Heat Notch Two Against Checkers

From The Heat. The Abbotsford Heat beat the Charlotte Checkers (AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes) 4-3 on Wednesday night at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre (AESC). The Heat remain in first place in the Western Conference with a 30-14-3-1 record and 64 points and in second last place for attendance with an average of only 2,753 fans at home games.

Wednesday’s game drew a meagre 1,528 fans.

Photo by Clint Trahan/Abbotsford Heat

Corban Knight continued his strong play, scoring the game winning goal. Brett Olson also added three points on the night (0-3-3) and Ben Street netted one goal and one assist. Markus Granlund kept his point streak going, and has now recorded five straight games in which he has tallied points (5-4-9).

Sven Baertschi started off the night’s scoring with a goal at 12:43 in the first period, assisted by Corey Locke and Derek Smith. The Checkers responded with defenseman Dan Biega’s first goal of the season at 15:36. The Heat outshot the Checkers 15 to 10 in the first period.

Markus Granlund delivered early in the second period, scoring a short-handed goal from Brett Olson at 1:21. Zach Boychuk came back to tie up the game for the Checkers at 15:26. The second period ended in a 2-2 tie.

Third period scoring was opened by Ben Street, assisted by Olson and Brady Lamb at 9:30. Biega quickly evened the score, netting his second goal of the night at 11:11. Corban Knight regained the lead for the Heat, putting the puck past Mike Murphy at 16:47 in the third period, assisted by Street and Olson.

Abbotsford was zero for four on the power play and killed off all three of the Checkers man advantages.

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Olivier Roy made 32 of 35 saves for the Heat, with opponent Mike Murphy stopping 24 out of 28 shots.

Heat Defeat Checkers 7-1 Tuesday

The Abbotsford Heat defeated the Charlotte Checkers (AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes) 7-1 on Tuesday night at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre (AESC). The Heat are now in first place in the West Division and sit second place overall in the Western Conference with a 29-14-3-1 record and 62 points.

The Heat had a fantastic outing, with 14 out of 18 players registering at least one point on the night, with six of them recording a multi-point game. Corban Knight tallied three points (1-2-3), while Max Reinhart (1-1-2) , Markus Granlund (1-1-2), Ben Street (1-1-2), Brett Olson (0-2-2), and Derek Smith (0-2-2) each accumulated two points. Olivier Roy in his first start with the Heat picked up his first win with his new team and was named the first star of the game.

Josh Jooris opened up the first period with a goal at 4:29 assisted by Corey Locke and Sven Baertschi. Reinhart followed that up with a goal on the power play at 9:54 assisted by Knight and Granlund. Blair Jones scored the Heat’s second power play goal at 12:31 assisted by Smith and Street. Carter Bancks closed out the high scoring period with his third goal of the season assisted by Lane MacDermid and Shane O’Brien at 12:59.

The second period remained scoreless with the Heat outshooting the Checkers 27 to 16 through 40 minutes of play.

In the third period, Granlund scored his team leading 20th goal of the season at 8:17 on the power play with the assists going to Knight and Reinhart. Knight quickly added a goal of his own at 10:29 with the assists going to Smith and Olson. At 12:43, the Checkers broke Roy’s shutout with a goal scored by Philippe Cornet. Minutes later, Street responded with his 18th goal of the season assisted by Olson and Chad Billins at 14:54 to close out the game.

Abbotsford capitalized on three of their eight power play opportunities, while killing off all four Charlotte man advantages.

Olivier Roy stopped 25 of 26 shots while John Muse made 8 saves on 12 shots before being replaced by Mike Murphy. Out the 27 shots Murphy faced, he stopped 24.

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This weekend the Heat will host the Texas Stars (AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars) on February 8th and 9th. 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. Saturday will also feature the third $3 $2 $1 Brew Dog ‘N Pop night. February 9th will be theannual Pink in the Rink night supporting the BC Cancer Research Foundation. Fans looking to attend this Sunday’s game should use the code PINK14 on Ticketmaster.ca, with partial proceeds from all tickets sold using this promo code benefiting the BC Cancer Foundation. For tickets please call 1-877-452-HEAT (4328) or visit us online at www.abbotsfordheat.com.