From The Summerland Sting To Abbotsford Canucks

Photo Credit D. Laird Allan/Sportswave

Abbotsford Canucks GM, Ryan Johnson made it official and announced Justin Pogge (38) has been hired as the Goaltending Coach of the club. 

He was born in Fort McMurray April 22nd, 1986 and played his Junior B days with the Summerland Sting  in the 2002-03 season

Last season (2023-24) he was the Goaltending Consultant with the Columbus Blue Jackets and also worked for Hockey Canada as a Goaltending Coach for Canada’s World Championship and the Hlinka Gretzky Cup teams.

Johnson mentioned “First of all, I’d like to congratulate Marko Torenius on his well-deserved promotion to Vancouver.” 

He continued “We thank him for his work and dedication to our team in Abbotsford over the past two seasons. With that being said, I am very excited to have Justin Pogge join our team as Goaltending Coach. He brings a plethora of experience as a player at the NHL, AHL, international and European professional levels and I’m looking forward to seeing him help develop our goaltenders in Abbotsford.”

Pogge played his first one-and-a-half seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Prince George Cougars before being dealt to the Calgary Hitmen at the 2004–05 trade deadline. 

After his rookie season with the Cougars, he was drafted in the third round, 90th overall, by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. 

He turned pro in 2006-07 with the Leafs AHL affiliate Marlies signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Leafs on December 19, 2005. 

He was first called up to the Leaf’s on January 11th, 2008 but never played and sent back to the Marlies the following day finishing with 19 wins, and a GAA of 3.03 in his rookie season winning the Marlies Fan Choice Award.

Playing for the Hitmen in 2005–06, Pogge was awarded the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as league MVP as well as the CHL Goaltender of the Year Award and Del Wilson Trophy as the top WHL goaltender with a 1.72 goals against average (GAA) and 11 shutouts.

He had a 17-year pro career as a player which included 254 AHL regular season games, 13 Calder Cup Playoff games with the Marlies, San Antonio Rampage, Albany River Rats, Charlotte Checkers and Portland Pirates. 

He was selected by the Leafs in the third round (90th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft playing in seven NHL games between Toronto, Anaheim and Phoenix. 

In 2011 he took his talents across the water to play in Europe signing his first European contract with Ritten Sport a top team in Italy of Elite A as well as suiting up for teams in Sweden, Slovakia and Germany.

His WHL Junior career saw him spend time in PG playing for the Cougars as well as the Calgary Hitmen.

He managed to post a 6-0 record and tournament-best .952 SV% at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops, eventually winning the Gold Medal with Team Canada.

In addition the Abby Canucks hired Harry Mahesh as Assistant Coach, Andrew Shaw as Video Coach, and Ross MacEluch as Assistant Athletic Therapist.

Great hire by the Abbotsford Canucks and we’ll see you at the rink!!!!