Abbotsford Heat 5 - Lake Erie Monsters 2

Heat Goals:

1. PP - Chad Billins (1) [Corban Knight (1), Max Reainhart (1)]
2. ES - Drew MacKenzie (1) [Blair Jones (1)]
3. PP - Ben Hanowski (1) [Josh Jooris (1), Paul Byron (1)]
4. ES - Josh Jooris (1) [Paul Byron (2), Greg Nemisz (1)]
5. ES/EN - Ben Hanowski (2) [Brett Olson (1), Tyler Wotherspoon (1)]

1st star - [COLOR="Red"]Josh Jooris[/COLOR]
2nd star - [COLOR="red"]Ben Hanowski[/COLOR]
3rd star - [COLOR="Purple"]Brian Lerg[/COLOR]

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the lines looked like this:

Berra
Ortio

Wotherspoon - Billins
Sieloff - MacKenzie
Cundari - Ramage

Horak - Reinhart - Byron
Hanowski - Knight - Jones
Ferland - Jooris - Nemisz
Bancks - Olson - Elson

My thoughts:

• The lines more or less remained static for the entire game, even in the dying minutes. As each and every line made a positive impact on the ice.
• The Jooris line was very physical and excellent defensively. They drew penalties and were excellent in all 3 zones. They compliment each other very well.
• Knight played the point on the top PP unit as a RH shot with a bit of a bomb, interesting enough he also took the faceoffs for the Heat when he was on the ice for the PP. Reinhart would line up on the point and then he and Knight would swap positions.
• Bancks had a fight, his line were the ideal pests all night.
• Ferland got laid out my Siemens in the 2nd when he took a suicide pass from Reinhart, his helmet popped off with the hit. Ferland jumped up and fought Siemens himself, fight was a draw but Ferland landed an uppercut bomb.
• Berra very very good in his North American debut. Nothing much in terms of highlight reel saves, but just very solid all the time. He was especially good in the last 10 minutes of the 3rd period. When all was said and done he stopped 31 of 33 shots
• Sgarbossa for the Monster's laid out Sieloff with a bit of a dirty hit, was close to being called a boarding major, but Sieloff never left the game and made an amazing diving block in the 3rd period
• Ward used the Heat timeout immediately after the second goal by the Monsters, trying to regroup them before the Monsters could get the momentum to tie the game.
• When MacKenzie scored the PA announcer called him Drew MacIntyre like I did not too long ago, this gave me a chuckle.
• Wotherspoon and Billins were the top pairing, they always seemed to be in the ice. Without looking at any TOI numbers I bet Billins played close to 30 minutes with Wotherspoon a couple minutes behind that.
• Seiloff/MacKenzie seemed to be on the ice more than Ramage/Cundari, I chalk it up to Cundari being the least impressive player on the Heat tonight. Not to be too hard on Cundari, he wasn't "bad" as everyone just played a very good game and he was average with a couple unnecessary penalties. And after I typed that Cundari steps up and has an amazing final 10-15 minutes for the game.
• If Sieloff wasn't wearing a bubble he likely would have fought Desbiens a couple times, they always seemed to be shoving and jawing back and forth.
• Drew MacKenzie played a very good game, if this continues he will earn an NHL contract and will deserve it.
• With 4:35 Byron laid out a Monsters player from behind on a very dirty hit. This is not the first time I have seen this from him, he might be small but he has a physucal/dirty side to him. He may get suspended for this as he is a repeat offender on this type of play, how he only got 2 for boarding amazes me. Fortunately the Monsters player was able to skate off on his own and did not have to leave the game.
• These Cleveland fans are fantastic, if the NHL expands I think Cleveland should definitely be considered. They are just fantastic fans and drew over 12,000 for tonights game. They might even be a better option than Columbus for an NHL team.

Game #2:

Again, sorry for the delay, flu ridden and high on medicine so I fell asleep like a million times so had to re-watch this a few times to get all the way through

Abbotsford Heat 2 - Lake Erie Monsters 3

Heat Goals:

1. ES - Corban Knight (1) [Blair Jones (2), Ben Hanowski (1)]
2. ES - Max Reinhart (1) [Paul Byron (3), Roman Horak (1)]

1st Star - Stefan Elliot
2nd Star - Bryan Lerg
3rd Star - Brad Malone

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Lines, 1 change from the previous game:

Berra
Ortio

Wotherspoon - Billins
Sieloff - MacKenzie
Cundari - Ramage

Horak - Reinhart - Byron
Hanowski - Knight - Jones
Lyon - Jooris - Nemisz
Bancks - Olson - Elson

My thoughts:

• Special teams were bad. PP was 0 for 7 and only went 5/7 on the PK.
• The only stand out was Brett Lyon and not for anything good. Too many PIM from the guy in his 1st game with the Heat, he had 11 minutes in the box and caused us to be shorthanded twice.
• Other than Lyon no one stood out as playing poorly, obviously mistakes were made but everyone seemed to play well, but not a single player in my mind had a great game either and you need a couple guys to do that to win at this level.
• Speaking of Lyon, he drew in for Ferland. I am not 100% sure but I think Ferland may be hurt after that Siemens hit, the more I think about it, the more I think he never returned after the fight.
• Berra was strong again. He is looking like a pretty good pick up so far.
• Ramage fought in the 3rd and you could tell he came from NCAA which doesn't allow fighting, he got destroyed and bloodied up pretty good. But being the game he is he came back from repaired with a ear to ear grin.

