GDT: Abbotsford Canucks PLAYOFFS GDT | AHL.TV | Abby WINS, Going to R2

[Blue and Green]

Looks like the baby Canucks were handing Toronto the same treatment the Hawks got tonight in vancouver

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Hoglander 1st star and 2 goals

Klimovich 7 shots on goal

Yes, it was total domination-- and the Marlies are a good team. Their goalie's excellence was the reason why they were only down 1-0 into the final five minutes, which made it seem funny that his puckhandling gaffe led to the 2-0 goal. Hoglander scored the first two, Di Giuseppe the third and Dowling hit the empty net with a moon shot from about 150 feet away. The only quibble would be that the PP went 0-7 and looked nothing more than okay. At even strength Abbotsford was excellent.

Klimovich got stoned face to face twice by the Marlies' goalie. The first one, holy cow, he made a couple of really good moves on the rush to beat first one defenceman and then the other. Would've been one of the goals of the year if he'd buried it. Second chance was a breakaway after he stripped a Marlie defenceman of the puck at the Abby blue line.

Excellent team effort, including the lesser lights who haven't played in a lot of games. I thought Marc Gatcomb played his best game of the season, not a ton of talent but works hard and is defensively reliable. Quinn Schmiemann was very steady and poised and I think he will be a decent AHL player, just not getting many opportunities at the moment with a very strong group of defencemen in front of him.

 

[Hansen]

Alex Kannok-Leipert has a black belt, according to the Abbotsford commentator

 

[orcatown]

Biggest feature of this game was the chances Klimovich was getting. Made some great rushes and numerous chances on the power play. Probably should have had a little more finish but he easy could have a hat trick in this game. Ended up with 7 shots

Defense was solid. Brisebois and Juulsen remain top pair IMO but probably Kalynuk was the best d-man IMO. New player was Schiemann did not look out of place although with all the special team play, his time was limited.

Podkolzin although he didn't put up points was good and Hoglander scored two excellent goals.

Team is playing well together and seems like you can offense from many places in the lineup.

 

[VanJack]

Scrolled through the Abby-Marlies game on the AHL Network after the Canucks game wound up.

No denying it....Klimovich is becoming a threat every time he touches the puck. After a bumpy start to this pro career, this kid is starting to come on, big time.....You can't replicate size and speed....and that shot is heavy and hard.....very encouraging to see.

 

[Blue and Green]

Never mind Vancouver, Abbotsford is where it's really at. Leading Toronto in the rematch game, 1-0 after the first period. Bains scored after eight minutes, tipping the puck that had been shovelled toward the net by Wouters after Juulsen lugged the puck into the zone and made the first pass.

Abbotsford then had a PP but the best chance came shorthanded for Toronto on a 2-on-1 after Bains made a careless pass; Silovs came up with the save. A second PP opportunity didn't do much, either. Then some scrambly play in their own zone, bailed out by Silovs who made a good save with his arm. Very different start compared to last night's game even though Abby has the lead. Marlies will start the second period on the PP.

 

[Blue and Green]

Killed the penalty to start the period but then an attempted pass by Hoglander in the neutral zone was deflected, bounced past Juulsen and Adam Gaudette marched in alone to beat Silovs over the glove. Killed another penalty, then Nielsen had an excellent chance but was stopped. Toronto has just scored again in a goalmouth scramble. 2-1 Marlies, seven minutes into the second period.

 

[Blue and Green]

PP woes continued as Wolanin muffed the puck at the Toronto blue line, Marlies went down 2-on-1 but fortunately a perfect two-pass setup was wasted as Blandisi hit the post with the net wide open. Then Podkolzin took a penalty to negate the remainder of the PP opportunity. Abby killed the resulting Toronto PP, both teams 0/3.

Marlies hit the post again and then a few seconds later shot wide on another opportunity. 2-1 Toronto after two periods. The roughest 40 minutes for Abbotsford in quite some time. Hopefully they can turn things around in the third.

 

[Blue and Green]

Abbotsford survived a 4th Marlie PP, then got a 4th chance of their own. Wolanin-- who has not been in peak form tonight-- had a shot blocked leading to what looked like it would be a clear breakaway opportunity but Klimovich hustled hard and managed to bother the Marlie a bit, and the shot pretty much went right into Silovs. Abbotsford regained the puck, went down the ice and an innocuous flip shot from an off-balance Karlsson from a sharp angle beat the Marlie goalie who went down too soon. 2-2 eight minutes into the third.

 

[Blue and Green]

Abbotsford killed a 5th penalty, but the Marlies continued to press at even strength and scored another goalmouth scramble goal with less than five minutes to go after Silovs couldn't get the handle twice on the loose puck. 3-2 final in favour of the Marlies and they deserved the win. Abbotsford just never really seemed in sync. Silovs was steadier than the team in front of him tonight. Bains was fairly good at 5v5 and even better on the PK. Not much for notable performances otherwise.

 

[nucksflailtogether]

Any hope on Bains becoming an nhler?

