By Win Wachsmann. For the second night in a row the Chicago Wolves defeated the Abbotsford Heat on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at the Abbotsford Arts and Entertainment Centre. Final score was 1-0.
Eight of the best Abbotsford Heat players had been called up by the Calgary Flames to their training camp in Calgary. That was to be expected but it weakened the Heat roster.
In spite of that, the Heat came out strong and were constantly pressuring Wolves goalie Matt Climie. The Heat outshot the Wolves 14-9 in the first period but were unable to slip the puck past Climie.
The Wolves, who also lost some of their top prospects to the Canuck training camp, had 3 powerplay opportunities and were able to score after Heat newcomer Matt Matczak took a penalty at 17:47 of the first period.
Right winger Andrew Gordon took a pass from Bill Sweatt and fired it past Heat goalie Danny Taylor at 19:05 of the first period. Wolves Captain Darren Haydar got the second assist.
The second period saw the Heat continue to press the Wolves. They outshot the Wolves 11-1 in the second frame but Climie continued to stymie the Heat and the score stayed 1-0 Wolves.
Even when the Heat had 2 powerplay opportunities, Climie continued to turn back shot after shot.
The third period saw some more excellent play by both teams but both goalies were both skilful and lucky to block all shots coming their way.
Heat goalie Danny Taylor played very well in his second game against the Wolves and was able to hold them to just that one goal in the first period. He has held them to 1 goal in 5 periods.
The Heat outshot the Wolves 30-15 in the game but the Heat could not catch a break. Ben Walter had 5 shots and Greg Nemisz had 4 shots.
Climie got his second shutout of the season. He saved 56 of 57 shots in the two games against the Heat.
Unfortunately, the Heat, who started the season very well, have been repeatedly unable to score against their opposition.They have only scored 16 goals in their past 10 games.
While they were in first place for several weeks, they have now dropped to 7th with a record of 17-12-3-4.
The three stars 1. Matt Climie, Chicago 2. Andrew Gordon, Chicago 3. Joe Callahan
They next two games are against the Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal farm team) on Tuesday January 15th and Wednesday January 16.
Photo By Clint Trahan