Game #3

Abbotsford Heat 3 - Milwaukee Admirals 2 (Overtime)

1. ES - Turner Elson (1) [Brett Olson (2)]
2. ES - Ben Hanowski (3) [Corban Knight (2), Josh Jooris (2)]
3. PP - Greg Nemisz (1) [Corban Knight(3), Paul Byron (4)] - this goal was announced as being by Corban Knight during the broadcast, but theAHL.com has credited the goal to Nemisz. On the replays it was difficult to tell if Nemisz did deflect it in or not.

Three Stars
1. Heat - Ben Hanowski
2. Admirals - Magnus Hellberg
3. Heat - Turner Elson

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the lines:

Hanowski - Knight - Jooris
Horak - Reinhart - Byron
Ferland - Eddy - Nemisz
Bancks - Olson - Elson

Wotherspoon - Billins
Breen - MacKenzie
Cundari - Ramage

Berra
Ortio

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A few notes:

the Heat's PP is abysmal. They went 1 for 7 tonight with the only goal being on the 4 on 3 powerplay in overtime.

the Admirals carried the play for the first 10 minutes or so, after that the Heat were in control for most of the way. Hellberg was easily the best player on the ice for either team IMO he made big save after big save.

Knight took a pair of unneeded penalties in the 1st period, he was better in the 2nd, 3rd and of course overtime.

Billins gave the puck away behind the net and it directly led to the SH goal that opened the scoring for the Admirals.

Eddy made a questionable hit at center (looked like it could have been knee on knee) but when an Admirable player tried to fight him Eddy didn't bite and it led to the play continuing resulting in a good scoring chance for the Heat.

Elson scored the goal to make it 2-2 with 4 seconds left in the 2nd frame. The puck was dumped in by Olson and Elson reached the puck in the slot before Hellberg or the Admirals defenseman and managed to tip it past Hellberg and into the open net.

I forgot to post my notes on game 4

Heat 1 - Admirals 2 (Shootout)

Heat Scoring:

Roman Horak (1) [Max Reinhart (2), Chad Billins(1)]

Three Stars:
1st - Berra
2nd - Horak
3rd - Hellberg

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Lines:

Horak - Reinhart - Byron
Hanowski - Knight - Jooris
Ferland - Eddy - Nemisz
Bancks - Olson - Elson

Wotherspoon - Billins
Breen - MacKenzie
Cundari - Ramage

Berra

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My Thoughts:

1st Period

• Jooris took a bad penalty in the first minute, Heat killed it without allowing a shot.
• Midway through the 1st Nemisz took a huge hit (he took to the hit to dump the puck deep) and went head over heals into the Admirals bench, but he popped back up and jumped out of the bench and never missed a beat.
• Olson with a fucking retarded play midway through the first, Cundari was already being called for a penalty and Olson cross checks an Admiral player in the teeth after the whistle. Resulting in a full 2 minute 5 on 3.
• On the following 5 on 3 Breen (yes, Breen and not Berra) made a great sliding save at the side of the net stopping a sure goal! Bancks and MacKenzie also had big blocks. Breen was also stuck on the ice for the first 90 seconds of of the 5 on 3 and was instrumental in them killing it off without allowing a single shot on goal!
• Berra with a phominal pad save while layingo n his stomach in the dying moments of the 1st.

2nd Period

• Roman Horak, where offensive chances go to die. He has been involved in multiple scoring chances so far this year and it always dies on his stick, either he shoots it right into the goaltender or can't get the pass through. So frustrating. This is why he is in the AHL and not the NHL.
• Bancks and Olson are a fantastic PK duo.
• Nemisz with a great give and go with Eddy, Nemo made a great final pass out from behind the net, if
• Jooris was still centering that line the score would be 1-0 on that play.
• Speaking of Eddy he was a teammate of Ben Hanowski in St. Cloud State
• And Horak strikes again….. /facepalm
• After 2 periods this game can be summed up in 2 words "goaltending duel"

3rd Period

• Maybe my bitching has paid off….. Horak scores on the PP in the opening minute of the 3rd.
• Byron is really an offensive catalyst for this team, he has been excellent thus far.
  Nemo just took a high stick while on the PP, he is bleeding, he has drawn a 4 minute call by going to the net.
• Reinhart with a undisciplined slashing call to negate 2 minutes of the 4 minute PP
• Admirals tie it with 5 minutes left, Berra had too much traffic in front to see the quick one timer.

Overtime

• I swear Breen played over 30 minutes tonight, the kid is a horse.
• 2 on 2 dies on Horak's stick

Shootout

• Horak, mishandles the puck
• Berra stops shot that is shot straight at him
• Reinhart goes blocker side and is stopped
• Milwaukee scored on a shot glove side
• Ferland, shoots high and wide
• Berra beat low blocker side with a slapper
• Byron nice move but stopped by a sprawling save

Admirals win shootout 2-0

the Heat are awesome.

that is all.

Tis true.

Heat won 6-3 today

Knight had the hatty, Baertschi had 2 goals (incl. an EN) and 3 assists.