logo
FlamesNation has no direct affiliation to the Calgary Flames, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
Recap: Wranglers start 2025 with a 4-2 win over the Abbotsford Canucks
alt
Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Jan 2, 2025, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 2, 2025, 00:15 EST
Comments
After an eventful New Year’s Eve game between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, their AHL affiliates – the Calgary Wranglers and Abbotsford Canucks – battled it out on the following afternoon to start 2025. Although their match-up was not as lively as their parent clubs’, they still had some exciting action in the back half of the game.
The Wranglers picked up the win and completed the series sweep with a 4-2 decision on Wednesday afternoon.

Lineup notes

Due to a variety of reasons, the Wranglers only had 17 skaters for this game. Deni Goure was called up to the Wranglers on Dec. 31, but due to travel delays, did not make it in time for this game. He was pencilled in for the fourth line in case he arrived in time, but that did not happen. His AHL debut will have to wait for another day.
Clark Bishop was out on an assumed maintenance day. He was not announced as injured but with Bishop out for this game, that gave Sam Honzek another look at centring the second line. Artem Grushnikov on the other hand, was announced as day-to-day after his injury in Monday’s game. Jonathan Aspirot is on his way back from the Spengler Cup so he was not in the dome for this game. Jarred Tinordi is still week-to-week with an injury that’s kept him out of the lineup since late November.

Wranglers lines

William Stromgren – Rory Kerins – Dryden Hunt
Adam Klapka – Sam Honzek – Martin Frk 
Lucas Ciona – Sam Morton – David Silye 
Alex Gallant – Trevor Janicke
Jeremie Poirier – lya Solovyov
Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz
Joni Jurmo – Charles Martin
Devin Cooley 
Waltteri Ignatjew

Game at a glance

The goaltending battle for this game was the same as Monday with Devin Cooley in for Calgary and Arturs Silovs in for Abbotsford. The first period had a few notable moments and the Wranglers had some penalty killing to do in the back half of the opening frame. Despite some solid chances from Rory Kerins, David Silye and Adam Klapka, the home team was unable to score in the first 20 minutes of play.
The same went for their opponents. The Canucks did not connect on any of their opportunities and the shots were a modest 9-8 at the end of the period favouring Calgary. The second period looked similar to the first with back-and-forth rushes and a penalty here and there to activate the special teams. Calgary had a big push and influx of shots at the midway mark of the second period but could not get the puck past Silovs to put a goal on the board.
Instead, the first goal scorer would come from the Canucks. Yan Kuznetsov was called for holding at 16:29 and just 23 seconds into the power play, Sammy Blais beat Cooley top corner. Kirill Kudryavtsev and Linus Karlsson assisted on this opening goal at 16:52. 
About a minute and a half later, the Wranglers got their first marker when Hunter Brzustwicz drove into the zone and made some room for himself and the skaters behind him. One of those skaters was Rory Kerins, who was set up in the slot to finish Brzustewicz’s play and even up the scoring at 18:19. The secondary assist on this equalizer came from Dryden Hunt. 
That was the only scoring of the period and by the end of 40 minutes of play, the score was an even 1-1. Calgary outshot Abbotsford 11-7 in the middle frame. After killing an early penalty in the third, the Wranglers ended up on a five-on-three at 5:24 and took full advantage of the opportunity to take their first lead of the game.
After some power play pressure, Martin Frk took a shot that Adam Klapka deflected in at the top of the crease. This go-ahead goal came at 6:45 and Jeremie Poirier also picked up a helper on this marker. 
The next goal wouldn’t come until about 10 minutes later when Rory Kerins scored his second of the night off a one-timer in tight. This goal was at 15:44 and was assisted by William Stromgren and Adam Klapka.
On the next shift shortly after this goal, Abbotsford pulled Arturs Silovs to try and close the gap in scoring in the closing minutes of regulation. They did get one more past Cooley at 16:22 when Christian Wolanin off a shot from the point to make it a 3-2 game for Calgary.
The Canucks took a timeout at 2:14 to try and strategize for another late goal but the only other goal that came in this competition was from the home team. Sam Honzek scored on the empty net with 23 seconds left in regulation. This final goal was assisted by Dryden Hunt.
The Wranglers finished this game with a 4-2 win and were outshot 33-29. The three stars in this one were awarded to Devin Cooley with the third star, Martin Frk with the second star and Rory Kerins for the first star.

Scoring stat summary

Jeremie Poirier – 1A
Hunter Brzustewicz – 1A
Rory Kerins – 2G
William Stromgren – 1A
Dryden Hunt – 2A
Martin Frk – 1A
Sam Honzek – 1G
Adam Klapka – 1G, 1A

Highlights

Next up

Calgary has another pair of home games this week as they host the Manitoba Moose on Friday and Sunday. Their next game will be at 7:00 p.m. MT and their Sunday game is a later-than-usual match-up to end the week with a 6:00 p.m. MT puck drop.

News

Breaking News