 

[MS]

Abysmal performance tonight as Abbotsford lose 6-3 to Tucson. Quickly fell behind 3-0 as they were carved up by Michael Carcone, then got a couple quick goals from Karlsson and Nielsen, then basically did nothing for the rest of the game. One of the worst performances I've seen all year, especially defensively. Tons of room through the neutral zone for Tucson, all kinds of high-danger chances.

It remains ridiculous that an AHL team in a major Canadian market doesn't have anyone doing road PBP for the team. Means you have to listen to the opposing PBP in every road game - sometimes it's really good and they actually provide great coverage for both teams (Laval), sometimes it's just kind of annoying ... and then there's the Tuscon commentator. Worst PBP job I've ever heard in my life. By far. Went literally minutes at a time without mentioning the name of an Abbotsford player. Did not tell viewers/listeners who scored any of the 3 Abbotsford goals. Starts excitedly screaming at completely inappropriate times. Constantly calls the Tuscon players by their first names - 'Tyler makes a save!' Holy christ it was bad.

Most significant thing that happened was Guillaume Brisebois being concussed by a blindside elbow from Adam Cracknell (who is still playing, incredibly) and leaving the game. Huge loss if he's out for any length of time, and the team's defensive structure fell apart completely in the 3rd without him.

Best Canuck was probably Podkolzin who skated well and was rewarded with a meaningless late goal.

All 3 Swedes were pretty awful. Worst game I've seen Aman play - he started brightly when he got to Abbotsford but is trending downward and now 6 games without a point. Hoglander just totally disjointed in his play although he did end up picking up two assists.

Schmiemann continues to acquit himself well and picked up his first AHL point.

Silovs couldn't be blamed too much on the first 5 goals but then the 6th goal was a howler.

Michael Carcone absolutely trashed Abbotsford tonight - finished with 4 points but could have had 5 or 6. Best individual performance I've seen from any opposing player against the Canucks this year. No idea how he's not in the NHL - is on pace for like 130 points/80 GP and running away with the AHL scoring title, and has produced in the NHL in bottom-6 minutes when he's been called up.

 

[Chrysalis99]

Abysmal performance tonight as Abbotsford lose 6-3 to Tucson. Quickly fell behind 3-0 as they were carved up by Michael Carcone, then got a couple quick goals from Karlsson and Nielsen, then basically did nothing for the rest of the game. One of the worst performances I've seen all year, especially defensively. Tons of room through the neutral zone for Tucson, all kinds of high-danger chances.

It remains ridiculous that an AHL team in a major Canadian market doesn't have anyone doing road PBP for the team. Means you have to listen to the opposing PBP in every road game - sometimes it's really good and they actually provide great coverage for both teams (Laval), sometimes it's just kind of annoying ... and then there's the Tuscon commentator. Worst PBP job I've ever heard in my life. By far. Went literally minutes at a time without mentioning the name of an Abbotsford player. Did not tell viewers/listeners who scored any of the 3 Abbotsford goals. Starts excitedly screaming at completely inappropriate times. Constantly calls the Tuscon players by their first names - 'Tyler makes a save!' Holy christ it was bad.

Most significant thing that happened was Guillaume Brisebois being concussed by a blindside elbow from Adam Cracknell (who is still playing, incredibly) and leaving the game. Huge loss if he's out for any length of time, and the team's defensive structure fell apart completely in the 3rd without him.

Best Canuck was probably Podkolzin who skated well and was rewarded with a meaningless late goal.

All 3 Swedes were pretty awful. Worst game I've seen Aman play - he started brightly when he got to Abbotsford but is trending downward and now 6 games without a point. Hoglander just totally disjointed in his play although he did end up picking up two assists.

Schmiemann continues to acquit himself well and picked up his first AHL point.

Silovs couldn't be blamed too much on the first 5 goals but then the 6th goal was a howler.

Michael Carcone absolutely trashed Abbotsford tonight - finished with 4 points but could have had 5 or 6. Best individual performance I've seen from any opposing player against the Canucks this year. No idea how he's not in the NHL - is on pace for like 130 points/80 GP and running away with the AHL scoring title, and has produced in the NHL in bottom-6 minutes when he's been called up.

I don’t live in Vancouver anymore but if I did I would probably listen to some of the games. Are the Canucks just too cheap they don’t want to hire a PBP crew? Would seem to be a good training ground for future PBP and analysts. Would also help promote the team. What a shame. What’s their attendance like?

 

[MS]

I don’t live in Vancouver anymore but if I did I would probably listen to some of the games. Are the Canucks just too cheap they don’t want to hire a PBP crew? Would seem to be a good training ground for future PBP and analysts. Would also help promote the team. What a shame. What’s their attendance like?

Too cheap. Classic Aquilini.

There is home PBP but not for road games as that would be an extra expense.

I think we’re the only AHL team with this situation.

 

[VanJack]

For what it's worth, I don't think very many if any AHL teams send their broadcast crews on the road to cover games.

For people who follow their team on the AHL Network, it's usually the case that only the home audio is active during a broadcast.

But have to agree.....That Tucson crew was in a class of their own. Only solution was to 'mute' it and watch without audio.

