The Abbotsford Heat and Grand Rapids Griffins split back-to-back games this weekend, as the Heat avenged a 4-1 Friday night loss with a 3-2 shootout win on Saturday night. The Griffins are running away with the Midwest Division, sitting 10 points up on the second-place Chicago Wolves, while the Heat at this point are a longshot to make the Western Conference playoffs.
Krys Kolanos scored his team-leading 16th goal
More, including game highlights, after the jump.
Coach Troy Ward was happier with his crew after the win. “I think structurally we were a lot better tonight, especially with our young D corps,” said Ward with a chuckle. “Callahan’s back there with, like, a bunch of little kittens,” referring to the fact that 30-year-old Joe Callahan manned the blueline with five young men who average less than 23 years of age. “I mean kittens in a very nice way; they just don’t have a lot of experience back there,” said Ward.
Vancouver Giants D-man Brett Kulak, for instance, is just 19 years old and saw his first professional shifts this weekend. Check the video for one instance of Kulak getting caught in a holy sh*&^% moment in his first AHL game. At the same time, he had some positive moments. “I liked Kulak’s energy on the bench,” said Ward after the game, choosing to focus on the positives. “He started to build his confidence as the game went on, and he jumped into the rush a few times. It was an exciting night for that kid tonight.”
Callahan doesn’t take all the credit for keeping the Griffins to just two goals against. “I was really impressed with Kulie [Brett Kulak] tonight,” said Callahan after the game. “Both he and [Steven] Seigo have jumped in as rookies after playing a full year with other teams. You develop your habits and your routines, and it’s not easy to learn a new system and hop right into a lineup. They’ve both done great with it.”
Speaking of exciting nights for impressive kids, I was fortunate enough to give Vancouver Giants intern Dickson Liong a ride out to the rink for his first taste of AHL hockey this weekend. This young man decided to pursue sports journalism while still in high school, and has been brought into the Giants organization to write their Kids’ Club posts for www.vancouvergiants.com — he’s simultaneously gaining credit toward graduation and making invaluable networking connections at multiple levels of the hockey world. Don’t be surprised to see Liong’s name attached to work at the ECHL, AHL or NHL level in the next few years!
