[Game Day] Calder Cup Western QF Heat vs Griffins- Griffins win 3-1

[PeteMoss]

Tough loss and I get the looking for blood instinct but its a game less than 24 hours after losing a heartbreaker that you dominated. It happens. One of those things where having a younger AHL team hurts since they don't have the experience to deal with it as well as a bunch of vets.

[RFP]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

Tough loss and I get the looking for blood instinct but its a game less than 24 hours after losing a heartbreaker that you dominated. It happens. One of those things where having a younger AHL team hurts since they don't have the experience to deal with it as well as a bunch of vets.

You're right lets see what the next encounter brings….still feel however that the buck starts and stops with #1

[BloodFetish]

Originally Posted by MyFlamesFirst

Don't worry. Stay home. The last 2 games you went to was this game and the 7-2 loss. I can't be the only one that thinks that this blowout loss is entirely your fault.

Lol, no, not MY fault. It was the friend I was with - those were the only two games me and him went to together. Totally his fault.

If it was just me and Mrs. B we would have had sunshine, puppies and Sven Baertschi hattricks.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by BloodFetish

Lol, no, not MY fault. It was the friend I was with - those were the only two games me and him went to together. Totally his fault.

If it was just me and Mrs. B we would have had sunshine, puppies and Sven Baertschi hattricks.

Kick your friend in the nuts for us, will you?

[Vulcan]

I'm not that impressed with TGW's ability to win but than he does have a young team and young players are unpredictable. I like that he's giving Poirier and Kulak a shot. He also seems to have prepared the players for the NHL pretty well and that may be more important for the Flames than winning a championship.

[BloodFetish]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Kick your friend in the nuts for us, will you?

Yes Sir!

G, I know you're lurking here. Get ready to feel the pain!

[Drury18]

Looks like the presser was cancelled last night as there were some extra-circular activities going on. I had heard some rumour that Coach Ward and the Griffins coach had an argument or verbal exchange of sorts post game after the dirty hit on Jooris. There was also a closed door players only meeting going on after the game.

http://www.abbynews.com/sports/heat/...koTWys.twitter

Ward, meanwhile, was hot under the collar on the bench, exchanging pleasantries with his Grand Rapids counterpart Jeff Blashill and others.

The Heat coach said his quarrel wasn't with Blashill, but with an individual on the Griffins bench whom he described as "a video/statistician guy."

"He was looking at our bench like we caused the problem, when Evans just about took Jooris's head off," said Ward, adding that the same staffer had words with the Heat bench at the end of a regular season game between the two teams in January in Abbotsford. "When you're a video/statistician guy sitting on the bench all night, you have no right to challenge our team.

It is in the AHL Bylaws to make players/coaches available after the game, however it appears that Ward apologized and spoke to the media this morning instead:

Ward spoke with The News on Sunday and said it wasn't his directive, terming it "disappointing."

"There's no hiding in this business," he said. "There should have been an interview process."

[Drury18]

I did a little sifting through the AHL's daily stat pages from this weekend and while some stats don't paint a pretty picture, not all are bleak.

The one that stands out the most to me is our PIM's. During the season we were I believe bottom 5 for PIM's. We are now the most penalized team in the post-season.

Penalty Minute Leaders:

1. Dean Arsene (ABB) - 16
1. Shane O'Brien (ABB) -16
4. Trevor Parkes (GR) - 12
4. Brennen Evans (GR) - 12

Penalty Minute Record (out of 16):

1. Abbotsford Heat - 64
2. Grand Rapids Griffins - 47

One more "issue" spot which unfortunately seems ill-deserved is that Joni Ortio went from a Top 5 goaltender to 2nd to worst goaltender. However, Ortio is one of the Top 5 goaltenders for saves made:

Goaltending Leaders (out of 17):

1. Petr Mrazek (GR)
16. Joni Ortio (GR)

Saves Made (out of 17):

3. Petr Mrazek (GR) - 70
5. Joni Ortio (ABB) - 65

Save Percentage:

1. Petr Mrazek (GR)
14. Joni Ortio (ABB)

Our PP record isn't great but our PK is middle of the pack:

Power Play Record (out of 16):

9. Grand Rapids Griffins - 14.3%
12. Abbotsford Heat - 11.1%

Penalty Kill Record (out of 16):

6. Grand Rapid Griffins - 88.9%
8. Abbotsford Heat - 85.7%

And then one crazy stat. We have the 3rd most shots for per game, and the 16th shots against. Grand Rapids almost in a similar situation. Both teams shoot but both teams obviously let their goaltenders do alot of work.

