From the Heat. The Abbotsford Heat defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens) 4-1 on Saturday night at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre (AESC). The Heat remain in second place in the West Division with a 27-14-3-1 record and 60 points.
Photo by: Clint Trahan/Abbotsford Heat
The Finland combination of Joni Ortio and Markus Granlund led the way for the Heat. Ortio delivered another spectacular performance, allowing only one goal on 27 shots, while Granlund, for a third straight game, registered one goal and one assist.
Max Reinhart opened up the scoring with his 10th goal of the season on the power play at 7:56 in the first period, assisted by Markus Granlund. In the late stages, Josh Jooris made it 2-0 Heat with his sixth goal of the season assisted by Sven Baertschi and Corey Locke.
The second period remained scoreless with the Heat killing off two Bulldog power plays. After 40 minutes of play, Abbotsford outshot the ‘Dogs 23 to 15.
In the third period, Granlund scored a short-handed goal at 2:33, which was his team leading 19th goal of the season assisted by Carter Bancks. Shortly after, Hamilton scored their only goal of the weekend at 7:41 by Stefan Fournier. In the last minute of play, Derek Smith scored his second goal of the season into the empty net unassisted.
Abbotsford went one out of four on the power play, while killing off all seven Bulldogs man advantages.
Joni Ortio picked up his 19th win of the season for the Heat, while Robert Mayer was charged the loss stopping 28 of the 31 shots he faced.
This coming week the Heat will host four games. On February 4th and 5th the Heat will take on the Charlotte Checkers (AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes), while on February 8th and 9th they will face-off against the Texas Stars. Saturday, February 8th will be Country Night, so come in your best country get-up and have the chance to win tickets to Florida Georgia Line, Dean Brody, or $15,000 dollars in The Honda Way Shoot Out. Saturday will also feature the third $3 $2 $1 Brew Dog ‘N Pop night. February 9th will be the Pink in the Rink night supporting the BC Cancer research Foundation. For tickets please call 1-877-452-HEAT (4328) or visit us online at www.abbotsfordheat.com.