Abby Canucks Grab Home Ice In Play-Offs

All Photo Credit To Wes Shaw/Shotbug Press

Locally minor hockey provincials are underway while the Canucks wrap up their season having a tribute to good friend John Garrett who is stepping away from the  broadcast booth, at least from his current role.

One can only hope that they don’t replace him with someone that doesn’t know the rules or that they are looking to go a different direction with someone younger.

In some cases that works, but in conversation with some this direction doesn’t alway’s work or place him cause they want to use someone from Ontario.

We all know how major market stations work and going younger doesn’t always sell to the demographic they are searching for let alone the airwaves that are unable to carry the frequency.

On a recent trip to Abbotsford to take in the Canuck game listening to AM650 the signal gets lost before you reach the rink, but apparently if you live on the Island the signal is stronger, which for local fans is frustrating.

Regardless the send-off for John was nice to see but it would have been better done by the Canucks dressing room with players coming out to chat with him and offer their insight but that’s another story.

The trek to Abby to take in the AHL game was worthwhile if you’re one of their supporters and it’s always great to catch-up with the off-ice officials and chat about various topics which I’ll cover in an upcoming article.

Friday saw them host the Ontario Reign, the farm team for LA which is the first of a five game home stand as  they look at wrapping up the regular season.

Fan fav Jett Wook entered the game  coming off two multi-point games and recording four goals in his last 19 games, while Jack Rathbone returns from the parent Canucks.

The first period saw LA outshoot them by a 12-10 margin while killing a pair of minor’s, both for slashing while Karlsson collected his 22nd of the season at 18:29 taking a 1-0 lead to the room after one.

The second saw Karlsson get his second of the contest and 23rd of the season who sent one inside the blue-line to Jack Rathbone with a give and go back to Karlsson at 11:45 who tapped it in the open cage giving Abby a 2-0 lead.

Ontario pulled within one with Andnersson getting his 29th of the season pulling them within one at 15:26 that would see Abby take a 2-1 lead to the room after two.

The third saw Ontario grab a pair with the first at 8:53 getting them even at two then taking a 3-2 lead with Laferriere getting his first of the season at 14:19.

Abby fought hard managing to attempt shots at Ontario’s tender Matthew Villalta who had help from his “D’ that allowed Abby to call a timeout that set up Kyle Rau to get them even at 19:34 forcing O/T.

With the fans on the edge of their seats O/T was short lived that saw Jett Woo grab his 7th of the season a short 22 second in with Nielsen and Bains getting helpers.

The first game stats saw Ontario manage 12, 13, 9, 0 while the “Baby” Canucks managed 10, 11, 5 and 1 for the game winner.

The second game of the series went the following night with Ontario repaying them stealing a 2-1 win that saw Abby outshoot the Reign by a 28-18 margin that saw both clubs change tenders for this contest.

Abby’s next game is April 12th as they play host to the Calgary Wranglers with the face-off set for 7 pm at the Abbotsford Centre.

The last five games had the Wranglers on a five game winning streak with a season record of 50-15-3-1 while the Canucks are 3-2 for a season record of 38-24-3-4.

Make plans to attend and don’t miss out on exciting Abbotsford Canuck action.