, breaking the zero-zero tie just 41 seconds into the third on Roman Horak’s first of the season. They carried the play for most of the period, but squandered consecutive power plays before giving up a late tying goal against the flow of play. It marked the second game in a row the Heat led going into the final six minutes of play but were unable to hold on for a regulation win.
Hockey Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur was in attendance Friday, shaking hands and signing hundreds of autographs; he is the latest in the Heat’s lineup of Hockey Legends to visit the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre. The Man Who Scored The Goal That Sank Don Cherry’s Coaching Career looked great, and was great with the adoring fans who lined the stairwells for a moment with monsieur Lafleur and his blue Sharpie.
Unfortunately the Flower wasn’t enough to bring more people through the turnstyles. More than half the rink was empty for opening night, and game #2? Well, you can see for yourself:
Saturday’s official attendance: 1,814. Saturday’s actual attendance: judge for yourself. (Hint: there were nearly as many people on the benches as there were in the stands.) Weak iPhone panorama by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
When Dom Hasek and the Czechs played for the shootout in the 1998 Winter Olympics, something clicked in this country. Canadians of all stripes called for heads on platters and executives on ice. The consensus? This is our game, damn it, so fix it and bring home the gold medal. Enter GMs Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman. Enter heroes Joe Sakic and Sidney ‘Golden Goal’ Crosby. Enter come-from-behind goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo.
A few months ago we found out that the Guinness Book of World Records recognized a group of eight Czechs for the longest continuous table hockey game, a 26-hour, 16-minute affair by Martin Ženíšek and seven friends in 2008. We at Pucked in the Head believe that this is our game, damn it. So we fixed it. We brought home the record.
Long-suffering Southsider Duncan Nicol has gone a loooooong time — and even longer road trips — without seeing a Whitecaps FC away win. Photograph by: Jenelle Schneider, PNG , The Province
It’s Saturday morning, and Norwich City is being so drastically outplayed by Tottenham that I just can’t bear to watch anymore. I haven’t seen something get hammered this efficiently on Canadian television since This Old House went off the air. It’s so bad that I would rather do math problems. In Friday’s edition of The Province newspaper, Whitecaps beat writer Marc Weber did a fantastic piece chronicling the misfortunes of one Duncan Nicol. Duncan, a passionate Caps fan who can often be found pitch-side with his camera at home games, has been to an incredible TWENTY away matches for Whitecaps FC. To date, he has not seen a win. The title of the piece was “The Unluckiest Fan.” This got me thinking: how unlucky is Duncan? Anyone who watches Vancouver with regularity knows that they are shit on the road. And not just any shit, we’re talking about the kind of intense coiler that Sigi Schmid drops pre-game after his 37th pie.
President of the Abbotsford Heat, ex-Vancouver Canuck and winner of the 1986 Stanley Cup as a member of the Montreal Canadiens, Ryan Walter gave us some time to chat about table hockey and play a few minutes in the Heat locker room.
What happened next may or may not have been totally scripted.
d) No, I don’t want your advice about how to lose that gut.
Thanks to Ryan Walter and his wife Jennifer, Hawkey and the person inside him, the Abbotsford Heat and of course the image man himself, Clint Trahan. Let’s not forget the voice of CBC Jim Hughson, who makes a cameo near the end! It was a ton of fun making the video; kudos all round!
Ryan Walter (left) battles Jason Kurylo for table hockey supremacy as Hawkey looks on in the Abbotsford Heat locker room. Photo by Clint Trahan for Pucked in the Head.
We’re now into the second week of English Premier League action. The last two Saturdays, I’ve been up at 7am to watch my chosen favourites Norwich City. What can I say; sports is my religion, and this is my flagellation. I knew going into the season that Norwich would be sporting new kits , but I hadn’t yet seen them in action. Holy cow, are those nice shirts! While watching the Canaries play a superior Everton side to a 2-2 draw on opening day, I couldn’t help but look up how much one of those bad boys would cost. Holy cow, are those cheap shirts (by sports jersey standards)! As a Whitecaps fan, I’ve come to expect that the bland shirts my club wears will cost the customer well upwards of $100. Imagine my surprise when I found that I could get a shirt from my favourite premier league side for only £45. (Yeah, yeah, I’ll do the math for you. That’s $73.80 CDN.) What’s up, Adidas? Continue reading Whitecaps Wednesday: What’s With The Price Gouging, Adidas?→
At 17-6-1, the Abbotsford Heat sit atop the American Hockey League standings. Two of those losses came in back-to-back home defeats to the league-worst Utica Comets last weekend, so it’s fair to say the home team will turn up the heat on West Division rivals the San Antonio Rampage on December 6 & 7.
