[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Went to the game tonight. It was just a fun game to watch. Taylor and Walter were absolutely right when they said it was "the most complete game the team has played at home".

The Heat shut out the Rochester Americans tonight with a 4-0 win. The goals were from Walter (Connelly & Piskula), Aliu (Walter & Piskula), Kolanos (unassisted), and Desbiens (Byron & Wilson).

The Good:
- Despite only getting one point, Byron was the best player on the ice tonight. He was flying everywhere and looked like Hot Sauce from And1. On a few occasions he dangled through about three players into the offensive zone to create a solid scoring chance. Not only that, but he battled hard along the boards. For a small guy, he would go into the boards at half speed and hit the guy before grabbing the puck. I suppose he's figured out how to make it in professional hockey - either you get hit first or I get hit first. Good on him. Tonight was the best I've seen of Byron.
- In general the Sylvester/Byron/Kolanos line was phenomenal.
- The Horak/Walter/Nemisz line was very good as well. Nemisz did the dirty work in the corners and in front of the net while Walter and Horak made the opposing team look lost and confused.
- Probably the second best line tonight was the Desbiens/Laing/Aliu line - namely, Aliu. He was absolutely destroying guys tonight. He was quick, he was making crisp passes to his teammates, and everytime he dumped and chased he was the first guy on the puck. Furthermore, he was playing the role of pest since PL3 was a healthy scratch.
- The Rheault/Bancks/Estoclet was alright as a whole. Rheault and Estoclet didn't get very much ice time tonight, whereas Bancks seemingly played about 30:00 tonight. I'm exaggerating of course, but it seemed like he was always on the ice. I think that's because the Heat had to kill 6 penalties tonight and Bancks is a key guy on the PK. If Byron was the best guy on the ice tonight, I'd have to say Bancks was a close second.
- On defense, Breen was a beast tonight. I have to say he had a chip on his shoulder all night. He was more physical than he usually is. I think being paired with Connelly for the game gave him an abnormally large sense of defensive responsibility. Connelly would often join the rush or lead the rush forcing Breen to play "stay at home defenseman". It was a very very good game from him tonight.
- Gotta give Piskula credit tonight as well. He was just about as good as Breen.
- Connelly and Wilson did what Connelly and Wilson normally do. They chipped in offensively and played solid games.
- While Taylor did get the shutout, it'd be naive not to give the defence total credit for that shutout. The D absolutely stifled any offense that Rochester may have had. They only allowed 17 shots on Taylor, most of which weren't scoring chances whatsoever.

The Bad:

Nothing. Well, maybe the attendance, which totalled at only 2105. I can honestly say though that not a single player on the Heat had a bad game.

EDIT - Also of note, Ben Walter has set the record for the Abbotsford Heat for the most points in a single season at 55. Krys Kolanos has tied the Heat record for most goals in a season at 25. Both records were previously held by Jason Jaffray.