Hockey
Play-Off Preview
The Abbotsford Heat and Milwaukee Admirals are set to open a best-of-five first round Calder Cup Playoff match-up on Friday night in Milwaukee.
The Heat enter the series as the fourth seed – five points above the fifth place Admirals – and have elected to open on the road for the first two games, before returning to the Fraser Valley to close out the remainder of series.
In four regular season meetings the Admirals earned seven of a possible eight points winning both home games and one in Abbotsford, while the only setback was a shootout loss at the AESC in late October.
The clubs have only played once in the last four and half months – a 4-1 win for the Admirals at the Bradley Center in Wisconsin on November 28th.
Of note, Heat leading goal scorer and point man Krys Kolanos has played just a single game against Milwaukee this season as a member of the Heat.
Ditto for offensive rear-guard Brian Connelly and hulking forward Hugh Jessiman – who has potted a career-high of 27 goals this season.
Akim Aliu and Brett Carson who have each spent time in the NHL this season also have played just once versus the Admirals.
Abbotsford enters the post-season as the hottest club in the Western Conference riding franchise best winning and point streaks of seven and nine games respectively.
The Heat’s nine game point streak saw the club earn all 17 points against teams in playoff position or fighting for playoff positioning until the final day of the season.
The Heat’s hottest play of the season has been produced by the club’s deepest roster of the year as the Calgary Flames season has come to an end, injuries that plagued the middle third of the season have healed, and new additions from ECHL, WHL, and WCHA sides adjust to the AHL game.
The Heat failed to qualify for the playoffs last season in their second year of existence.
Newcomers Ben Walter (Lake Erie Monsters), Guillaume Desbiens (Manitoba Moose), and Paul Byron (Portland Pirates) all suited up for 2011 playoff games, with Byron and Desbiens playing in two rounds of action, while Walter played seven games.
Overall the Heat have 327 man-games of playoff experience amongst them.
The Heat are led by first-year Head Coach Troy G. Ward who has set a franchise record by amassing 42 wins (albeit in a shorter 76 game schedule than the prior two campaigns of 80 contests) after serving as an assistant in Abbotsford last season.
Ward’s last taste of AHL post-season action was with the Houston Aeros where he was as an Assistant Coach and Assistant GM for the 2008-09 team.
They who won back-to-back 7-game series in the first and second round to advance to the Western Conference Finals before being ousted by the Manitoba Moose.
The Heat have been led by the resurgent Krys Kolanos – who set new franchise records for goals (30) and points (61) in a single season despite playing just 47 games – after missing a season and a half to micro-fracture hip surgery.
Arriving in September on a try-out in training camp, Kolanos was inked to an AHL deal prior to Christmas only to have that contact ripped up to sign a two-year two-way deal with his hometown Calgary Flames.
It’s been a career season in the AHL for the 30-year-old garnering 16 points in his first six games, and closing the season with 18 points in his last eight games.
Forwards Ben Walter, Hugh Jessiman, and the pair of Brian Connelly and Clay Wilson on the blue-line round out the Heat’s top five scorers this season.
The 2011-12 season has seen the emergence of a goaltending tandem in Abbotsford with Leland Irving and Danny Taylor splitting duties.
Irving spent over two months in Calgary with the Flames, and became a father in late March, which lead to Taylor starting five of the last six games of the season.
The duo each earned 22 wins this year, with Taylor earning five of his wins with the Springfield Falcons on a PTO before being signed by the Heat.
The Heat’s special teams numbers are much superior on the road this season.
The power play converts at 5.2% higher efficiency in hostile territory at 19.5%, while the penalty kill is 10.1% stronger and ranked best in the AHL on the road at 88.1%.
The Heat’s home power play is ranked 29th, while Heat fans have watched the 28th ranked penalty kill at work at the AESC this year.
Both teams are among the six stingiest clubs in the AHL with the Admirals allowing 2.50 goals per game and the Heat surrendering an average of 2.64 each contest.
The Heat protect leads managing a winning percentage of83.8 in which they score first, with a record of 18-1-1-2 when leading after 20 minutes of play.
The Admirals have found the back of the net with ease in their own building against the Heat this season scoring an average of six goals per game.