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Heat Stop Moose in Shootout

January 21, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Abbotsford Heat News Release


ABBOTSFORD, B.C. ‚¬" Cam Cunning scored a pair of goals and Leland Irving picked up his AHL leading 18th win of the season as the Abbotsford Heat came back from three deficits to hand the Manitoba Moose a rare loss, 3-2 in the shootout in AHL action on Friday night in snowy and frozen Winnipeg.

The Moose would open the scoring early in the first period on the power play. Rookie Jordan Schroeder, in his first game back after missing the past sixteen due to injury, would tip in a Mark Flood point shot past Irving to give the Moose a 1-0 lead at 6:37 of the first period. That goal would hold up until 14:58, when Cam Cunning would score what can only be described as the strangest goal in Heat history.

After Cunning shot the puck in from centre ice, goaltender Eddie Lack would glove the puck and drop it to his stick to play it. Lack would fan on his pass out to his defender, place his stick back on the ice, and neatly backhand the puck into his own goal. Cunning ‚¬â„¢s 8th at 14:58 would stun the 8153 in attendance and put the Heat level with the Moose 1-1 after one period.

Manitoba would regain the lead early in the second as Ryan Cruthers, signed to a tryout this past week, would score his second of the season, banging home a Kevin Connauton shot past a prone Irving at 3:02. The Heat would answer again and once again it would be Cam Cunning. After intercepting a Connauton pass at centre ice, Cunning would have a breakaway on Eddie Lack from centre ice, and drag Lee Sweatt with him on his back the whole trip. As Cunning went to shoot, Sweatt put the rugged winger into a bear hug and prevented the shot from occurring. Referee Chris Ciamaga awarded a penalty shot to Cunning, and as ugly as his first goal was, he made up for it with his second. Cunning made his way into the Moose zone, brought Lack to his mercy with a great move, and roofed a backhand past the net minder to tie things at 2-2. Cunning ‚¬â„¢s 9th of the season at 15:56 of the second would give the Heat a 2-2 tie heading to the final stanza.

A scoreless third and overtime would set up a great shootout. Once again, the Moose would take their third lead of the game, as Kevin Clark would walk in on Irving in Round Two and snap a wrist shot high over the glove and under the crossbar to give the Moose a 1-0 shootout lead. In the bottom of round three, Heat rookie Greg Nemisz would silence the crowd once again, taking a breakaway and firing his shot under the crossbar, blocker side on Lack and destroying the water bottle! Nemisz would tie things at one after round three. After Bill Sweatt was stopped with a toe save by Irving, Jon Rheault would give the Heat their first and only lead of the night, making multiple moves before beating Lack with a backhand to give the Heat a 2-1 lead after round four. Kevin Connauton would fail in the final Moose attempt, as Irving would thwart him with the blocker to seal the win for Abbotsford.

With the win, the Heat (21-18-2-4) leaps past the Toronto Marlies and into fourth place in the North Division with 48 points. Abbotsford is now just one point back of Lake Erie for third in the division, and hold two games in hand on the Monsters of Cleveland.

The Abbotsford Heat will be on National Television for the second straight week, as they will take on the Moose from Winnipeg on Sunday morning on CBC. You can catch all the games home and away on Country 107.1 FM ‚¬Â¦Dave Sheldon will call the action from the MTS Centre on Sunday morning. Pregame show at 9:45 AM, with the opening faceoff set for just after 10 AM PST.



American Hockey League Stories from January 21, 2011


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