Heat light it up on 9 game road trip - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Pierre "Monster" McGuire · 03-03-2010, 01:49 AM

The Abbotsford Heat went 8-1 on their 9 game road trip in February.

David Shantz started 8 games on the road trip going 7-1 and ending with a 2.22 GA, and a .931 SV%. Not only that, but was one of the runners up for AHL Goalie of the Month.

Mikael Backlund was awarded AHL Player of the Month after having a 7GP, 5G, 5A, 10P, +5. That should give the Flames a huge boost while they go for a playoff spot.

Oh, and some more good news: the rental players are doing well in Abby and are helping the team fight for a playoff spot as well.

Their stats since joining the team:

Mark Mitera (D): 2P, +4
Olivier Latendresse (LW): 5P, -3
Shawn Weller (LW): 9P, +1
Radek Smolenak (LW): 3P, Even

As of tonight (Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010), the Heat are in 2nd place in the North Division with 71 points. That makes them 6th in the Western Conference.

Will they make the playoffs? Let's hope so. I would love nothing more than to see the Heat develop a long standing, committed fan base here in Abbotsford.

3thirty · 03-03-2010, 07:10 AM

Thanks for the update!

Canada 02 · 03-03-2010, 09:18 AM

have the Heat been getting good news coverage/publicity in Abbotsford for this or has it been (understandably) all Olympics?

Attendance for their first game back was 3095

Jimdon · 03-03-2010, 10:17 AM

Right on, nice to see our farm team making waves.

shermanator · 03-03-2010, 05:27 PM

As much as I don't agree with Shantz getting the #1 minutes in Abbotsford, you can't argue with the results.

Pierre "Monster" McGuire · 03-03-2010, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canada 02

have the Heat been getting good news coverage/publicity in Abbotsford for this or has it been (understandably) all Olympics?

Group #1: The feeling I get here in Abbotsford is that there's a good core group of people that follow the team like we here do on CP.

Group #2: Then there's the group of people that follow the team's standings, core players, etc. (the obvious stuff).

Group #3: Then there's the group of people who don't really follow the team all that much. They go more or less for something to do after work or on a weekend. They go to the games for entertainment value. This is the largest group of fans in Abbotsford.

With that said, from just talking to people around town, in the grocery store lineup, etc. I get a sense that more and more people are moving from Group #3 into Group #2, which eventually will become Group #1 (The Hardcore fans).

As for your question, as you would imagine, it is difficult to get information of this kind out into the general public. People get most of their information about the Heat from the newspapers and the newspapers are doing a fine job covering them. Each week they send out a Heat Report that has player profiles, contests, interviews, etc. So, so far it is hard to tell how people have reacted to the success of this 9 game road trip, but every week more and more people are warming up to the team. It's just a natural process for a new team.

Vulcan · 03-04-2010, 12:29 AM

I watched a bit of the game tonight on the web. The crowd looked very sparse.

Da_Chief · 03-04-2010, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shermanator

As much as I don't agree with Shantz getting the #1 minutes in Abbotsford, you can't argue with the results.

Goalies are late bloomers, you take the one thats developing not the one you drafted in the first round. Look at Kipper, he wasn't a first rounder, was back of the depth chart in SJ before he got his chance in Calgary.

LockedOut · 03-05-2010, 09:34 PM

Irvings back. Where's Keetley?

TheSutterDynasty · 03-05-2010, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LockedOut

Irvings back. Where's Keetley?

He was with the Flames to back up Kiprusoff until Toskala arrived.

Canada 02 · 03-09-2010, 03:44 PM

Heat have a great shot at the playoffs with 11 of their remaining 13 games vs team below them in the standings, and 8 home games

Pierre "Monster" McGuire · 03-09-2010, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canada 02

Heat have a great shot at the playoffs with 11 of their remaining 13 games vs team below them in the standings, and 8 home games

Good point, but I believe the Heat are worse at home than they are on the road. I'm too lazy to do the research, but I think they are a tad worse at home.

But yes, I'm really optimistic they'll make the playoffs. There's a fair sized gap between the Heat who are in 7th, and the Moose who are in 8th. And there's a big gap between the Heat and the team in 9th.

dobbles · 03-09-2010, 05:01 PM

ahl does playoffs by division. so as long as they are top 4 in the north they are in.

or did they change that this year?

Pierre "Monster" McGuire · 03-09-2010, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobbles

ahl does playoffs by division. so as long as they are top 4 in the north they are in.

or did they change that this year?

Oh, really? I didn't know that.

In fact, now that you mention that. I remember Dave Sheldon always talking about the Heat's position in the North division rather than the Heat's position in their conference.

So basically, the Heat need to stay ahead of the Moose and we're good.

I like that format much more.

Canada 02 · 03-09-2010, 09:39 PM

yup

4 pts up on the 4th place Moose and 8 pts up on the 5th place Monsters. Those teams have 1 and 2 games in hand respectively over the Heat. The Heat play their next 3 games vs the Monsters, and play them 5 times total. Also have 2 games vs the Moose

Flamesguy_SJ · 03-09-2010, 10:03 PM

Does the AHL still have that stupid "mini-playoff" before the first round where each team from 7-10 in each conference plays a best-of-three series? That always seemed so pointless to me..

dobbles · 03-09-2010, 11:02 PM

not in the 2 years we had the flames.

each division sent its top 4 teams to the playoffs. though there was a rule that the division that has the extra team (used to be the qc flames division) could send 5 teams to the playoffs if the 5th team had more points than the 4th place team in the other division.

Flamesguy_SJ · 03-09-2010, 11:37 PM

Yeah, that's how it used to work in the Atlantic/Canadian division days. I'm assuming the first round is still best-of-5, though?

icarus · 03-10-2010, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flamesguy_SJ

Yeah, that's how it used to work in the Atlantic/Canadian division days. I'm assuming the first round is still best-of-5, though?

Every round is a best-of-7 now, IIRC.

Canada 02 · 03-13-2010, 12:12 AM

Heat win tonight vs the Monsters. They continue to sit third in the division, now 9 points up on the 5th place Monsters. Playoffs looking very realistic now