 

[Blue and Green]

Played better last night but dropped another one in Tucson. Fell behind 2-0 early, never caught up, gave a solid effort and had plenty of good scoring chances but the Tucson goalie was strong. A couple of empty netters made the final score 5-2. Kupsky lost his angle on the second goal (after Schmiemann gave away the puck) but made a couple of big saves and wasn't any worse than Silovs has been over the past couple of weeks. Podkolzin played well. Klimovich was alright and did good work on the sequence leading to the second Abby goal. Brisebois was out after Saturday's elbow from Cracknell.

To be a top team, you can't lose the goaltending battle as many times as Abbotsford has during this season. Two weeks ago it looked like they might take a run at Calgary and Coachella Valley at the top, now they are pretty much cemented into a battle for 3rd-4th-5th with Colorado and Ontario.

 

[MS]

Team has now won 1 of their last 8 games after being on fire for the month before that.

The 3-game set at home where the team lost all 3 games to Calgary despite outplaying them overall looks like it was a real blow mentally and might be a turning point in the season.

As noted above, goaltending has been a problem recently.

Best news right now is that Podkolzin has been vastly improved recently.

 

[The Stig]

Räty coming in will be a good help. Put him with Höglander and let the boys cook

 

[Tables of Stats]

Aatu Räty has been added to the table.

Edit: Wrong tab.

 

[VanJack]

Canucks are finally using their AHL farm team the way it's supposed to be used......load up the roster with promising young players and let them mature together.

The outlook for the Abbotsford Canucks is a lot more interesting and exciting than the parent Canucks these days.

Team is headed to the playoffs, and some of the kids carrying the mail include Podkolzin, Hoglander, Klimovich, Rathbone, Silovs, Karlsson, Bains and Woo among others. Now Raty gets added to the mix.

Predict some riveting playoff games and a packed Abbotsford Entertainment Center as we head into spring.

 

[sting101]

Yes hopefully they just call up Dowling and PDG for now and let the kids cook. Can send them back at the end of the season for hopefully a long playoff run.

 

[MS]

Not Abbotsford related specifically, but I was just looking at the AHL ASG selections and holy hell what a stupid event.

You'd think a developmental league would be focusing on trying to showcase young future NHL talent ... but it's basically a showcase for career minor leaguers. In Abbotsford's division, 9 of 12 players are born in 1998 or earlier going all the way to 35 y/o Brad Hunt.

You'd think it would be automatic that the selections would be the best ELC player on every team and then maybe fill out the rosters with the odd veteran. Give Linus Karlsson an opportunity, not 28 y/o Christian Wolanin. So stupid.

/rant

 

[VanJack]

Other than limiting the number of veteran players who can dress for each game (I think the number is five) there are no other restrictions on veterans being picked as AHL all-stars.

But that's what makes the league so tough for young players in their early 20's who are being introduced to pro hockey for the first time. They're playing against older guys who are often, bigger, strong and faster. It forces them to grow up in a hurry.

And looking at it positively, isn't that the way you want to challenge your promising young prospects?

 

[MS]

Other than limiting the number of veteran players who can dress for each game (I think the number is five) there are no other restrictions on veterans being picked as AHL all-stars.

But that's what makes the league so tough for young players in their early 20's who are being introduced to pro hockey for the first time. They're playing against older guys who are often, bigger, strong and faster. It forces them to grow up in a hurry.

And looking at it positively, isn't that the way you want to challenge your promising young prospects?

I'm not talking about getting rid of veterans from regular play.

I'm just talking about the ASG, which is a marketing event to showcase the sport. This league defines and markets itself as a developmental league where fans can buy tickets to watch exciting future NHL players. But instead of collecting all of the most exciting NHL-bound players in one place to create an exciting event and in-demand ticket, they just gather together a bunch of 29 y/o career minor-leaguers that nobody has the slightest interest in. It's dumb. If this game was in Vancouver/Abbotsford, there's no way I'd be buying a ticket.

 

[Hit the post]

Didn't Jordan Subban suit up for an AHL allstar game once (when he was a Canuck prospect). No defense, all offense type of game you usually see in allstar sporting event games. Suited Subban's game at the time.

 

[shottasasa]

I'm not talking about getting rid of veterans from regular play.

I'm just talking about the ASG, which is a marketing event to showcase the sport. This league defines and markets itself as a developmental league where fans can buy tickets to watch exciting future NHL players. But instead of collecting all of the most exciting NHL-bound players in one place to create an exciting event and in-demand ticket, they just gather together a bunch of 29 y/o career minor-leaguers that nobody has the slightest interest in. It's dumb. If this game was in Vancouver/Abbotsford, there's no way I'd be buying a ticket.

I’m not sure the AHL all star game has that much utility as a marketing event tbh. Given that I don’t really care about it, I’m fine with them using the all-star game to recognise some of the vets for their contribution to the league. They’re often the best all round players anyway and I do t think it’s wise to build a culture where they are treated purely as filler. The top prospects have bigger rewards they’re trying to chase anyway