Abbotsford Canucks Thread | Prospects Starting to Heat Up

[B-rock]

Yeah, I would have thought that Bains and Raty would have picked it up this season which doesn’t seem unreasonable given the way they finished last year, but it sounds like both have been underwhelming.

I’d consider them vets responsible for contributing a decent amount to the offence and without them taking the next step, it’s not too surprising the team has struggled.

 

[VanJack]

Looking at this Abbotsford Canuck team on paper before the season got underway, I really figured they'd by vying for top-spot in the Pacific.

I mean there didn't seem to be any holes. They have slew of veterans both up-front and on the back end. And they also had a bunch of guys like Sasson, Raty, Aman, Bains, Karlsson, Klimovich, McWard and Woo who were all starting their third seasons in the AHL.

Their goaltending looked solid with Silovs and Tolopilo......and they added some solid veterans in Blais, Kambeitz, Nate Smith, and Twarynski, and returned guys like Stevens and Nielsen. And the blueline was anchored by vets like Brisebois, Friedman and Wolanin.

Certainly you can't complain about the lack of veterans in this roster. But then all the injuries and call-ups started raining down as the parent Canucks battled injuries.

I guess we're at the half-way mark of the season so there's still time for this Abby Canucks team to get on a roll. But the results so far hardly suggest that's likely to happen.

So all you really have to hold on to is the performance of a lot of the 20-21 year old rookies. They're not supposed to carrying this team--but so far they've been forced to.

 

[Blue and Green]

Abbotsford hosting Ontario tonight and tomorrow. Less than five minutes in, a bad centre-ice pinch by Woo creates a 2-on-1 for Ontario, Tyler Madden flips a waist-high pass over the sprawled Brannstrom to Jeff Malott who bats it out of mid-air past Tolopilo for a 1-0 Reign lead.

 

[Blue and Green]

Late in the first Karlsson, Brannstrom and Aman broke in 3-on-1 during 4v4 play. Brannstrom tried a pass to Aman that was blocked but the puck went to Karlsson who buried it from the edge of the crease. 1-1 after 20 minutes, shots were 6-4 Ontario.

 

[Blue and Green]

Raty deflected a point shot by Pettersson for a 2-1 lead. Then Woo blocked a shot attempt and sent a beautiful lofted 80-foot stretch pass right to Kambeitz for a breakaway goal. 3-1 Abbotsford at the midway point.

 

[Blue and Green]

Ontario cut the lead in half when Tolopilo kicked out a massive rebound into the slot on a rather harmless initial shot from the side boards. But in the last minute Ontario got caught up ice, Bains made a nice backhand pass from near the boards across to Nate Smith who was all alone and scored from close range. 4-2 Abby after two periods.

 

[Lindgren]

Raty deflected a point shot by Pettersson for a 2-1 lead. Then Woo blocked a shot attempt and sent a beautiful lofted 80-foot stretch pass right to Kambeitz for a breakaway goal. 3-1 Abbotsford at the midway point.

Hey, B&G, have you spotted who the third right-side D is along with Woo and Friedman? Brannstrom? Kudryavtsev?

 

[Blue and Green]

Hey, B&G, have you spotted who the third right-side D is along with Woo and Friedman? Brannstrom? Kudryavtsev?

Kudryavtsev, paired with Wolanin.

 

[Lindgren]

Kudryavtsev, paired with Wolanin.

Clearly they're thinking of calling him up to play with Hughes.

 

[ManVanFan]

Clearly they're thinking of calling him up to play with Hughes.

Wolanin?

 

[Lindgren]

Wolanin?

No, Wolanin will be brought up to play with Desharnais.

 

[ManVanFan]

 

[ManVanFan]

Broken play

No, Wolanin will be brought up to play with Desharnais.

Lol, I think you mean Desharnais will be brought down to play with Wolanin.

 

[Blue and Green]

No, Wolanin will be brought up to play with Desharnais.

Exactly, plus Brannstrom will be recalled to replace the slumping Hughes who is on a one-game pointless streak.

 

[Blue and Green]

Looked as though Jeff Malott would score his second goal of the game, all by himself at short range with an easy rebound chance versus Tolopilo who was sprawled on his back but Malott shot the puck right into Tolopilo's glove.

A couple of minutes later Bains was hooked and on the ensuing PP Blais scored on a rebound to make it 5-2. 13 minutes remaining.

 

[Blue and Green]

Ontario scored on a breakaway with 12 minutes to go but they kept taking penalties, reducing their chance to rally. Wouters hit the empty net to make the final score 6-3. Three wins in a row after losing the preceding six games.

Klimovich is on an eight-game pointless streak. Mueller has missed the last couple of games after being checked head-first into the boards on Friday night.

 

[orcatown]

Ontario started gooning it up late in the game so likely they'll be starting that up again tomorrow.

Brannstrom showed his class packing the puck, passing out of his zone and on the PP but him and Woo were probably the worse defensive pairing.

Blais is picking it up some but probaly has to improve his skating to help Vancouver. Wonder if he could be traded for a draft choice at the deadline. Likely not.

Raty with a good game. Goal and three assists

 

[Vector]

Ontario started gooning it up late in the game so likely they'll be starting that up again tomorrow.

Brannstrom showed his class packing the puck, passing out of his zone and on the PP but him and Woo were probably the worse defensive pairing.

Blais is picking it up some but probaly has to improve his skating to help Vancouver. Wonder if he could be traded for a draft choice at the deadline. Likely not.

Raty with a good game. Goal and three assists

Blais isn’t under contract with Vancouver so he can’t be traded for a draft pick.