Heat ground Griffins 4-2

Published on April 2, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Abbotsford Heat News Release


Abbotsford, B.C. - Three unanswered second period goals by Ryan MacMurchy, Quintin Laing, and Matt Keith led the Abbotsford Heat to a key divisional win versus the Grand Rapids Griffins in a 4-2 decision Friday night at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.

Abbotsford Heat forward Ales Kotalik opened the scoring on the power play, with a perfect one time blast past Grand Rapids Griffins goaltender Thomas McCollum. Defender T.J. Brodie and Carter Bancks would both pick up assists on the play, with Bancks delivering a great feed right to the stick of Kotalik for the one timer. The power play marker would be the lone goal in the first putting the Heat up by a score of 1-0 after the first period of play.

The Heat jumped out to an early start in an explosive second period that saw the home team notch three unanswered goals. Abbotsford's Ryan MacMurchy got things going just under four minutes into the second frame making a great inside move around Grand Rapids defender Sergei Kolosov, lifting a backhand shot past McCollum to make it 2-0 Heat early in the second. Heat captain Quintin Laing picked up his 7th of the season three minutes later, collecting his own rebound on a shoot in and beating McCollum to increase the Heat lead to 3-0. Aldergrove's Matt Keith rounded out the second period scoring for the Heat with his team leading 20th goal of the season, taking a sweet feed from rookie Justin Dowling and firing a top corner blast from the top of the far faceoff circle past McCollum to make it a 4-0 Heat lead after forty minutes of play.

Leland Irving would pick up the win in his return from injury, making 18 saves on the evening. With the win, the Heat leaps past the Griffins and into a tie for 5th place in the North Division. Abbotsford stays five points back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Abbotsford Heat will look to pick up another key two points tomorrow night versus the same Grand Rapids Griffins at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. Catch all the AHL action on Country 107.1 with Dave Sheldon getting the Diamond Bar Equipment pre game started at 6:30pm... Puck drops at 7:00pm.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2011


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