AGD: Ride the Heat Wave
Kent Wilson
November 14 2012 04:04PM
Time: 8:00pm
Location: Abbotsford AESC
Broadcast: abbotsfordheat.com, teamradio.ca
The Abbotsford Heat remained one of the hottest teams in the AHL yesterday by beating the Lake Erie Monsters 3-0. The score featured two empty net goals from Baertschi and Laing, but the home club was full value for the win nonetheless outshooting their opponents 32-18 through two periods (39-29 overall). Apparently the contest would have been a laugher if Abby had finished a few of their 10-bell chances prior to the third period.
TJ Brodie assisted on the only non-empty netter of the night, pushing his season total to nine points in just 13 games. He also lead the team in shots on net with six, so not a bad outing for the youngster. Brodie has rapidly developed from a decent rookie with some holes in his game to the anchor on the Heat's back-end in the space of one season. People are rightfully excited about Sven Baertschi and Johnny Gaudreau, but Brodie is a quality prospect in his own right (and far and away the best prospect blueliner in the org currently).
As for the team overall, what more can be said? They're in one of those pahses where they just can't lose. The goaltending has been supreb, the speical teams are excellent and last night they added "grossly outshooting the opposition" to the resume. Good stuff.
The Line-up
Aliu, Bouma and Nemisz are down for the count. Max Reinhart sat out last night with an "illness" although it seems Ward also thinks the kid could benefit from seeing some games from the pressbox. He may or may not make his way back into the line-up tonight.
- Baertschi - Walter - Horak
- Kolanos - Byron - Sylvester
- Olson - Laing - Street
- Ferland - Bancks - Ruesegger
- Brodie - Piskula
- Breen - McCarthy
- McKelvie - Lamb
- Irving
Looks like Irving will get a chance at his third start this evening. The former first rounder is fighting crowded creases everywhere he looks in the Flames organization and it's going to become tougher and tougher for him to stake his claim unless he starts putting together some pretty special performances.
Roman Roman Horak has come back down to earth a bit lately, which was to be expected. On the other hand, Ben Street continues put up nice numbers, with two assists, +3 and five more shots on net last night. He now has 11 points and 46 shots on net
The Opponent
The Monsters are near the top of the Western Conference, but they had a pretty lackluster outing in Abbotsford yesterday. You can expect them to be significantly improved tonight.
- Thomas - Olver - Carey
- Lerg - Sgarbossa - Aggozino
- van der Gulik - Carey - Connolly
- Bordeleau - Heard - Walker
- Pock - Barrie
- Stollery - Elliott
- Sullivan - Goers
- Pickard
Rookie starter Calvin Pickard will likely be back in net since Aittokallio played lat night.
Sum it Up
With the win last night, the Heat jumped to first overall in the Western Conference. The only thing you can do during a run like this is hope it continues for as long as possible.
Paul Byron is awesome.
0-0 through one. Baertschi has another 3 shots on net already. Are you watching it JW?
Yep
I think Byron has all the tools to be an AHL all star. I also think that's about as far as those tools are going to get him.
Shush you!!!!
How have the kids looked so far?
Baertschi, good.
Ferland, his best period so far.
Brodie, He often seems like he is gonna turn over the puck and then bam, lateral step and afterburners, puck out of the zone.
Brust made a retarded poke check that ended up working when the guy started going for a wrap around, the guy is such a strange goalie.
Horak seems to know his shot isnt going in as much, so he is doing alot more passing, although he did have a ten bell'er that Aitokallio saved.
unrelated, I added first rounder Beau Bennett to the Janko comparables today. He scored 120 points in 56 games in the BCHL and then managed a 0.68 PPG pace in his first year in college. He scored 13 points in 10 games during a shortened season in year two.
This year in the AHL so far he has 7 points in 12 games.
The third line of Bancks and Olson have continued their very good hard work puck possesion. Bancks is playing well.
@jeremywilhelm
Is Reinhart back in the line-up?
Kolanos' line is regularly being hemmed in their own zone. Not sure who he's with (one of them is #12) but they look to be the defensive weak link this game.
@SmellOfVictory
That would be Byron, Sylvester and Kolanos.
Yep, he is playing with Ruegsegger and Ferland, they are getting played sparingly.
Ferland, though he's looking good, doesn't look particularly explosive. He's not the slowest guy on the ice, but he can't really get around opposing defencemen very well right now (tbh I think he should just start muscling past them, given his size).
Stefan Elliot was the driving force behind that hemming in the zone. Colorado is lucky they have two Brodie's on their team in Elliot and Barrie.
He looks intimidated.
In deference to JW I'll blame Kolanos for that, primarily. ;)
Yeah, perhaps. If that is the case, once he gets over that he could become a one man wrecking crew.
Kolanos looks so slow when skating with Byron and Sylvester.