Shots For Per Game (out of 16):

1. Grand Rapids Griffins - 43.50
3. Abbotsford Heat - 36.50

Shots Against Per Game (out of 16):

14. Grand Rapids Griffins - 36.50
16. Abbotsford Heat - 43.50

Scoring wise, it's the GR rookies that are sticking it to us. They have spots 1 and 2 in the league for Rookie Points and 1 for Rookie Goals. Their offense has come from their 1st year players:

Rookie Points Leaders:

1. Ryan Sproul (GR) - 4
2. Teemu Pulkkinen (GR) - 3
3. Markus Granlund (ABB) - 2

Rookie Goals:

1. Ryan Sproul (GR) - 2

And worst for last, plus/minus. Abbotsford has two players with a + rating, 7 with a 0, 14 with a minus. Comparatively, of those same players, 15 were a plus rating in the regular season and 6 were a minus. Grand Rapids has 11 with a + rating, 10 with a 0 and 1 player with a minus. 3 of them are in the top +/- in the league:

Plus/Minus:

2. Andrej Nestrasil (GR) + 5
2. Nathan Paetsch (GR) +5
2. Teemu Pulkkinen (GR) +5

[flames_fan13]

PIM's are probably skewed a bit as O'brien got a ten minute misconduct in the third. Arsene and Hathaway both got misconducts at the end of the game. They are going to be better on Wednesday hopefully leads to three wins. With Knight hopefully able to play they'll have a relatively healthy roster for the rest of the series.

[nik-]

maybe RFP stand for Retired Fat Prospect?

[Enoch Root]

I think it's Really F***ing Pissed

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by nik-

maybe RFP stand for Retired Fat Prospect?

There is a reason several of us refer to him as Ryan

[Drury18]

Great article in the Herald today about Coach Ward's optimism about winning 3 straight as well as tempering expectations for Poirier to avoid "creating another Baertschi".

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...131/story.html

“We understand the adversities you go through. We’re still in the moment. We haven’t left the moment. We’ve had our share of three-game winning streaks. We’ve been through this before. We know how we have to act.

“The magnitude is different now, but the process isn’t different. The guys are hungry. They’re confident.”

“He’s (Poirier) looked good — but everyone has a honeymoon in life,” said Ward, chuckling. “If we go down that street (of creating hype), then he’ll be the next Sven Baertschi. So I don’t get too high and I don’t get too low on players. I would expect him to do good.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Great article in the Herald today about Coach Ward's optimism about winning 3 straight as well as tempering expectations for Poirier to avoid "creating another Baertschi".

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...131/story.html

Good idea... We can't make that mistake again.

[RFP]

Originally Posted by Drury18 View Post
Great article in the Herald today about Coach Ward's optimism about winning 3 straight as well as tempering expectations for Poirier to avoid "creating another Baertschi".

Now theres a comment that should inspire Swen ….way to motivate….you guys are really right on track…this guy should get coach of the year. Wouldn't you be inspired to produce if your boss showed this type of confidence and respect for you??????

[thymebalm]

I read that the AHL is looking into the cancelled presser after game two. I'm curious to know what the punishment might be for such an action. I don't think it's a big deal but someone is trying to make it one.

Already read peoples thoughts on the choice to cancel, be interested to know if the league does anything about it.

Game 3 should go the Heat's way. They are too good of a team to get swept. The series doesn't look winnable at this point, but I sure hope they give the Griffins something to think about tonight.

Go Heat Go

[flambers]

Originally Posted by RFP

Now theres a comment that should inspire Swen ….way to motivate….you guys are really right on track…this guy should get coach of the year. Wouldn't you be inspired to produce if your boss showed this type of confidence and respect for you??????

If Sven wants to be a NHLer he better be able to deal with it.....

Or his career is going to be short within North America.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

I read that the AHL is looking into the cancelled presser after game two. I'm curious to know what the punishment might be for such an action. I don't think it's a big deal but someone is trying to make it one.

If anything were to come from it, I can't see it being more then a monetary fine to the team for failing to comply with the by-laws. It was the team as a whole that decided to cancel the presser so they would be fined as an organization.

Probably your standard $5-10K fine for failure to comply with the bylaw and done.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Next 3 games away? We're done..

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by RFP

Now theres a comment that should inspire Swen ….way to motivate….you guys are really right on track…this guy should get coach of the year. Wouldn't you be inspired to produce if your boss showed this type of confidence and respect for you??????

All he is saying he kids need time to develop, which is true. Your shtick has gotten old, you are completely clueless, out of touch and driven by some sort of absurd vendetta. Get over it already.