Hockey fans in Abbotsford were treated to another Hall of Famer at centre ice as the hometown Heat beat the Toronto Marlies 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. Two days after legendary forward Darryl Sittler opened the curtain on a 3-0 Heat win, goaltender Johnny Bower was in attendance to shake hands with Abbotsford goaltender Barry Brust, who earlier this season broke Bower’s AHL record for consecutive shutout minutes. Brust went 268:17 without allowing a goal, eclipsing Bower’s mark of 249:51, set with the 1957 Cleveland Barons.
Brust was called upon to relieve the injured Danny Taylor in the second period, and stopped all but one shot to record the win for Abbotsford.
Mark Cundari was again impressive for the Heat. He earned three assists, two minor penalties and a fight in his second game since being traded to the Calgary Flames organization in the Jay Bouwmeester deal. Cundari has quickly become a fan favourite in Abbotsford, leading many to lament the fact that he was not in the lineup earlier in the season when the team floundered through a series of “must-win” games.
In addition to the Bower / Brust tête-a-tête, fans witnessed the Heat’s franchise-best 23rd home victory in the final game at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre this season. Sadly, those 46 points gained at home did not add up to a playoff spot for the Heat, whose road record leaves much to be desired. The team sits in 12th spot in the Western Conference and were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs despite the back-to-back wins this weekend.
More after the jump.
The Heat have two road games left in the 2012-13 season amidst conjecture that they may have played their last game in Abbotsford. Although the final home weekend against the Marlies brought over 11,000 fans to the AESC, the team has experienced much lower attendance than anticipated since its first game in 2009. The official average box office has come in at just under 3,800 fans this season — good for third-lowest in the AHL — and on many nights the number of bums in seats has been much lower than the announced attendance. Local politicians and community groups have called for an early end to the sweet deal that provides the team with “make-up” funding from public coffers when turns of the stiles do not hit certain targets.
The Vancouver Canucks recently purchased the Peoria Rivermen, and some speculate that they might buy out the Heat’s deal with the City of Abbotsford in order to move their affiliate team into the Lower Mainland. Others suggest that the Canucks — and the AHL — would benefit from having a local rivalry, and that the Vancouver affiliate will either play out of Rogers Arena or another location nearby. Seattle, Salt Lake City and Portland have been floated as possible resting places for the Canucks farm team.
Ben Walter leads the Heat with 46 points in 66 games this year, and finishes the season as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. With two games remaining, he needs four points to hit the half-century mark for the seventh consecutive season. It’s a remarkable run of consistency in a transient league.
“We’re in a business — in a league — where players and franchises move,” said Walter when asked if stories about the team’s future affect play on the ice. “As players we can’t worry about that sort of thing. All we can do is focus on working hard, in practice and during the games. The rest is out of our hands.”
Highlights from the 3-1 win:
Here’s a great CBC story about Bower being reunited with his old goalie pads: