The Weekly Ignition: February 18 2014

The medal round of the 2014 Winter Olympics are underway and the Calgary Flames are back on the ice tomorrow for practice. The return of NHL hockey is just around the corner. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s happened and what’s to come.

Curtis Glencross is on the mend and targeting Calgary’s first game after the Olympics, but isn’t gonna rush it.

Johnny Gaudreau is the runaway front-runner for the Hobey Baker Award

Busy week for the Abbotsford Heat. Chad Billins and Ben Street were at the All-Star Game in St. John’s, beating Farjestads BK by a 7-2 score. Street had the game-winning goal and both Heat players were +1. After that, it was a wild travel adventure as a snowstorm made air travel insane and a 16-hour bus trip to Raleigh for a pair of games with the Charlotte Checkers. Despite the craziness, the Heat took three of a possible four points via a 5-1 win and a 5-4 OT loss. Joni Ortio faced 72 shots over the weekend. Markus Granlund continued to be awesome with three points. Max Reinhart was held off the scoresheet for the first time in forever.

Down in Alaska, the Aces played five games and won twice. Turner Elson scored a goal. Very little else happened.

Johnny Gaudreau had 5 points and extended his scoring streak to 26 games. Boston College clinched the Hockey East regular season crown. Morgan Klimchuk had 4 points. Coda Gordon had 3 assists. Kenny Agostino had 3 points, as did Bill Arnold.

Providence College’s Jon Gillies is now 2-6-2 since the World Juniors with a 2.82 goals against average and a .899 save percentage. Shockingly, PC has tumbled down the Hockey East standings. Over in the Big Ten, Matt Deblouw played for the first time in over a month, posting four shots in a pair of weekend games for Michigan State.

The Flames are back in action next week.

The Heat play a brutal, brutal three-games-in-three-nights stretch next weekend – they play Friday in Milwaukee and then Saturday and Sunday in Chicago against the Wolves. Down in the ECHL, the Aces host the Ontario Reign on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.