When I read through these comments all I can see is a bunch of kids, with one standing on some crates, peeking over the fence at a ballgame while the others are asking questions like "who's at bat? Does Joe look like he has confidence in his glove today? Is John on first or third?"
Funny though it may be to read, I blame Don and Gary for reducing us to this level.
Pretty quiet Super Series game in the WHL tonight. Halfway through the 2nd and no score, only 4 penalties (2 apiece). Both teams on pace for around 30 shots.
not entirely unrelated, I've been watching the Super Series game--Laurent Brossoit has been very, very good. Except when handling the puck.
still 0-0.
Heat being outshot 21-10 this time around.
Also, Im surprised Brust got another start.
Frustrating time to be Leland Irving.
Indeed he does/is.
On another note, I think Brodie may be the most polished player on the team. I seriously think I've seen him make about two total mistakes in the half dozen games I've watched, and the rest of the time he's busy making everyone else (generally on both teams) look silly.
21-12 is a bit misleading Kent. The Monsters don't look like they are the better team. Some pretty weak perimeter shots by both sides.
@jeremywilhelm
12 shots on net through 2 periods of play is never a good sign in my book.
Blame Kolanos!
Bad news, Nick Kypreos likes Laurent Brossoit. ;-)
Not saying it's good, just that the Monsters aren't that much better than the shot clock shows.
@RexLibris
Everyone losing their minds about Brossoit early this season had no clue that he was pretty weak to start last season as well.
Breen's shots look fit for a minigolf course.
Yeah, I've watched him pretty closely even before they traded Groenhyde. I thought last year he made some game-saving stops, but at the same time he has been greatly assisted by a very strong roster in front of him.
He had a slow-ish start last year. I'm keeping an eye on Jarry. If he's there in the 5th round I think the Oilers or Flames bite. His technical game might be even better than Brossoit.
I taught him everything I know.
Haha. And of course I mock the guy's shot, and he scores a goal a few minutes later.
@SmellOfVictory
They always expect the fastball, so go with the changeup.
;-)
Holy hell Barry Brust. 3 in a row. Must have been bookofloob's interview. The Heat's goaltending has been insane. Poor Leland.
@RexLibris
"..but at the same time he has been greatly assisted by a very strong roster in front of him"
perhaps (probably) but keep in mind that he fell apart in the Memorial Cup, and the Oil Kings were suddenly the worst team in the tournament by a wide margin. Makes one wonder whether he was helped by the strong roster, or vice versa.
Of course, the only team that actually showed up last year was Shawinnigan.
4 games, .991 save percentage and .25 GAA
Even for a small sample size, that's crazyness.
@Baalzamon
He didn't really fall apart, the Oil Kings were outclassed in every facet of the game, not just goaltending.
Yeah, but they still beat Baertschi and the Winterhawks. ;-)
Yeah, it was a big letdown in the round-robin.
btw - Brossoit and Makarov are headed into a five-man shootout, 0-0 tie.
He hasn't been that busy, compared to Makarov, but has performed well.
Bahaha, stupid Yakupov, you SUCK!!
Sam Reinhart wins in the shootout. Brossoit stones all four shooters, including Yakupov.
@RexLibris
"Yeah, but they still beat Baertschi and the Winterhawks. ;-)"
and it was pretty much Brossoit who did that single-handedly. There was nothing at all Reinhart and company could do to stop Sven in that series. When he didn't score, it was because Brossoit stopped him.
oi now I sound like I'm in the Brossoit bandwagon. Disclaimer: I'm not!!! Just happen to like the way he plays when he's on his game. Could say the same about Ortio and (sigh) Irving.
And JW, he did fall apart. He was easily the most talented goalie in that Memorial Cup, but he couldn't stop a beachball when he got there.
@Baalzamon
He wasn't great, but the whole team was useless.
Gotta give Breen some props. I mean, he isn't as good as the media are trying to ram down our throats, but he is doing what I hoped he would do, and isn't over playing the puck and is using his size and reach in his own zone to keep everyone to the outside.
If he continues to develop in this fashion he could be a #6, something I didn't think was gonna happen.
+22 goal differential and they are one of the higher scoring teams in the AHL, impressive impressive start for this team.
He's a goalie. Nobody knows whether he's going to be great or not. It's 90% in his head. But I give him 10 out of 10 on the physical abilities. For once it would be fun to see a Flame prospect contribute at the WJC though.
I was at the super series game tonight and thought Brossoit showed flashes of brilliance in particular on the clear break away in the first, but also some poor decision making with the puck. all and all a very good effort from him, but also tempered by the quality of d playing in front of him.
Yakupov on the other hand was invisible, with maybe a minor flurish in the 3rd.......terrible shootout attempt.
Glad to see BARRY BRUST and the Heat keep rolling, interested to see how Horak deals with going cold, Sven was still getting chances?? didn't see hilights or hear the game.
Great little bit of work by Street on the Olson goal.