Dogs Douse Heat

Published on May 10, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Abbotsford Heat News Release


HAMILTON ONT - The remarkable first year of the Abbotsford Heat drew to a close on Monday night. Curtis Sanford stood tall once again, stopping all 30 shots he faced as the Hamilton Bulldogs scored three late goals to pull away in a 4-0 win to clinch the North Division Championship in six games.

David Desharnais scored late in the first, while Aaron Palushaj, Brock Trotter and Mike Glumac scored late in the third period to send the Bulldogs to their second Western Conference Final in four seasons.

The game moved at a frantic pace in all three periods and was one of the more entertaining games of the post season, despite the final score. After trading chances back and forth, the Bulldogs would open the scoring at 18:30 of the opening period. Desharnais would not be denied, as he camped out in the top of the blue paint in Abbotsford's crease and was able to bat a second rebound under Heat goalie David Shantz. For Desharnais, it was his second goal of the series, and the first time he had beaten Shantz in the series as his previous goal in this series was into the empty net in Game five. The Bulldogs would outshoot the Heat 16-12 and lead 1-0 after one.

An entertaining and end-to-end second period resulted in the save of the series for Sanford. Mid-way through period two Gaelan Patterson was able to slip past his Bulldog defender and throw a perfect feed to Jason Jaffray out front. Jaffray pulled the trigger but was thwarted by his former teammate from Manitoba, Sanford. Sanford was able to go post to post before throwing up the blocker to deny the Jaffray attempt. The Heat would also hit three posts in a wild second period...but it just wasn't in the cards for the Heat on Monday night.

In the third period, Palushaj was able to swoop in on a Desharnais missed opportunity and from 10 feet out lifted a perfect backhander that Shantz had no chance on to make the score 2-0. Despite the Heat's onslaught in the third, they couldn't solve Sanford. Brock Trotter would score late in the third on the power play before Mike Glumac would add his team leading eighth goal in to the yawning Heat goal in the final moments of the game.

For the first time in the series, the Heat would be outshot by the Bulldogs 37-30. Abbotsford went 0/5 in the power play, while the Bulldogs would go 1/4 with the man advantage.

Abbotsford wraps up their first season with 39 regular season wins, a playoff series comeback win over the Rochester Americans and a hard fought series with the Division Champions from Hamilton, who were 25 points better than the injury-ravaged Heat in the regular season. All of this was done despite the unbelievable glut of injuries that could have gutted most teams, but the Heat would find a way to not only overcome the injuries, but carve out new opportunities for many of the players that were called to action because of the list of casualties.

The Heat will fly home to Abbotsford tomorrow (Tuesday).

NORTH DIVISION FINAL - ABBOTSFORD HEAT VS HAMILTON BULLDOGS (MONTREAL CANADIENS)

(Bulldogs win the best of seven series 4-2)

Game One - Thursday, April 29th - Abbotsford 3 @ Hamilton 2 (Brett Sutter - GWG)

Game Two - Sunday, May 2nd - Abbotsford 1 @ Hamilton 3 (Mike Glumac - GWG)

Game Three - Tuesday, May 4th - Hamilton 3 @ Abbotsford 2 (Olivier Fortier - GWG)

Game Four - Thursday, May 6th - Hamilton 1 @ Abbotsford 4 (Mitch Wahl - GWG)

Game Five - Saturday, May 8th - Hamilton 3 @ Abbotsford 2 (Andre Benoit - GWG)

Game Six - Monday, May 10th - Abbotsford 0 @ Hamilton 4 - 7:30 PM PDT

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American Hockey League Stories from May 10, 2010


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